Speech title:
How macro social change affects individual behavior and development: New concepts and results

Rainer K. Silbereisen, until his retirement in 2017, was Professor and Head of the Department of Developmental Psychology at the University of Jena (Germany), Professor and Adjunct Professor of Human Development and Family Studies at the Pennsylvania State University (USA), Director of the Center for Applied Developmental Science in Jena, and is a member of the Board of Governors of the University of Haifa, Israel.

He is Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Association for Psychological Science, and Member of the European Academy of Sciences. He was Editor of the International Journal of Behavioral Development, the Journal European Psychologist, and the International Journal of Psychology. He was President of the German Psychological Society, the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development, and the International Union of Psychological Science. A psychologist by training, he has been involved in interdisciplinary research, funded by various research foundations, on the role of social change in human development, acculturation among immigrants, psychological development of entrepreneurship, and prevention of adolescent problem behavior, often in a cross-national and longitudinal format.

He has established capacity building programs on psychological research and application for young scientists and professionals, targeting countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Asia-Pacific region. He has edited about 20 books and published about 300 scholarly research articles. His work was appreciated by various national and international science awards. For more information on his life and work check www.rainersilbereisen.de