It is a joint international PhD Program of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Technische Universität Berlin, the University of Michigan, the University of Virginia, and the University of Zurich. The goal of the Research School is the study of the development of human behavior from infancy to old age in the context of the physical, social and cultural dimensions of the environment. LIFE takes an integrative and interdisciplinary approach to identifying and understanding the mechanisms, institutions, and conditions that shape the human life course.

LIFE offers students unique training in the dynamics of human behavior on different time scales. These include long-term changes, such as in the evolution of culture and emergence of institutions of learning, and short-term changes, such as in individual education processes, lifespan development, and institutionally regulated life-course processes. The curriculum combines psychology, educational science, neuroscience, and biology, focussing especially on the dynamics of human behavior on different time scales.

The program has five core components:

Prof. Dr Ulman Lindenberger, Prof. Dr Clemens Tesch-Römer Dr Imke Kruse Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Freie Universität Berlin International Doctoral Programme

development of human behaviour, human life course, evolution of culture, learning, education