Zeynep Aycan is a Professor of Industrial and Organizational Psychology at Koç University. She has dual-appoinment in Departments of Psychology and Faculty of Management. She is the Director of the Graduate School of Social Sciences and Humanities. Aycan received her Doctoral degree from Queen’s University and conducted post-doctoral studies at McGill Universiy, Faculty of Management. Aycan’s reseach focuses on impact of culture on variouse aspects of organizational processes, including leadership, human resource management, women’s career development and work-life balance.
Aycan has authored/edited 4 books and more than 70 book chapters and research articles appeared in journals including Annual Review of Psychology, Science, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Applied Psychology, Human Relations, Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, International Journal of Human Resource Management.
Aycan’s research received numerous international and national awards. Some of the recent awards and recognitions include the following.
TUBITAK Science Award
Best Book Award in Management and Leadership, Chartered Management Institute (CMI)
Outstanding Young Scholar by the World Economic Forum, Interacademy Panel
Outstanding Young Scholar Award, Turkish Academy of Sciences
Best Paper Award, Applied Psychology: An International Review
Member, Global Young Academy
Research Fellow, Center for Global Workforce Strategy, Simon Fraser University
Outstanding Faculty Award, Koc University
Gordon Allport Intergroup Relations Award (co-receipient)
Outstanding Teaching Award, Renmin University of China
Elected Fellow, Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology Fellowship (SIOP)
Elected Fellow, Association for Psychological Sciences (APS)
After completing Kadıköy Anatolian High Scool in 1990 and the Bachelor of Arts program in Psychology at Boğaziçi University in 1994, she worked as human resources specialist in AC Nielsen Zet, the global market research company, for 3 years. After working actively on the establishment of this HR department, she focused on in-service trainings and recruitment phase. While living abroad between 1997 and 2003, she did volunteer work and taught in schools in diverse cultures within countries like Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Thailand. After returning to her country, she earned her master’s degree in clinical psychology, and conducted psychotherapy with adolescents and adults with depression and anxiety disorders. As a psychodramatist, she conducted training programs for adolescents and families. Her psychotherapy work has been certificated by the Academy of Cognitive Therapy and she was the first psychologist from Turkey to be admitted to the academy in the “diplomate” status. She is the associate editor and one of the translators of the two commonly used self-help books widely used in cognitive therapy (Feeling Good, Reinventing Your Life). She is one of the first members of the International Schema Therapy Association and one of the three psychotherapists in Turkey to be certified as a supervisor and trainer in schema therapy. She has given several trainings on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Schema Therapy, and has provided supervisions to therapists. She has been awarded EuroPsy by EFPA (European Federation of Psychologists’ Associations) in 2014. Currently, she is teaching ALIS courses at Koç University. She is also working on her PhD research in Maastricht University.
Muhsine Itır Ozgen, Ph.D., is lecturing Academic / Life Skills and management courses at Koc University. She had her degree in Psychology from Bogazici University. She worked at Boğaziçi University Psychology Research and Application Center in the clinical psychology field. Meanwhile, she earned her two M.A. degrees in Human Resources and Industrial Psychology. Her research field is the effectiveness of the training programs in the workplace. After assessing the effects of an outdoor training program on company dynamics in Siemens Kartal and Ankara she started working in private sector. She worked in two Training & Management Consultancy companies for 10 years. Then she worked as a freelance management consultant mainly in the healthcare industry. Her major seminar subjects were the effectiveness of patient-doctor relationship, coping with burnout, presentation techniques, and emotional intelligence. She earned her diploma from the University of California-Berkeley on “Project Management”. She completed the certificate program “MLQ Leadership and Coaching” from Deakin University/Australia. Apart from her academic education, she participated in numerous seminars in Turkey and abroad. Some of them are: “Recruitment regarding Personality Traits (Australia)”, “Gestalt Coaching (İstanbul)”, “Branded Customer Service (USA)”, Anger Management (İstanbul)”, Psychodrama (İstanbul)”, “7 Habits of Effective People, Stephen Covey (İstanbul)” She offered numerous training and consulting to company employees from national and international well-known companies. Some of them are Bayer, Bosch, Carrefour, DHL, Fujitsu, Hannover Messe, KPMG, Marsh Sigorta, Mercedes, Novartis, Petrol Ofisi, Pronet, Roche, Turkcell, YKK.
Names of the training programs she frequently offers: Branded Customer Management, People First, Emotional Intelligence, Time Management, Performance Management, Effective Leadership and Management, The Art of Dealing with Difficult People, Outdoor Team Training, Coaching, Stress Management, Fish Motivation Programs.
Dr. Ozgen earned her a Ph.D. degree in Human and Organizational Development Program from Fielding Graduate University/California. Her research area is the willingness to mentor in organizations. She conducted her research in the two biggest conglomerates of Turkey. She also has publications in the patient-doctor relationship.
Pınar Özbek graduated from Galatasaray High School, and completed the Bachelor of Arts program in Psychology at Boğaziçi University. After graduation, she earned her Master of Arts and Master of Education degrees from the Clinical and Counseling Psychology Department at Columbia University on Fulbright Scholarship. During her master’s program, she completed an internship on mental health issues at United Nations Headquarters in New York. In addition, she went through rigorous leadership training as a grantee in the Women’s International Leadership and International Leaders Programs at International House, New York. She also served as trainer in mental health and intercultural communication during these programs. Following her master’s program, she provided individual therapy, group counseling and rehabilitation counseling services in mental health clinics in New York. After returning to Turkey in 2010, she worked as a qualitative research executive at Millward Brown, the global market research company, and provided consultation on consumer behavior to several firms. She joined ALIS Team in September 2011. Having pursued a career in performing arts in addition to psychology, she now serves as an advisor to Koç University Musical Club. She has been active on the boards of Turkish Psychological Association since 2012, and now serves as its Vice President. She is also an international affiliate of American Psychological Association. She continues her work on psychotherapy and serves as a mentor to several high school and college students.
After graduating from Boğaziçi University, Department of Psychology, she earned her Master in Arts and Master in Education degrees at Columbia University, Teachers College, Department of Clinical and Counseling Psychology in 2008. As part of her clinical training, she co-facilitated substance abuse therapy groups at the Addiction Institute of New York, and worked as a Peer Counselor at the International House, New York. She lived and worked in New York City for 6 years and during this time she has earned her license as a Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) in New York State. In her clinical work, she worked as a psychotherapist at the Counseling Center of College of Staten Island, City University New York (CUNY), and had the chance to provide psychotherapy to individuals and couples with diverse backgrounds. At CUNY, she also taught ‘Introduction to Psychology’, ‘Developmental Psychology’ and several personal development courses. In addition, she also worked as a Research Administrator and later as a Research Therapist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. Being specialized on Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy and Multicultural Therapy, since her return to Turkey in 2012, Rengin Işık has been working at Koç University. She continues her work in psychological counseling. She is also interested in the use of genograms. She has written an article about Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s genograms, presented her work in international and national conferences, and continues to give lectures on this topic. In 2016, she was honored with EuroPsy certificate by EFFA. The same year, she also attended The Koru Center for Mindfulness- Teacher Training Program and became the first teacher in Turkey trained in mindfulness for young adults. She offers mindfulness workshops and continues to receive supervision as part of the certification process. For her doctoral studies, she is conducting her research at Utrecht University, Child and Adolescent Studies, and she is interested in emerging adulthood and changes in parent-child relations during this transition.
Dinçer Kocalar completed Kabataş High School, and graduated Istanbul Technical University as mechanical engineer in 1988. Once earning his M.Sc degree in the same field, he began his professional life as a project engineer in energy industry. He worked at a variety of positions such as team leadership, marketing, strategic planning, human resources, management and consulting in different firms including Aygaz Co. until 1999. He completed the courses of ‘Engineering Management’ PhD program and the ‘Teaching Certificate’ at Marmara University. Following his decision to make a change in his career path, he immigrated to Canada and earned BA Honours degree in psychology at York University. He completed MA program in clinical psychology during which he has been awarded with a national scholarship. He did research on emotional change processes in psychotherapy. He volunteered at Gerstein Crisis Center in Toronto and worked as a teaching assistant in the psychology department of York University. He still continues the PhD program at the same university. In addition to his academic education, he participated in a variety of training programs and supervisions about Emotion Focued Therapy, Gestalt Therapy, Psychodrama and Psychodynamic Therapy in both Canada and Turkey. He has been practicing psychotherapy working with adults and adolescents in the form of individual, couples and group therapy since 2005. Depression, anxiety, relationship problems, loss and grief and existential crisis take places in the scope of his therapy work. In 2013, he taught ‘Psychotheraphy Skills’ course in the post graduate program of Dogus University and worked as a co-facilitator in the Emotion Focused Therapy certificate program. In Human Group Co., he has been facilitating personal and organizational development programs on such topics as communication and relationship management, self-awareness, conflict management, assertiveness, team building, decision making, change management, emotional intelligence, motivation and innovation. He is a certified facilitator of the leadership program called ‘Drucker Management Path’ (DMP). In his career as an athlete in olimpic windsurfing discipline, he granted a place in Turkey’s national team in 1998 and also won the national title twice in Canadian Longboard Masters Championships. He has worked as a youth coach in Istanbul Sailing Club (IYK) and Toronto Windsurfing Club (TWC). As an outdoor sports lover, he is still active in orienteering and adventure racing sports. He volunteers at the Search and Rescue Association (AKUT) and also is a member of Turkish Psychological Association (TPD) and the Society for Psychotherapy Integration (SPI).
During her studies at Boğaziçi University, Department of Philosophy, she worked as a volunteer at The Foundation for Children with Leukemia (LÖSEV) and The Hope Foundation for Children with Cancer (KAÇUV). After her graduation, she worked professionally for The Spinal Cord Paralytics Association of Turkey on national and European Union projects. Then she earned her master’s degree in Applied Positive Psychology from the University of East London and wrote her dissertation on self-compassion. After returning to Turkey, she conducted long-term workshops on self-compassion at Boğaziçi University Guidance and Psychological Counseling Center (BÜREM) and Koç University Guidance Services (KURES). Also she participated in numerous trainings related to her field of study, including; “Mindful Self-Compassion Intensive Training” (Netherlands), “Search Inside Yourself” (Ireland), “Mindfulness in Organizations and Leadership Teams” (UK), “Introduction to Compassion Focused Therapy” (Sweden), “Advanced Training of Compassion-Focused Therapy – Clinical Skills” (UK).
In addition to her academic career, Aydan Bayır-Toper has been working as a course leader at the Istanbul branch of The School of Life, a London-based educational company, since 2015. She has given trainings to recognized companies such as Bosch, 3M, Unilever, Pfizer, Yapı Kredi, Danone, Akbank. She is also continuing her doctoral studies at the Centre for Research in Human Flourishing, University of Nottingham. Her research area is authenticity and its implications for higher education.