Human Development and Learning Sciences, PhD

Notice: This program will be available to students starting in Spring 2026. Enrollment is not available before that term.

The mission of the Human Development and Learning Sciences (HDLS) doctoral program is to produce a yearly cohort of nationally competitive research scholars who have the training, track record, and vision to become leaders in child, youth, family, and adult development and learning across diverse settings. The HDLS program is based on the belief that understanding teaching, facilitating, learning, and development in formal and informal learning environments is best undertaken as an interactive system, and that an integrated and coordinated interdisciplinary approach is best suited to understand, design and implement change. The program draws from scholarship in education, developmental psychology, and cognitive psychology and emphasizes the importance of community and school partnerships to generate knowledge that contributes toward a more just and humane society. HDLS centers four pillars to guide students and utilize faculty expertise: (1) Teaching, Leading, and Facilitation, (2) Cultural and Social Contexts, (3) Developmental Trajectories and Transitions, and (4) Research Designed for Change.  These pillars ground the overall work as multidisciplinary as well as inclusive of formal and informal learning spaces at varying developmental thresholds and intersections. The pillars also emphasize combining traditional psychological measures with the sociocultural realities students and faculty embody on an everyday basis. Lastly, HDLS focuses on change and transformation and the research methods to understand and support that change. The goal is to cultivate the next generation of researchers who embrace complexity and collaboration, and who pursue innovative solutions to the world’s most challenging problems.

Innovative features of the HDLS PhD Program:

• Immersion in rigorous interdisciplinary research and training experiences from the first day in the program.
• Access to Pittsburgh’s rich talent pool of analysts, researchers and practitioners including research scientists at the Learning Research and Development Center (LRDC) and community-embedded staff and researchers at the Office of Child Development.
• Active involvement in ongoing research projects.
• Rigorous training in quantitative, qualitative, and mixed research methods.

For additional degree requirement information, refer to the School of Education section on Doctoral Degree Requirements.