Collaborative conceptual work focuses on developing the conceptual framework of the motivational theory of life-span development. Several collaborative empirical research projects address motivation and control behavior in chronically ill and/or disabled young, middle-aged, and older adults and the role of individual agency in upward and downward social mobility, particularly under conditions of globalization in different countries.

• Life-Span Theory of Control and Its Application in Gerontological and Health-Related Research, Richard Schulz, Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh
• Goal Engagement and Disengagement in Adulthood, Carsten Wrosch, Ph.D., Concordia University, Montreal, Canada http://crdh.concordia.ca/researchers/Carsten_Wrosch.html,
• Affect and Emotion in Motivational Self-Regulation, Claudia Haase, Northwestern University https://sesp.northwestern.edu/people/faculty/claudia-haase.html
• Motivational Self-regulation in College Students, Luise von Keyerslingk, University if Tübingen, Germany https://uni-tuebingen.de/en/faculties/faculty-of-economics-and-social-sciences/subjects/department-of-social-sciences/education-sciences-and-psychology/institute/staff/von-keyserlingk-luise/
• Structural and Policy Conditions of College Students’ Success and Persistence in STEM Fields, collaboration with Richard Arum (UCI, School of Education), Gustavo Carlo (UCI School of Education) and Oded Mdossi (Univ. of Haifa, Israel)
• Individual Agency in the Transition to Adulthood: International Comparisons from a Social-Ecological Developmental Perspective, Ingrid Schoon, Ph.D., University of London, UK, and fellow at Berlin Social Science Center (WZB) https://www.wzb.eu/en/persons/ingrid-schoon
• Prospective Study of Developmental Regulation Across Adulthood, Denis Gerstorf, Ph.D., Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany https://www.psychologie.hu-berlin.de/mitarbeiter/1685131
• German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP), Deutsches Institut fuer Wirtschaftsforschung http://www.diw.de/en/diw_02.c.221178.en/about_soep.html
• German National Educational Panel (NEPS), University of Bamberg, Germany http://www.uni-bamberg.de/neps/
• Centre of Excellence on Learning and Motivation, University of Jyväskylä, Katariina Salmela-Aro, Ph.D, https://www.jyu.fi/ytk/laitokset/psykologia/henkilokunta/henkilokunta_vanha/salmela_aro
• University of London, Department of Quantitative Social Science, Ingrid Schoon