Yves Vaillancourt holds a Ph.D. in political science from the Universite de Montreal. He is currently a professor at the School of Social Work of the Universite du Quebec a Montreal, where he is also leading a research unit (LAREPPS Laboratiore de recherche sur les pratiques et les politiques sociales) studying social policy and social practises. The founding director of Nouvelles Pratiques Sociales, a journal based in Montreal, Vaillancourt has written extensively in the area of social policy. He has worked in the history of Canadian social policy, federal-provincial relations, home care services, social housing and services for elderly and handicapped persons. Vaillancourt is also a member of CURA (Community-University Research Alliances) on the social economy, led by Benoit Levesque and Nancy Neatman, and a member of CRISES, a research centre working on social innovations in social economy, enterprises and trade unions.