Frequently asked questions

The participant side is available in French, Dutch and English. Use the language switcher in the top menu (or in your account menu) to change it at any time — your choice is remembered on this device.

A normal study confirms your place as soon as you book a slot. A group study only runs when every seat in a slot is filled, so your place stays “provisional” until it's full. A pre-screening study asks you to request to take part first (usually after a short questionnaire); once the researcher approves your request, you come back and pick a time slot like on any other study. Each study's page shows which type it is before you sign up.

Open a study, check you're eligible, then pick an available slot in the calendar and confirm. The first time you book you'll be asked to accept the attendance/reliability policy. You'll get a confirmation email, and the booking appears under “My bookings”.

It means your seat is reserved but not yet final. This happens for group studies: the session only runs with a full group, so every place stays provisional until the last seat is taken. You'll get an email when it becomes confirmed — or if the group doesn't fill and the places are released.

As soon as the slot reaches its required number of participants, everyone is confirmed automatically and emailed. If a slot hasn't filled — and, when confirmation is required, everyone confirmed — by 6 hours before the start, the provisional places are released and you're notified. You don't need to do anything.

You don't book a slot right away: complete the screening step on the study page (often a short questionnaire), then press “Request to participate”. The researcher reviews the requests — you'll get an email as soon as yours is approved, and you then return to the study page and choose a time slot yourself. If it's declined, you're notified and remain free to sign up for other studies.

If a slot is full and the study has a waitlist, you can join it. When a place opens, the platform emails waitlisted people one at a time (in join order) with a claim link — the first to click gets the spot. You can leave a waitlist anytime from “My bookings”.

Yes — but the day-before email asks you to CONFIRM you're coming: click the button in it, or your booking is cancelled automatically 6 hours before the start so the seat can go to someone else. On the day itself you receive a reminder. Anything you need to prepare or bring is shown on the study page and included in the booking and reminder emails.

Go to “My bookings” and use Cancel on the session. Cancelling frees your seat (and offers it to any waitlist). Please cancel as early as you can if you can't attend.

You can cancel free of charge up to 24 hours before the session. After that you can no longer cancel without penalty, but up to 6 hours before the session you can still withdraw by giving a reason — recorded as an excused no-show (see the next question) — or move your booking to another slot of the same study — the move carries no penalty, but the new booking can then no longer be cancelled free of charge, however far away it is. Under 6 hours before, contact the researcher directly; simply not turning up is recorded as a no-show.

Past the deadline but more than 6 hours before the session, go to “My bookings”, choose “I can't make it” and give a short reason. This is an excused no-show: the first pauses your booking for 7 days, the second for 14, the third for 21, and so on. It never deactivates your account, and attending a session lowers your level by one — so if you keep showing up between late withdrawals your pause shrinks back down. A researcher can also waive an absence (a genuine emergency) with no penalty. Full details on the Rules page.

A no-show is when you had a confirmed booking but didn't attend and didn't cancel in time. The penalty applies automatically: the first no-show pauses booking for 30 days, the second for 60, the third for 90, and so on. It never closes your account on its own; good attendance earns it back — every 10 sessions you attend in a row without a no-show lowers your no-show level by one step. No-shows also lower your reliability score.

Leave. Your safety always comes before any attendance rule, and an absence recorded because you left for your safety is corrected, never penalised. Then report what happened from “My bookings” — the “I felt unsafe” link is available on every session, whatever its status, and alerts an administrator immediately with priority handling. In an emergency, call 112 first.

It's the share of your sessions you actually attended — attended ÷ (attended + no-shows + excused no-shows) — shown on your profile. Both unexcused no-shows and excused no-shows (late withdrawals) lower it; only an absence a researcher forgives doesn't. A higher score keeps every study open to you; some studies set a minimum reliability to book.

Yes — a no-show or a late withdrawal pauses your booking for a period. These pauses are always temporary and never close your account: however many stack up, the platform never deactivates you automatically. Permanent deactivation is separate, and only an administrator applies it — for serious or repeated misconduct. If a penalty ever seems wrong you can appeal from the Support page; and if your account is ever deactivated you can still log in, where you'll land on an appeal screen to explain what happened for an administrator to review.

After a session both sides rate each other: you rate the researcher and they rate you (1–5 stars on a couple of criteria). Ratings are anonymous and only ever shown as an average — and only once enough have been collected — so a single rating can't be traced back to one session.

Once a session is marked attended, a “Rate the researcher” form appears on that booking in “My bookings”. Ratings are final once submitted, so there's no edit afterwards — take a moment before sending.

The amount shown on each study is what you'll receive for taking part. The compensation is arranged and handed out by the research team — typically at or shortly after the session — in their own form (cash, voucher, or transfer). The platform itself doesn't handle the money.

Report it. On “My bookings”, open the session and choose “Report an issue”, then “Compensation not received”. The report reaches the platform team with the study, session and research team already attached, and we follow up with them.

Your data is used only to run the platform and match you to studies. When you book a session (or your participation request is approved), that study's research team can see your name, email and telephone number from that moment on — they need them to prepare and run the session, and to reach you about it on the day, and may use them only for that study. A study can be run by more than one researcher: the owner may add colleagues as co-researchers, who then see the same participant details. Full details are in the Privacy notice.

In your profile, “Delete account” removes your personal details and cancels upcoming bookings. Identifying information is erased/anonymized; some non-identifying records may be kept where required (e.g. aggregate stats). You can also download a copy of your data first.

Once signed in, use the Support page (linked in the footer) or the “?” help bubble at the bottom-right of any page to send us a ticket. You'll see replies on the Support page.

Every past session on “My bookings” has a “Report an issue” action with structured reasons — compensation not received, inappropriate behaviour, researcher late or absent, or something else. During the session itself, use “Report a problem” on the Attendance tab of My agenda rather than leaving without a trace; and if you ever feel unsafe, the “I felt unsafe” link on the booking alerts an administrator with priority. For anything not tied to a session, use the Support page.