Dr. Burcu Demiray

Founder & Managing Director

Contact: b.demiray@psychologie.uzh.ch

I am a lifespan developmental psychologist by training and the founder of OldSchool. I lead a research group at the Healthy Longevity Center (University of Zurich) and teach at the Department of Psychology (University of Zurich). My research program focuses on cognitive activities (e.g., learning, memory) and psychological well-being across adulthood. I use qualitative and quantitative methods, collect real world evidence (e.g., smartphone sensing, wearables) and use interdisciplinary approaches in data analytics (e.g., machine learning) to understand and promote healthy human development and longevity.

At the Healthy Longevity Center, I have positioned myself at the intersection of research and innovation, with the aim of fostering the translation of psychological research findings into social innovation. I mainly focus on research and innovation development in ed-tech, age-tech and digital health.

I have a Master’s degree in psychology and am currently working on my dissertation. At OldSchool I am responsible for the technical implementation of the content on the e-learning platform: creating lecture modules for a new semester, publishing the recordings of lectures, or writing news pieces is part of it. I also support the users of the platform via e-mail and phone helpline if there are difficulties or questions. In addition, I support our own research projects and evaluate the feedback provided on our offers.

I studied Social Work and Religious Education in my Bachelor’s degree (Protestant University of Applied Sciences Ludwigsburg) and was afterwards employed in church-based, informal educational work. Now I am doing my Master’s in “Gerontology” (Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg) and I am currently working on my thesis in the project OldSchool about social elements in e-learning. At OldSchool, among other things, I am responsible for member support and development of e-learning courses.

I am Aurel Müller, student in communication sciences and media research at the University of Zurich. I am responsible for the livestream of the weekly lectures and the technical support of the lecturers. My tasks are to make sure that everything works technically, both for the people on site and in Zoom. In addition, I do my best to ensure that the lecturers can concentrate on the content of their lectures.

Shortly after my final degree as a surveying engineer I taught surveying at a technical college and arithmetic at a vocational school. This was followed by over 30 years in the IT sector in a large company where I was initially responsible for IT training and end-user support. Also in my later functions education was always a central concern for me.

Standing still is not an option. Since my retirement, I have been a member of the Senior Citizens’ University of Zurich, where I attend the always interesting lectures on a wide variety of topics.

I am convinced that lifelong learning is crucial to remain mentally fit. I try to make my contribution so that older people can cope with modern technology as well as digitalization, which increasingly permeate our everyday lives.

I am currently in the last year of my Master’s degree in Psychology at the University of Zurich. I am writing my Master’s thesis in the OldSchool project with Dr. Burcu Demiray as my supervisor. In my Master’s thesis, I am investigating the extent to which social elements in e-learning influence learning performance. At OldSchool, I advise seniors university members of Zurich and Lucerne via phone on how to use the OldSchool platform and help develop e-learning courses for people over 60.

I am Oliver Hliddal, student in psychology at the University of Zurich. I was responsible for the livestream of the weekly lectures and the technical support of the lecturers. My tasks were to make sure that everything works technically, both for the people on site and in Zoom. In addition, I did my best to ensure that the lecturers can concentrate on the content of their lectures.

In 2022, I did an exchange semester at the University of Zurich as part of my final Bachelor year. On this way, I got to know Burcu as one of my professors. I joined OldSchool in June 2022 as a research intern as I was and still am convinced of the idea to develop a tool that enables seniors to continue to learn and improve their skills in areas of their own interests. Since then, I was mainly involved in developing and improving the modules of the course “Studium Digitale”.
I am currently finishing my studies in Work, Organization, and Health Psychology at Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands. I recently started working as change advisor in an international engineering and architecture advisory company in Germany.

After graduating in business informatics at the university of applied sciences (2008) and many years of professional experience as an IT project manager, I completed my Master’s degree in psychology in January 2023 at the University of Zurich. My Master’s thesis on “E-Learning 60+” investigated the needs of seniors in online learning and implemented a course that is age-appropriate and accessible. The successful feedback from the participants served as a catalyst for the expansion of the e-learning offerings of OldSchool.
Today I work as a scientific researcher at the Institute for Ageing Research at the University of Applied Sciences OST (Profile), where I focus on technologies for ageing(n). Additionally, I work as a scientific researcher in a clinical research project to improve waiting times in psychotherapy at the University of Zurich and the Psychiatric University Hospital.

I obtained my Bachelor’s degree in Psychology at the University of Novi Sad in Serbia and now I am a Master’s student at the University of Zurich. I am currently working on my Master’s thesis, supervised by Dr. Burcu Demiray. I have been a member of the Seniors’ University of Zurich and OldSchool team since 2022, and my responsibilities in the team include overlooking the live stream in Zoom, adapting video material for the online platform as well as assisting seniors in Helpline calls.