Researcher and women’s rights activist Husaina Jalal, alongside Foroozan Danesh and David Nawrocki, has received the Academy of Management’s 2026 Caroline B. Dexter Award for their joint research, “Learning Amidst Adversity.”

The research explores how women in Afghanistan continue to learn and acquire knowledge despite widespread restrictions on girls’ and women’s access to formal education.

The study examines how women in Afghanistan find ways to continue learning, preserve their knowledge and develop their skills even as formal educational opportunities remain limited.

Speaking about the award, Jalal said the recognition was more than an academic achievement for her. She described it as an acknowledgment by the international academic community of the efforts women and girls in Afghanistan are making to continue learning under difficult circumstances.

She expressed hope that the research would help bring the voices of women and girls in Afghanistan to a wider international audience and demonstrate that restrictions on education cannot extinguish their desire to learn and progress.

The Caroline B. Dexter Award is one of the Academy of Management’s awards at the academy-wide level. It recognizes research that advances the organization’s internationalization efforts by offering deeper insights into diverse communities and contexts.