Researcher · Educator · Speaker
Well-being for education, work and everyday life.
Lecturer, Koç University
Aydan is a lecturer at Koç University, where she teaches courses on life skills and wellbeing. She completed her PhD at the Centre for Research in Human Flourishing at the University of Nottingham and holds a master’s degree in Applied Positive Psychology from the University of East London. She received her bachelor’s degree from the Department of Philosophy at Boğaziçi University.
Her research on well-being, mindfulness, authenticity and compassion has been published in peer-reviewed scientific journals. Her work focuses on the psychological and educational conditions that help people lead meaningful and fulfilling lives, and that support individuals and organizations in realizing their potential and growing sustainably.
In her trainings, which bring philosophy and psychology together, she treats well-being not merely as the experience of short-lived positive emotions but as a multidimensional, ongoing process, with room for authenticity, meaning, character strengths, constructive relationships, mindfulness and flow.
Alongside her academic work, she offers corporate training and consulting services that aim to carry knowledge from scientific research into everyday life, education and working life.
Programs
Depending on the nature of their content and your organization’s priorities, the programs below can be delivered as a talk or a workshop. Shaped around the profile of the participants and the needs of your organization, they draw on reflective activities, group and case discussions, and experiential learning. Programs can be held in person or online.
A detailed outline and delivery plan is prepared after a preliminary conversation that follows the inquiry form, and shared with your organization.
As working life grows ever busier, more hurried and less predictable, how can we succeed without burning out and adapt proactively to changing conditions? In this program we look at the relationship between success, intrinsic motivation, awareness and psychological flexibility, and explore the psychological foundations and organizational conditions that let us succeed under performance pressure while looking after our well-being.
What are the conditions that allow employees and teams to grow, realize their potential and sustain their well-being at work? In this program we examine together the psychological, relational and environmental conditions that support employees’ well-being and development.
Knowing ourselves, living by our values and bringing out what is genuinely ours matter more and more, not only in everyday life but also at work, where we spend a large part of our lives. At a time when artificial intelligence is steadily transforming corporate life, when expectations of speed and efficiency can overshadow value-driven choices and the space for creativity is shrinking, what does it cost individuals and organizations to leave no room for authenticity at work? With this question at its center, the program examines the role of authenticity in well-being, creativity and performance.
In an age when personal development has become an industry, many misconceptions and assumptions about what makes a happy life are widely accepted. The sheer speed of social media lets pleasure-driven “recipes for happiness” pass from hand to hand in seconds. But how many of these one-size-fits-all secrets of happiness are actually backed by scientific evidence? Looking for the answer in empirical research from positive psychology, we explore together what “really” supports a fulfilling and meaningful life.
For schools & organizations
A long-term consulting process that aims to help both companies and educational institutions build a lasting culture of well-being. It offers a comprehensive service, from analyzing the institution’s needs and designing a program tailored to its specific requirements, to implementation and impact evaluation.
The scope of the consulting process and the delivery plan are shaped by the outcomes of a preliminary conversation that follows the inquiry form.
“Aydan creates a flow you can easily let yourself go into, with her sincere, direct approach and the way she designs her content. Rather than filing mindfulness away as a theoretical concept, what I gained after three hours was “laying the groundwork” and “living mindfulness” within the session itself. If you want to go deeper, the references shared during the session open new doors and new windows.”
Alper Turgal
Unit Manager, Türkiye İş Bankası