Volunteer/Looking for psych students who want their research to prevent actual burnout

Looking for psychology/behavioural science students who want to do research that actually gets used. We’re building a platform that predicts employee burnout 2-4 weeks before it happens. The AI can spot the warning signs, but the problem is that managers don’t know what to do with that information. They can see someone’s struggling, but they don’t know when they’re “allowed” to step in, what to say, or what actually helps versus what makes things awkward and weird. That’s the gap we need to close.

What We Need

• Someone to build an evidence‑based intervention library grounded in Self‑Determination Theory. This means:

• Manager conversation guides that don’t sound like corporate HR speak
• Self‑care suggestions for employees that aren’t just “take a bath”
• Team intervention protocols for when multiple people are burning out
• HR recommendations when the problem is systemic, not individual

This isn’t academic work that lives in a drawer. Real managers will use these guides with their teams starting January. The pilots are happening whether we’re ready or not.

The Actual Work

• Literature review: What actually works for burnout recovery? What’s the evidence for autonomy‑supportive leadership? When does psychological safety training stick versus fail? Map effect sizes, quality ratings, contextual factors.
• Write the manager guides: opening scripts that don’t sound robotic, questions that create space for honest conversation, action plans that actually get done.
• Employee self‑care acts must address specific needs (autonomy vs. competence vs. relatedness vs. exhaustion), work for different contexts (remote vs. office), and have scientific backing.
• Organise it so developers can use it – tag everything, create selection logic, structure the database.

Volunteer to Paid Future

We’re raising funds in 2026. If you do great work on this and want to stay involved, there’s a real path to a paid role as we scale. It could be continued consulting during pilots (analyzing what’s working), joining the team properly, or co‑authoring research papers if we publish. We’re not promising anything we can’t deliver, but the trajectory is clear: volunteer foundation work now, paid opportunities if we raise and you want them.

Who This Works For

• You’re studying psychology, organisational behaviour, occupational health, or something adjacent.
• You care about whether interventions actually work, not just whether they sound good.
• You’re comfortable diving into literature, or at least excited to learn.
• You want portfolio work showing you can bridge research and practice, not just review papers.
• Previous work experience doesn’t matter. Genuine curiosity about this problem does.

What You Get Out of It

• Practical experience translating research into something usable.
• Mentorship from someone who actually works in this field.
• A portfolio piece that shows a rare skill (most psychology students can critique studies, fewer can design interventions people will actually use).
• Potential co‑authorship if we publish findings.
• The satisfaction of knowing your work might prevent someone’s burnout in a real company.

How to Apply

Send us three things:

• Who you are (2–3 sentences, doesn’t need to be formal)
• Why this interests you (what draws you to this problem specifically?)
• One quick intervention design sample: Pick any workplace challenge you’ve noticed or studied. Show me:

• The specific problem (not “burnout” but like “employee can’t disconnect after work hours”)
• What you’d recommend based on evidence
• 1–2 citations supporting it
• How you’d know if it worked

This doesn’t need to be polished. We want to see how you think, not whether you can make pretty slides. One or two pages, that’s it.

Logistics

Start: December — End: Mid‑January
Time: 15–20 hours/week — Location: Completely remote — Meetings: Weekly check‑in with team, async communication otherwise
Applications reviewed rolling — if you’re interested, don’t wait.

Why This Actually Matters

Most burnout is preventable if you catch it early enough. The problem isn’t detection (we can predict it 2‑4 weeks out); the problem is the gap between “I can see this person is struggling” and “I know what to do about it.” Your work will help us close that gap. That’s immediate, tangible impact. That’s why this matters.