The goal of the LIFE graduate training program is to provide international training experiences in the study of the systematic changes in human behavior over evolutionary and ontogenetic time. The program aims to advance the behavioral and social science of human development. LIFE interprets human development in a changing world interdisciplinarily by connecting evolutionary, ontogenetic, historical and institutional approaches. The focus is on the evolution and interaction of individual and institutional development.

Training for graduate students is provided in each of the following general areas:

• proximal biological influences on development (e.g. embryology, development of the stress reaction system, biological maturation, biological components of aging, the biology of puberty, genetics, public health issues related to the life span, etc.)
• ultimate (distal) biological influences (e.g. ecology and evolutionary influences on human development)
• proximal psychological, cognitive and social influences of development (e.g. developmental psychology, educational psychology, family influences on development, risk and resilience)
• distal (macro) social influences on the life course (e.g. ecological models of development, anthropology of the life course, sociology of the life course, cultural psychology of the life course, economic/political/historical influences on the life course)

U-M LIFE fellows participate in bi-weekly reading groups that occur throughout the year. They are expected to attend the academies of the International Max Planck Research School held at the University of Michigan and the University of Virginia, and are encouraged to attend academies at the International Max Planck Research School in Berlin or at University of Zurich. When available, LIFE Fellows present research findings at these academies.

Fellows may consider spending a semester or summer working on a collaborative research project with faculty in Charlottesville, Berlin or Zurich. Some participate in conferences held in conjunction with our partner institutions, such as the Society for the Study of Human Development. Limited expenses for such activities are funded by the program, and LIFE Fellows may apply for funding after completing at least one academy at U-M or UVa.