Sandro Stutz

LIFE Fellow since 2023, University of Zurich

My name is Sandro Stutz. I was born in 1989 as the son of a metalworker and a dentistry assistant. After I had fought my way up through almost all levels of the Swiss school system, I followed in my father's footsteps for a few years by working as a metal construction draftsman. However, the inhuman mentality of the construction industry never really appealed to me, which is why I was soon looking for a field of work that placed more importance on people and their well-being. Studying psychology increasingly crystallized as my next great endeavor. With my technical baccalaureate, however, I would only have been admitted to study at a technical university of applied sciences, so I first had to catch up on the general adult baccalaureate. After this, the time had finally come: The following years were all about psychology and I have never regretted the decision. In order to keep my head above water, I also did various side jobs: I was a tutor, a lifeguard, a festival helper, and most of all a security guard, where I could find a little niche because of my people-friendly nature: For in all these years, there has never been a situation that I have not been able to de-escalate. But the highlight of my career so far is definitely my position as a PhD student at the Chair for Developmental Psychology: Infancy and Childhood. I'm looking forward to gaining lots of new experience as part of the LIFE team and making my contribution to this great network.

Dissertation project:

Digitized milestones: How a developmental diary app influences caregivers and children