Zeynep Aykul Yavuz

Zeynep Aykul Yavuz

Hi, I’m Zeynep, I’m the Learning Designer at ATÖLYE Academy; I’m also currently completing a Ph.D. in Learning Sciences at Boğaziçi University. Turning scientific approaches about learning into daily practices and vice versa, “learning within communities,” and “learning by doing” are subjects that I am interested in. I strive to create accessibility for quality education for people from diverse backgrounds.

Zeynep joined ATÖLYE in 2019 as Learning Designer; her Ph.D. studies and interdisciplinary background in design and engineering support her work on ATÖLYE Academy’s learning community, as well as program design, assessment, and sustainable learning. She also is well versed in coaching and facilitation in multiple industries.

Zeynep has designed a diverse range of learning content and learning environments for individuals, teams, and communities. These include a tech-enabled social cohesion curriculum for children, to learning design curriculums for self-learning adults. She has also been coaching teams in Academy’s changemaker programs, and facilitates workshops for internal rituals.

During and after her masters, she worked with young entrepreneurs as a Fab Lab Manager in a mobile startup accelerator program. She developed training programs and organized workshops and events whilst supporting entrepreneurs to develop their products and services with a human-centered approach. After her team applied to the Education in Emergencies challenge started by OpenIDEO, she participated in OpenIDEO’s Alliance program with social innovators around the world and received mentorship. She developed the project with a design thinking approach, and won the grant for the animation that she had prepared for the project. 

Zeynep has several academic publications about developing industrial design curriculums for university-industry collaborations, the adaptation of open-source tools by industrial design students in design processes, mobile startup accelerators, and Fab Lab programs for locals and refugees. She continues to research co-learning, learning in communities, and learning journeys. 

Zeynep enjoys drawing illustrations, creating basic animations, and reading about neuroscience when she has time.