Rune J. Simeonsson is Emeritus Professor of Education (Donald & Justeen Tarbert Distinguished Term Professorship) and Senior Fellow, FPG Child Development Institute, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA. He is a licensed psychologist and international consultant on developmental disabilities and disorders. He holds academic degrees in the disciplines of Psychology, Special Education and Public Health, converging on the fields of health, development and disability. His research covers assessment and classification of development, functioning and disability and the role of environments related to children’s health, education and well-being. In addition to graduate teaching and advisement at the University of North Carolina for over 45 years, he co-directed a Transatlantic Consortium of 5 European and 3 US universities on global issues in child development and education (2001-2013). He has consulted on issues related to childhood disability in Eastern and Western Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas. He worked with the World Health Organization in the development of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health -ICF (1996-2001) and chaired the work group to develop the ICF version for Children and Youth- ICF-CY (2001-2007). He was also a member of the WHO committee to revise the diagnosis of Intellectual Developmental Disorder in the revision of ICD-11.