Ulman Lindenberger

Ulman Lindenberger is Managing Director (2006-2009, 2016-2019, 2025-2027) and Director of the Center for Lifespan Psychology at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin. He concurrently serves as Co-Director of the Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research. He holds honorary professorships at Freie Universität Berlin, Universität des Saarlandes, and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.

Education includes a Dipl.-Psych. from Technische Universität Berlin (1985), Dr. phil. from Freie Universität Berlin (1990 summa cum laude), and Habilitation in Psychology (1998). His research examines:

• Behavioral and neural plasticity across lifespan
• Brain-behavior relationships
• Lifespan developmental theory
• Multivariate developmental methodology
• Formal models of behavioral change

His publications focus on cognitive aging patterns, neural plasticity mechanisms, and methodological innovations in lifespan psychology. Research demonstrates consistent themes: neurocognitive dedifferentiation in aging, dopaminergic modulation of cognition, and environmental influences on brain plasticity.

Awards include:

• Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize (2010)
• Fellow of Royal Society (2025)
• Foreign Member of Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (2023)
• Mentoring Award of German Psychological Society (2011)

He has supervised over 50 doctoral students and secured major grants including DFG collaborative projects, BMBF initiatives (Berlin Aging Study I/II), EU Horizon 2020 (LIFEBRAIN), and Max Planck Society strategic funds. Leads multidisciplinary teams at Center for Lifespan Psychology and Max Planck UCL Centre, coordinating international projects like COBRA (Cognition, Brain, and Aging) and SYNAPSE.