John Gal

Professor Gal is the Chair of the Social Welfare Policy program and a Principal Researcher at the Taub Center. He is at the Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare, at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and served as Dean of the school. He serves as Director of the research program in the field of social welfare policy. Professor Gal was a member of the Tamir Commission (2002), which recommended implementing the Wisconsin Plan in Israel. In 2007, he served in the public committee appointed by the Israel Academy of Sciences to assess the Wisconsin Plan’s achievements and failures.

He was recently a member of the Committee for Combating Poverty (2014) and headed the sub-committee on social security and welfare. Professor Gal has a PhD in social work from the Hebrew University (1996). He has published many articles and books, including: A Voluntary Burden Indeed? The Story of Dealing with Unemployment (2002), Social Security in Israel (2004), and Policy Practice in Social Work (2011). He also edited Professional Ideologies and Preferences in Social Work: A Global Study (2003) with Idit Weiss and John Dixon, and Social Workers Affecting Social Policy (2013) with Idit Weiss-Gal,. Two additional books were published by the Taub Center: . Aviram, U., Gal, J. and Katan, Y. (eds.), (2007).  Formulating social policy in Israel: Trends and issues (2007) with Uri Aviram and Yossi Katan and Access to Social Justice in Israel (2009) with Mimi Ajzenstadt  His academic focus is primarily on comparative analysis and implementation of social policy and social security in Israel and around the world. His current research topics include Mediterranean welfare states, religion and social policy, immigration and social policy, policy practice as well as a historical perspective on the social work profession.