Julia Delius

Julia Delius is a Research Associate in the Developmental Psychology team at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development (MPIB) in Berlin, where she has served since 1998. Her primary roles include scientific project management for the Berlin Aging Study (BASE) and BASE-II, editorial coordination for the International Max Planck Research School on the Life Course (IMPRS LIFE), and leadership in major interdisciplinary publications.

Her educational background includes:

• 1982-1984: Medical studies at Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg
• 1984-1988: Medical studies at University of Hamburg
• 1988: Third State Examination (University of Hamburg)
• 1989-1992: Doctoral scholarship at Max Planck Institute for Brain Research
• 1993: Dr. med. (Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt/Main)
• 1992-1993: Postdoctoral fellowship at Max Planck Institute for Brain Research

Dr. Delius's research integrates gerontology with developmental psychology and neuroscience, focusing on aging processes through longitudinal studies like BASE. Her comparative cognition work examines avian intelligence to understand evolutionary aspects of brain function. She bridges clinical medicine with psychological research, particularly in neuroscientific fundamentals of aging and cognitive development across the lifespan.

Her publications (2010-2019) reveal two distinct research trajectories: aging studies emphasizing longitudinal methodology in BASE projects, and comparative cognition investigating pigeon visual processing. The aging research focuses on data collection frameworks and cognitive aging patterns, while her animal cognition work challenges hierarchical pattern recognition models through symmetry and pixelation experiments.

No scientific awards are documented in the provided materials.

She has coordinated major research initiatives including BASE (1993-present), BASE-II, and IMPRS LIFE (2001-2005, 2010-2012), serving as editor for the LIFE newsletter since 2010. Her editorial leadership extends to the 26-volume International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences (1998-2001) and German-American Frontiers of Social Sciences symposia (1998-2000), demonstrating significant contribution to academic infrastructure without explicit student advisement roles.

As a core member of MPIB's Developmental Psychology team, Dr. Delius contributes to Germany's national aging research infrastructure through BASE projects while maintaining active collaboration with the Max Planck Society's neuroscience network, particularly through her work on interdisciplinary gerontology and comparative cognition.