Ursula M. Staudinger, Ph.D., is a Professor of psychology, Academic Dean, and Vice President at the International University Bremen (IUB), Germany. She received her doctorate in 1988 and her Habilitation in 1997 from the Free University of Berlin. Before coming to IUB, she was a scientist at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences working on the future of aging, a senior researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin investigating the development of wisdom, and a professor of psychology at the University of Dresden teaching and researching lifespan developmental psychology. 

Her research interests include:  the study of plasticity and resilience in lifespan development; the interaction between cognition, emotion, and motivation across the life span; the social-interactive nature of human functioning; and the individual and societal determinants of lifelong learning.

Dr. Staudinger is a fellow with the American Psychological Association and a member of the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina and of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences. She has been a member of the MacArthur Network on “Successful Midlife Development” and has been asked on several occasions to report to governmental committees on lifelong learning, aging and resilience. She has been the German representative on the preparation committee for the new U.N. action plan on aging. She serves on the editorial boards of Psychology and Aging, and the Journals of Gerontology.