Welcome to the Tyler Prize
The world’s most prestigious and longest-running environmental award
The Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement 2026 Awarded to Dr. Toby Kiers
The Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement is delighted to name Dr. Toby Kiers as the 2026 Tyler Prize Laureate, recognising her pioneering research into underground fungal networks and their critical role in sustaining life on Earth.
An evolutionary biologist and professor at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Kiers is internationally recognised for her pioneering research into underground fungal networks and soil biodiversity, work that has reshaped global understanding of ecosystem and climate health.
As co-founder of the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN), she has helped mobilise a global movement to map, protect, and celebrate life beneath our feet.
Dr. Kiers will receive the 2026 Tyler Prize at a ceremony in Amsterdam on 23 April, where she will deliver the State of the Environment Address.
The Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement
Leading Voices, Inspiring Excellence
Established in 1973 by the late John and Alice Tyler, the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement was the first prize of its kind to recognize achievement in environmental science. For more than fifty years, the prize has been awarded to scientists, policymakers, and thought leaders whose groundbreaking work has advanced environmental science, conservation, and sustainability worldwide.
Recipients of the prize (known as our Laureates) work across diverse fields within environmental science including conservation, public policy and economics on issues including health, air, water pollution, biodiversity loss, and energy. The $250,000 prize is awarded to any individual or organization from any part of the world that has worked to deliver global solutions for environmental impact.
The Tyler Prize is administered by The University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA.
