International Max Planck Research School LIFE

LIFE is an International Max Planck Research School, a graduate program sponsored by the Max Planck Society. Human development across the lifespan is its research topic. The general approach is aimed at advancing the behavioral and social science of human development. LIFE takes an integrative and interdisciplinary approach to understanding human development in a changing world, connecting evolutionary, ontogenetic, historical, and institutional perspectives. The focus is on the evolution and interaction of individual and institutional development.

The institutions involved in LIFE are: the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, the Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, University of Michigan, University of Virginia, and the University of Zurich. The target group of the Research School are post-diploma or post-master's graduate students who intend to pursue a doctorate in one of the relevant disciplines (biology, psychology, sociology, anthropology, educational science). As a collaborative Research School, LIFE offers students unique training in the dynamics of human behavior on different time scales and will include opportunities for research abroad at a cooperating institution. The training program involves courses, a series of summer schools, and collaborative supervision of research training.

Detailed information can be found on the LIFE website.