Acclaimed U. of Haifa professor named Israel Prize winner in sociology

Prof. Ariela Lowenstein, the founder and head of the Social Gerontology Center for Research at University of Haifa was on Tuesday named as the 2021 Israel Prize winner in the fields of sociology and criminology, Education Minister Yoav Gallant announced.

Lowenstein is specifically being acknowledged for her world-class research in the field of elderly aging, particularly in “identifying, decades ago, the greatest challenge of the elderly facing the 21st century: improving quality of life as members of the population age.”

The Israel Prize is considered one of the state’s highest honors, and is awarded in a ceremony on Independence Day.

Her more than 200 publications have appeared in various leading academic journals over the years, garnering acclaim and establishing a solid following of students in the field of gerontology, studying a holistic conglomeration of the aspects of aging.

She has led studies analyzing the connection between the social interactions that the elderly face, their level of relationships with their families and how all this affects their quality of life.

Lowenstein’s wisdom and knowledge have spread all over the world through her appointment as visiting professor to various universities, including Boston University and King’s College in London, as well as speaking at around 90 conferences focusing on gerontology.

Her studies have focused in depth the issue of negligence and abuse of the elderly community.

In 2008, she led a study on how rockets fired daily into Sderot affected Holocaust survivors living there. The study included simultaneous interviews of Holocaust survivors living close to the Lebanon border, which at the time also faced rocket threats.

Both groups responded feeling alone and desperate, and reported being reminded of their experiences in the Holocaust.

Lowenstein first earned a BA in sociology and political science from the Hebrew University in 1963, and a Master’s degree in social work from NYU. She then went on to earn her doctorate in 1980 focusing on sociology and criminology.

Her legacy lives on in the educational programs she established, particularly within the Social Gerontology Center for Research, to further the study of gerontology across a wide spectrum of fields.