2025 Kurt Lewin Award

The Kurt Lewin Award, given by the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, recognizes “outstanding contributions to the development and integration of psychological research and social action.”

The 2025 Kurt Lewin Award winner is Dr. Abigail Stewart, Sandra Schwartz Tangri Distinguished University Professor Emerita of Psychology and Women's and Gender Studies at the University of Michigan. In selecting Dr. Stewart for this award, the committee noted that in her work over five decades, she has consistently looked for ways to link research with social policy and social justice. Theoretical questions in her scholarship are never removed from the relevant social contexts, which include the historical context and social norms that have influenced the development of individuals and shaped current social practices. The committee was impressed by the breadth of her work in the areas of institutional transformation, the trajectories of women’s lives, and the advancement of understandings of feminism and activism in a global context, among others. As one nomination letter stated, “Although Abby might not label herself a Lewinian, her work epitomizes the vision and practice of Kurt Lewin in its commitment to both person and environment. Lewin’s classic formulation of B = f (P, E), the importance he gave to lifespace, his conception of action research being done by the practical theorist—all of these ideas resonate strongly with the career pattern of Abby Stewart.”

The 2025 Kurt Lewin Award Selection Committee:

Alyssa Zucker (Chair)
John Jost
Nihan Albayrak-Aydemir
Denise Sekaquaptewa

Dr. Abigail Stewart is Sandra Schwartz Tangri Distinguished University Professor Emerita of Psychology and Women's and Gender Studies at the University of Michigan. She is past director of the Women’s Studies Program and the Institute for Research on Women and Gender, as well as an associate dean in the College of Literature Science and the Arts and the Rackham Graduate School, at the University of Michigan. She was the first director of UM ADVANCE from 2002 to 2016. She has a Ph.D. in Psychology and Social Relations from Harvard University, an M.Sc. in Social Psychology from London School of Economics, and a B.A. from Wesleyan University. Her research interests include political activism, lifespan development and change in the context of experience and social history, and institutional change toward greater diversity, equity and inclusion in higher education. Author of many academic articles and books, she is coauthor with Virginia Valian of An Inclusive Academy (MIT Press, 2018) and with Sarah Fenstermaker of Gender, considered: Feminist reflections across the US social sciences (Palgrave/Macmillan, 2020).

Previous Winners

2024 Kurt Lewin Award

The 2024 Kurt Lewin Award winner is Dr. Linda R. Tropp, Professor of Social Psychology and Faculty Associate in Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. In selecting Dr. Tropp for this award, the committee recognizes her as a leading authority on using psychological science to improve intergroup relations.  In addition to a remarkable career as a social psychologist studying intergroup contact theory (with more than 125 papers and multiple books), Dr. Tropp also worked with a wide range of organizations (eight of whom provided glowing letters of support) seeking to implement evidence-based intergroup contact programs to build positive intergroup relations in various sectors.  Her synthesis of expertise in strong theoretical work and application to social issues is an excellent reflection of Kurt Lewin’s legacy.

Linda R. Tropp

2023 Kurt Lewin Award

The 2023 Kurt Lewin Award winner is Dr. John T. Jost, Professor of Psychology and Politics and (by affiliation) Data Science at New York University, where he directs the Social Justice Lab.  In selecting John for this award, the selection committee noted his significant career-long leadership role and advocacy in connecting social and political psychology to address pressing social issues in society, his development and application of system justification theory to help understand the dynamics of intergroup relations and social (in)justice, and, as reflected in his extensive and impactful publication record, his adherence to and promotion of Kurt Lewin’s belief that there is “nothing so practical” as a good theory.

John T. Jost

2022 Kurt Lewin Award

The Kurt Lewin Award, given by the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, recognizes “outstanding contributions to the development and integration of psychological research and social action.” The 2022 Kurt Lewin Award winner is Dr. Michael Hogg, Director of the Social Identity Lab at Claremont Graduate University in Los Angeles. Professor Hogg has nearly 400 scientific publications that have been cited more than 115,000 times, and has h-index 130. His current research focuses on the role played by social identity in radicalization, populism and social disintegration, and in translating self-uncertainty into orthodoxy and societal extremism.

Michael A. Hogg

2021 Kurt Lewin Award

The SPSSI 2021 Kurt Lewin Award is being awarded posthumously to Dr. James S. Jackson.  The Lewin Award is SPSSI’s highest scholarly honor and premier career recognition for distinguished research on social issues. As such, we are thrilled to recognize Dr. Jackson’s significant work and impact on our field. Dr. Jackson was nominated for the Kurt Lewin Award for his outstanding contributions to the development and integration of psychological research and social action, and his research on racial health disparities.