People, projects and funding that improves people's lives
At the Life Span Institute, our mission is to improve human health and development through research. We bring together a wide range of scientists who conduct translational research from its origins in pregnancy through the final stages of life.
People
People powering the Kansas economy
An economic analysis of the activity of the KU Life Span Institute indicates an estimated $30 million impact on the Kansas economy. In FY2024, LSI employed 489 researchers and staff.
Who we are
A multi-campus, statewide, and national research community
The Life Span Institute researchers represent nine Life Span Institute centers and a wide range of university departments, including psychology, applied behavior science, speech-language-hearing, clinical child psychology, special education, educational psychology, pharmacology and toxicology, bioengineering, music therapy and psychiatry. Our centers and lab groups are geographically dispersed on and off of the main campus in Lawrence, the KU Edwards Campus in Overland Park, and in Kansas City, Kan., at the KU Medical Center and Kansas City Children's Campus. While the vast majority of our people are located in Kansas, our centers have remote staff and researchers who apply their expertise from across the United States.
Featured Life Span Institute centers and labs
Research Funding: $43.3 million in FY25
The Life Span Institute serves scientists from diverse disciplines at KU, all of whom conduct translational research from its origins in pregnancy through the final stages of life. The institute supports the entire range from basic to applied research and includes treatment and assessment clinics, service coordination and delivery, community outreach and implementation, consultation, and interdisciplinary training.
In FY25, total research funding was $43.3 million, our second-highest year. Every dollar invested in our research impacts people: those with disabilities, students struggling with literacy skills, teachers managing classrooms, autistic preschoolers, and parents, among others.
Funding rate
Research Impact
Our research began in the 1960s as an effort to better understand the needs and development of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities who were isolated in institutional settings that rejected them as full human beings. That early focus on inclusion and equity has evolved and broadened over the past six decades to include research, service and outreach across the fields of education, behavioral science and neuroscience.
Highlighted Federally Funded Research
Return on Investment
through research grants and contracts; $4.15 in indirect costs alone.
