Prof. Dr. Denis Gerstorf
As lifespan developmental scholars, members of the Developmental and Educational Psychology Group are particularly interested in better understanding how our everyday lives and the long-term developmental trajectories we are on are often closely intertwined with and co-regulated by the contexts in which we live.
Towards that end, they conduct multi-time scale studies that link processes of change and variation all the way from micro-time scales such as moments and days to macro-time scales such as years and decades (and back). In doing so, they explore the utility of various different macro-time scales, including time-from-birth (age), time-to/from-events (e.g., morbidity onset, death), and historical time. They are also interested in how developmental processes are shaped by layers of contexts, including socio-economic, social, physical, care/service, technology characteristics of people’s life space.
- Long-term longitudinal panel studies
- Daily-life ambulatory assessment studies
- Questionnaire data, performance testing, objective external data (e.g., administrative sources, diagnoses by physicians, physiological data such as blood parameters)
Current position
| 2011 - present | Full Professor of Developmental and Educational Psychology at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (DE) |
| 2015 - present | Chairperson of the Berlin Aging Study II (DE) |
| 2011 - present | Research Fellow/Director at the German Institute for Economic Research, Berlin (DE) |
Positions held
| 2011 - 2021 | Adjunct Professor at the Pennsylvania State University, State College (US) |
| 2007 - 2011 | Assistant Professor at the Pennsylvania State University, State College (US) |
| 2005 - 2007 | Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville (US) |
| 2004 - 2005 | Postdoctoral Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin (DE) |
Academic Education
| 2001 - 2004 | Doctoral Degree (PhD) in Psychology at the Freie Universität Berlin (DE) |
| 1997 - 2001 | Diploma in Psychology at the Freie Universität Berlin (DE) |
Honors/Awards/Fellowships
| 2020 | Richard Kalish Innovative Publication Article Award, Behavioral and Social Sciences (BSS), Gerontological Society of America |
| 2014 | Fellowship in Behavioral and Social Sciences from the Gerontological Society of America (US) |
| 2011 | Margret M. and Paul B. Baltes Foundation Early Career Contributions Award in Behavioral and Social Gerontology from the Gerontological Society of America (US) |
| 2010 | Springer Early Career Achievement Award in Research in Adult Development and Aging fromt the American Psychological Association, Division 20 Adult Development and Aging (DE) |
| 2009 | Honorary Visiting Scholarship from Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia (AU) |
| 2008, 2009 | Visiting Research Fellowship from the German Institute for Economic Research, Berlin (DE) |
| 2005 - 2010 | Junior Fellow at the Max Planck International Research Network on Aging Maxnet Aging (DE) |
| 2002 | Outstanding Student Poster Award from the American Psychological Association, Division 20 Adult Development and Aging (US) |
DFG and internationally funded projects
| 2022 – present | Research Grant (National Institute of Health/Aging in the US, 1R01AG079523) - 'Is the Worsening of Midlife Health and Well-Being a US or Cross-Cultural Phenomenon?' |
| 2020 – present | Research Grant (Canadian Institute for Health Research 432595) - 'Allies in Health' |
| 2021 - present | Research Grant (DFG, GE 1896/8) - 'Age Differences in the Context-Sensitivity of Emotion Regulation Strategies' |
| 2017 - 2021 | Research Grant (DFG, GE 1896/7) - 'Emotional Reactivity and Regulation in Old Age: A Multi-Time-Scale Approach' |
| 2017 - 2021 | Research Grant (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, 435-2017-0283) - 'A couples approach to goal regulation in old age' |
| 2017 - 2021 | Research Grant (BMBF, BMBF 01GL1716A/B) - 'Sex- and gender-sensitive prevention of cardiovascular and metabolic disease in older adults (GendAge)' |
| 2016 - 2018 | Research Grant (DFG, 1896/6) - 'Dynamics of Adaptation in Very Old Age: Within-Person and Across-Partner Processes in the Daily Lives of Couples' |
| 2013 - 2017 | Research Grant (DFG, GE 1896/3) - 'Environmental Factors that Regulate Terminal Decline: Late-Life as a Natural Experiment' |
| 2010 - 2013 | Research Grant (Australian Research Council LP100200413) - 'Day-to-Day Life of Adults after the Age of 85' |
Selected activities
| 2011– present | Editor, Behavioral Science Section, Gerontology |
| 2014 – 2023 | Associate Editor, Psychology and Aging |
| 2012 – 2019 | Associate Editor, International Journal of Behavioral Development (IJBD) |
| 2012 - present | Editorial Board member, Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences |
| 2011 - present | Editorial Board member, European Journal of Ageing |
| 2020 – present | Member Advisory Board, The German Family Demography Panel Study (FReDA) |
| 2014 – present | Member Advisory Board, Center for Ageing and Health (AgeCap), University of Gothenburg, Sweden |
| 2014 – 2017 | Member Advisory Board, Norwegian Life Course, Ageing and Generation Study (NorLAG) |
| 2020 – present | Co-Head Publications Committee, International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development |
| 2018 – 2019 | Head Awards Committee, Early Career Contributions Award, Gerontological Society of America |
| 2015 – present | Member Steering Committee, Society for the Study of Human Development |