Arie Kuyvenhoven is Professor in Development Economics at Wageningen University. In Wageningen he was actively involved in the development and implementation of long term, mostly multidisciplinary, research programs where economics was combined with other social and technical sciences, dealing with issues in agricultural and rural development. He supervised more than 25 PhD theses that covered issues ranging from contract farming, migration, soil conservation, and village modeling. The number and range of his publications is a further proof of his wide interest and his ability to apply economic perspectives to a wide range of relevant development issues. Within Wageningen University Professor Kuyvenhoven contributed substantially to education and research within and outside the Social Sciences in varying positions such as Chairman MSc Committee Agricultural Economics and Management, Head of Department, Dean, and most recently as Director of Mansholt Graduate School of Social Sciences. In these positions he was able to integrate the often diverse viewpoints and effectively focus the efforts on the high academic standards required in an increasingly international environment.