Dr. Alex Altshuler (PhD, MSW, MA)
Biography
Dr. Alex Altshuler (PhD, MSW, MA) is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Social Work, University of Haifa. A scholar and civil servant in the areas of crisis leadership, resilience and emergency management, he focuses on psychosocial, organizational, strategic, and international aspects of humanitarian aid, emergency preparedness and disaster risk reduction, among other topics.
Dr. Altshuler currently also serves as the Director of Social Sciences and Humanities at Israel’s Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology. Previously, Alex served as the Founding Director of Research and Development for the Israel National Emergency Management Authority and the Founding Chair of the National Knowledge and Research Center in Emergency Readiness. Alex joined the joined the Harvard University Program on Crisis Leadership as a Fulbright Post-Doctoral Fellow in August 2014; he has subsequently served as a Senior Fellow since September 2017. He also serves as a member in a number of UN and the International Science Council advisory boards. In addition, he has volunteered since 1998 and serves as a Board Member of SELAH – The Israel Crisis Management Center.
Dr. Altshuler has been awarded over 20 academic prizes and fellowships, presented in over 50 academic conferences, and published over 40 academic papers.
Vision
In my humble opinion, the IASSW should serve as a major mechanism for spreading humanistic values of social justice, promoting social inclusion and diversity, enhancing global solidarity in all the realms and especially in the face of major potential and current crises, such as COVID-19, climate change, and more.
Established in 1928, IASSW is major stakeholder in the world of social work and beyond. I think that its strong voice of consciousness should be heard even louder in the face of major global challenges – COVID-19, the climate change, the exponential technological change and its effects on global and local inequality and more. The United Nations decided in 2015 on the Global Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) and I believe that social workers and their leadership headed by the IASSW along with IFSW and ICSW should have major role in promoting those goals and turning our vulnerable world into safer, more inclusive and more humanistic place.
In addition, I believe that exponential technological advancements create huge opportunities and challenges for social work education and the IASSW should be actively engaged and lead their thorough and critical examination.
IASSW is also uniquely positioned to connect the schools of social work across the globe. I believe that with all its limitations, the new technological platforms for online dialogue, sharing and learning imply a huge potential for intensifying and deepening the continuous dialogue between the schools, beyond the relatively rare in-person meetings and we should further promote this complimentary tool of dialogue, exchange and cooperation among us.
Connecting past, present and future, we quickly approach the centennial of theIASSW in 2028. I believe that this remarkable date should urge us to reflect on the past and set a deliberative process of defining the strategic priorities of the IASSW community for the coming decades. In my modest opinion, we should be considering including in this process the issues of promoting global solidarity and inclusiveness, as well as creatively and inclusively shaping cutting-edge and truly glocal social work education in our constantly-changing world. Our students have a true privilege and a rare opportunity to serve at the forefront of promoting sustainable and inclusive development in simultaneously so risky and so promising times.
I would be deeply privileged to provide my modest contribution to the gigantic and deeply humanistic mission of the IASSW.
Thank you very much in advance for considering my candidacy.