Arie Rimmerman is Richard Crossman Professor of Social Welfare and Social Planning and former Dean of Social Welfare and Health Sciences and Head of School of Social Work at the University of Haifa, Israel. He is an internationally well-known researcher in social policy and disability who has lectured at several universities in the United States and Europe, including the University of Pennsylvania, Syracuse University and Charles University, Prague. He has published seven books and hundreds of peer reviewed articles and research reports in Israel, the United States, Europe and Australia. He has served as an advisor to ministers of labour and welfare in Israel and public committees on disabilities in Israel, Europe and the United States. He is the recipient of the Lehman Award (1987), the William Trump Award (1998), the International Award of the American Association on Mental Retardation (1999) and the Burton Blatt Leadership Award (2006).