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Human Adaptation Lab

Sustainable human energy.
Performance that holds.

We help teams under pressure understand what drains their capacity to act, regulate their physiology, and turn those observations into more sustainable ways of working.

Dr Małgorzata Nepelska

20years of scientific research

7countries worked or studied in

17publications and reports, microbiology and toxicology

2Marie Curie fellowships

The problem

Performance drops long before people stop.

Persistent tiredness, fraying concentration, reactive decisions, friction, loss of initiative — these signals appear well before absence or declared burnout. And they are hard to raise without sounding like an accusation.

  • Teams that are tired but still delivering.
  • Decision quality degrading under pressure.
  • Overload and scattered attention.
  • Relational tension that settles in.
  • Managers who notice the warning signs too late.
  • Wellbeing initiatives that feel pleasant but change nothing.

We make these signals discussable and actionable — without diagnosing employees, and without passing a single piece of personal data to the employer.

Your teams are not short of motivation.
Their capacity to adapt may simply be saturated.

Two ways in

For a team, or for one person.

The same physiology, two different rooms. Organisations buy a measurable programme. Individuals buy a change they can hold.

Organisations

A measurable six-week programme

For a team of eight to fifteen under real pressure. Measure what drains the capacity to act, test regulation practices, and turn the observations into decisions management can act on.

Individuals

Three steps you can actually hold

The Reset, Mind the Gap, Choose — awareness, regulation, destination. Plus My Microbial Time™ for anyone who wants to work with their gut rather than against it.

The difference

More than a workshop about stress.

Most interventions address one level. We connect four, because that is where the capacity to act is actually decided.

What the person experiences

Energy, sleep, load, recovery, focus, relationships. Lived experience treated as data, not as impression.

What physiology can indicate

Autonomic regulation, recovery, rhythm, a short and optional HRV measure. Always voluntary, always individual.

What they test

Micro-practices run over twenty-one days, with one light indicator and a stop condition.

What the organisation can change

Load, interruptions, meetings, margins of autonomy, decision quality. The part no individual can carry alone.

The method

Adaptive Human Ecosystems™

Performance emerges from the interaction between the person, their physiology, their team and their organisation — not from any one of the four in isolation.

Three nested circles: body, behaviours, environment

Three levels, one system

The body at the centre — stress, sleep, nutrition, movement. Around it, behaviours: rhythms, relationships, meaning. Around that, the environment: work, decisions, culture, family. Acting on one ring while ignoring the others simply asks the body to compensate a little more.

The toolkit

Four instruments, one sequence.

Each one answers a different question. Together they take a team from “we are tired” to “here is what we changed”.

Measure

Vitality Compass™

The entry and exit assessment: energy, sleep and recovery, stress regulation, focus and decisions, food and microbiota, movement, relationships and work environment.

Regulate

Physiology Code™

The experiential part: reading the body’s signals and using short practices before a decision, a meeting or a difficult conversation.

Support

Microbiota Allies™

A twenty-one-day challenge: plant diversity, fibre and fermented foods, regularity. Careful links between habits, digestion, energy and recovery.

Decide

Decision Lab™

The organisational translation: facts, assumptions, unknowns, constraints, available options, next experiment. On a real team situation.

The flagship

Human Adaptation Pilot™

Six weeks for a team of eight to fifteen people. Measure what drains the capacity to act, test concrete regulation practices, and turn the observations into sustainable ways of working.

  • Week 0 — framing with the sponsor, one real operational difficulty, confidentiality rules in writing.
  • Week 1 — Vitality Compass™, resilience scale, load and recovery, optional HRV measure.
  • Week 2 — Adaptive Human Ecosystems™ workshop: pressure, cognitive load, early signs of saturation.
  • Week 3 — Physiology Code™: regulating before a decision, fast recovery, transitions between tasks.
  • Week 4 — Microbiota Allies™: the twenty-one-day challenge.
  • Week 5 — Decision Lab™ on a real team situation.
  • Week 6 — final measure, practices worth keeping, debrief and recommendations to management.

What we measure

What we promise — and what we don’t.

We do not promise to prevent burnout, or to raise your heart rate variability. We promise to measure, before and after, things that matter and that can be checked.

  • Perceived energy and quality of recovery.
  • Sense of control and room to manoeuvre.
  • Quality of concentration.
  • Ability to pause before reacting.
  • Actual adoption of the micro-practices.
  • Organisational irritants identified and named.
  • Changes the team actually decided on.

Our validation thresholds are pilot criteria, not results already achieved. This programme replaces neither statutory psychosocial risk assessment, nor occupational health, nor psychological care.

Dr Małgorzata Nepelska

The founder

Dr Małgorzata Nepelska

PhD in physiology and physiopathology, European Registered Toxicologist, coach trained to ICF standards. Twenty years across research, scientific assessment and industry — INRAE, Karolinska Institutet, the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, Unilever, Bayer.

I created Resilient by Design™ to translate the science of adaptation into practices usable in the reality of work. What I bring: connecting human signals, working conditions and decisions — without reducing people to a score.

Track record

Seven countries. Five sectors.

Academic research, an intergovernmental agency, an EU institution, industry — and now an independent practice. Each line carries the colours of that country’s flag.

Poland

University studies
  • MSc, biotechnologyWhere it began — molecular biology, microbiology, bioprocesses.Academic researchÀ compléter : nom de l’université et années.

Austria

Wien · Vienna
  • BOKU — Universität für Bodenkultur WienErasmus exchangeAcademic researchÀ compléter : années de l’échange Erasmus.
  • International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)Research internIntergovernmental · UN system2008 – 2009

Greece

Athens
  • National Hellenic Research FoundationResearch placementAcademic researchÀ confirmer : nom exact de l’institut, intitulé du poste, années.

France

Paris-Saclay · Sophia Antipolis
  • INRA (now INRAE), Micalis InstituteDoctoral researcher — host–microbiota crosstalkAcademic research2009 – 2012
  • Bayer Crop ScienceRegulatory toxicologist · R&D project leadIndustry2020 – 2024
  • ENCORPS — Mon Corps, Mon ÉquipeFounder · body-literacy association for children aged 6–11 (RNA W061018413)Association2025 –
  • Resilient by Design™Founder · independent consultantIndependent practice2025 –

Sweden

Stockholm
  • Karolinska InstitutetDoctoral exchange researcherAcademic research2010 – 2011

Italy

Ispra
  • European Commission, Joint Research CentreScientific officer — EURL ECVAMEU institution2013 – 2016

United Kingdom

Colworth Science Park
  • Unilever — Safety & Environmental Assurance CentreRisk assessor · regulatory innovation leadIndustry2017 – 2019

Next step

Three pilot teams this year.

Twenty-five minutes to check whether this format answers a real problem at your organisation. If it doesn’t, I’ll say so.