Effective Self-Help is a pilot research organisation looking at the most effective ways people can improve their wellbeing and productivity. We're looking to hire a part-time Researcher and/or Digital Media Lead to support the project's growth over the next three months. We are also interested in hiring (paid) interns for people who have less time (5-10hrs per week) available to commit to our work. Applications are open until 23:59 GMT on Friday, 11th February.

A short application form for each position, as well as more information about the roles, can be found through the links directly below: 
- Researcher or Digital Media Lead: Apply. More info.
- Intern: Apply. More info.

Details about the roles and the work of Effective Self-Help are also briefly discussed in the rest of this post. Alternatively, you can reach out with any questions via email or by booking a call.

About Effective Self-Help

Our mission is to improve the quality of resources available to support individuals who want to improve their wellbeing and/or productivity. We conduct detailed research into the best interventions for a given area and then aim to present our recommendations in a practical, engaging manner that maximises the ease and likelihood of behaviour change.

You can read our previous reports on sleep and stress on the Forum or on our newly-launched website. This project is currently solely the work of myself, Ben Williamson, but is supported by the EA Infrastructure Fund.

For a more detailed discussion of the project's aims, approach, and potential for high-impact, please refer to this post.

About the roles

Researcher

In this role, you will help me to synthesise academic research on a range of self-help topics in order to identify the most promising interventions. This (unfinished) evidence table for behaviour change techniques provides a good demonstration of the research process we are aiming for and the information we are looking to compile.

From there, you would write up these findings into a report, similar to these posts on effective sleep and stress interventions, that we would publish on our website and here on the Forum. I have previously worked for 3+ years as a copyeditor and will support you in presenting your findings clearly and concisely.

In general terms, valuable skills for this role include:

• The ability to interpret and critically evaluate different forms of evidence
• Strong written and communicative skills, including the ability to express nuanced concepts in a clear, accessible way with a high degree of reasoning transparency
• Confidence working independently with minimal supervision and as a member of a small team.

This position is for an initial three months and is flexible, both in hours (10-25hrs per week) and in location (remote, work from anywhere). The salary will be $16-24 per hour, depending on experience.

Click here to apply, or here for further information.

Digital Media Lead

Beyond researching better quality interventions, Effective Self-Help's mission is to communicate good self-help advice more effectively. As part of this, we are looking to expand the ways in which we present our findings. 

As Digital Media Lead, you would take charge of experimenting with new methods of presenting our work, selecting approaches based on your skills, previous experience, and quick tests of what is most effective. As a rough guide, I believe the following may all be valuable methods of increasing the reach of our work and improving the ease and likelihood of our audience implementing recommendations:

• video production (e.g. short Youtube videos)
• online interactive programs (e.g. ClearerThinking)
• infographics (e.g. using Canva)
• social media (e.g. an Effective Self-Help Instagram account)
• illustrations that can be used for research communication (e.g. Roote)

Experience in one of the above forms of digital media work would be advantageous, as well as an enthusiasm for experimenting with multiple approaches and excitement for taking ownership of significant aspects of a fast-developing project.

This position is for an initial three months and is flexible, both in hours (10-25hrs per week) and in location (remote, work from anywhere). The salary will be $16-24 per hour, depending on experience.

Click here to apply, or here for further information.

Intern (paid)

We are also interested in receiving applications for an intern position of 5-10hrs per week, across a range of potential roles. These roles are aimed at people who may feel less qualified to do research or digital media work but who believe they can nevertheless make a valuable contribution to the project.

Interns will assist with specific aspects of Effective Self-Help’s work, depending on their skillset. In particular, we are interested in the following support:

• Research - reading papers and articles to determine how effective different interventions are
• Writing - translating our research findings into concise, engaging reports
• Web design - improving the presentation and functionality of our website
• Digital media - translating our research into alternative mediums - e.g. diagrams, infographics; videos; social media posts

This position is for an initial 3 months and is flexible, both in hours (10-25hrs per week) and in location (remote, work from anywhere). The salary will be $13.50-20 per hour, depending on experience. 

Click here to apply, or here for further information.  

Application process

Application forms are due by 23:59 GMT on Friday, 11th February. 

Successful candidates will then progress to a short interview (30 minutes), followed by a one-week (paid) work trial.