TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Dr. Jane Goodall will deliver a speech on June 8 for the Tang Prize, as past award winners arrive in Taiwan. 

Goodall is an acclaimed primatologist known for pioneering work studying chimpanzees in Tanzania, leading to keen observations about primates using language and tools in Gombe Stream National Park. She is also known for conservation work, from wildlife to flora and fauna.

Chern Jenn-chuan (陳振川), CEO of the Tang Prize Foundation, said in a press release that Goodall, now 91, was unable to travel to Taiwan to receive her award in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The foundation made a trip to Singapore in December to present the prize to her.

According to Chern, Goodall will deliver her first public lecture in Taiwan in seven years, a rare opportunity for the public to learn from an esteemed conservationist. The Tang Prize is working with the Jane Goodall Institute Taiwan to promote the event, hoping to inspire more efforts to protect the environment and wildlife.

During her visit to Taiwan, Goodall will be invited to tour the Tang Prize Foundation and add her signature to the "Table of Honor," where it will be preserved alongside those of the other Tang Prize Laureates.

Dr. Samuel Yin (尹衍樑), a Taiwanese businessman who founded the conglomerate Ruentex Group, established the Tang Prize in 2012. It consists of four award categories: sustainable development, biopharmaceutical science, sinology, and the rule of law.

Every other year, four independent and professional selection committees choose Tang Prize laureates who have made substantive contributions to the world in these categories, regardless of ethnicity, nationality, or gender.

A cash prize of NT$50 million (US$1.7 million) is allocated to each category, with NT$10 million earmarked as a research grant intended to encourage professionals to examine mankind’s most urgent needs in the 21st century.

In addition, the Tang Prize Lecture series includes a keynote speech at the BIO Asia Forum in July. This will be done by Jens Juul Holst, who pioneered the use of GLP-1-based therapeutics, which have become blockbuster drugs for treating type 2 diabetes and obesity.

Holst will share the latest advancements from international academic research and the pharmaceutical industry. Of the past six Tang Prize laureates in biopharmaceutical science, three received the Nobel Prize.

Committees are engaged in the nomination and selection process for the next Tang Prize laureates. The 2026 Tang Prize Laureates will be announced over four days from June 15 to 18, 2026.