Student Research Intern — Professorship of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Potsdam

July 2026 – December 2026 · Potsdam (hybrid) · M.Sc. research internship, 15 ECTS

The Professorship of Social and Preventive Medicine at the University of Potsdam, led by Prof. Dr. med. Dr. phil. Michael Rapp, researches the prevention and treatment of mental illness across the lifespan. One of its research areas is breathwork in mental health, a multi-site project funded by the German Center for Mental Health (DZPG).

Projects I’m involved in

High-ventilation breathwork music trial

I am part of the team running an experimental study on how music genre affects people during high-ventilation (holotropic) breathwork. The study compares classical music with modern electronic music such as techno, and looks at:

  • altered states of consciousness during the session
  • mental well-being afterwards
  • heart rate variability and oxygen saturation
  • the role of each participant’s own musical preferences

Online survey: acute effects of breathwork

An anonymous online survey run by Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and the University of Potsdam, developed with the Berlin Breathwork Council. It asks people who have recently taken part in a fast-paced breathwork session about the effects they noticed during and afterwards, such as on their well-being, bodily sensations and emotions. The aim is to better assess the safety of breathwork and understand how people process these experiences.

My contribution so far

  • Turning research questions into measurable items, including developing the music-related questionnaire items
  • Building the full survey in SoSci Survey, combining validated psychometric and clinical scales with our own measures
  • Setting up an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) in the m-Path app
  • Recruiting participants for the online survey by contacting breathwork facilitators and community members across multiple channels
  • Helping to support the breathwork sessions and data collection on site
  • Managing and analysing the data (Excel and R)
  • Writing a pre-registration and a scientific article on the relationship between physiological changes and altered states of consciousness