Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development

Discovering what goes right in the lives of youth

Announcements 

Richard M. Lerner Receives Award from Association for Psychological Science

Lori Campbell ,

Richard M. Lerner, Bergstrom Chair in Applied Developmental Science and Director, Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development, has been named as the recipient of the 2020 Association for Psychological Science (APS) James McKeen Cattell Fellow Award, for a lifetime of outstanding contributions to the area of applied psychological research .

Lerner is also the 2013 recipient of the American Psychological Association Division 7 Urie Bronfenbrenner Award for Lifetime Contribution to Developmental Psychology in the Service of Science and Society, the 2014 recipient of the American Psychological Association Gold Medal for Life Achievement in the Application of Psychology, and the 2015 recipient of the American Psychological Association Ernest R. Hilgard Lifetime Achievement Award for Distinguished Career Contributions to General Psychology. In addition, Dr. Lerner received the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development (ISSBD) Distinguished Scientific Award for the Applications of Behavioral Development in 2016, the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) Distinguished Contributions to Public Policy & Practice in Child Development in 2017, and the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development (ISSBD) Award for Applications of Behavioral Development Theory and Research in 2018.

A Professor in the Tufts University Department of Child Study and Human Development since 1999, Lerner has more than 700 scholarly publications, including more than 80 authored or edited books.  

Lerner serves on the Board of Directors of the Military Child Education Coalition (and co-chairs their Scientific Advisory Board). In July 2017, Pope Francis appointed Lerner to a five-year term as a Corresponding Member of the Pontifical Academy for Life.

Lerner is known for his theoretical work on the mutually influential relations between individuals and their settings as the fundamental basis of life-span human development, and for his use of this approach to developmental theory to describe, explain, and optimize the relations between adolescents and their peers, families, schools, and communities. His work integrates the study of family, school, and community-based programs in the promotion of positive youth development and youth contributions to civil society.