From Prague to Potchefstroom: A Burnout Research Journey Comes Home
A conversation that began in 2001
Some research journeys begin with a grant. Mine began with a conversation.
In 2001, at the 10th European Congress on Work and Organizational Psychology (EAWOP) in Prague, I approached a scholar whose work I had long admired: Prof. Wilmar Schaufeli. At the time, Wilmar — alongside Prof. Christina Maslach and Prof. Michael Leiter — was among the foremost experts on burnout in the world. I had a simple, slightly audacious request: would he travel to Potchefstroom to give the keynote at the very first South African Burnout Conference?
To my delight, he said yes.
The conference that started it all
That conference took place on 18–19 March 2002 at the then Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, now North-West University. It turned out to be far more than an event — it was a beginning. It launched a stream of studies on burnout, and later on work engagement, a field in which Wilmar became a global thought leader. More conferences and workshops in South Africa followed. And whenever our staff and students travelled to the Netherlands, Wilmar created one learning opportunity after another for them.
Tools that reshaped a field
Wilmar's influence is measured not only in friendships and visits, but in the instruments that changed how the world studies work.
He developed various versions of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES), opening the door to first hundreds and then thousands of studies. By 2026, the UWES and its variants had probably been used in more than 10,000 published studies.
Later, together with colleagues including Prof. Hans De Witte of KU Leuven, he developed the Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT). The foundational paper — “Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT): Development, Validity, and Reliability,” by Wilmar Schaufeli, Steffie Desart and Hans De Witte — was published on 18 December 2020 in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. By 2026, the BAT had already been used in at least 80 published studies internationally.
While my own research turned toward sustainable employability, Wilmar and I never stopped talking — over lunch, over coffee, about the work and about life.
Coming home
In the week of 21–25 September 2026, Wilmar returns to South Africa. He contributed a chapter to Capabilities at Work, the book on work capabilities I co-edited, and he will take part in its launch. He will also present a workshop on the BAT and give a talk on burnout among academic and support staff at universities. In a way, this visit is a homecoming — a return to a place that has always deeply valued his expertise and his generosity.
A second homecoming: Prof. Leon de Beer
And Wilmar does not come alone. Joining him is Prof. Leon de Beer — and Leon's story is a homecoming of its own.
Leon was born in South Africa and completed all of his qualifications, including his PhD, here at home. Today he is making his mark abroad as an associate professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). Our lives have been intertwined for a long time: Leon and my son started Grade 1 together in Potchefstroom, and years later completed Grade 12 together in the same town. Leon studied at the North-West University research entity where I worked, became a colleague, and remains a collaborator on projects to this day.
What Leon brings is distinctive. Beyond his deep involvement in burnout research — much of it using the BAT — he has become an expert in psychometrics, statistics and artificial intelligence, a combination that places him among the top experts in the world.
A rare privilege
To have two scholars of this calibre in South Africa in September 2026 — one returning to a research home he helped build, the other a South African who has risen to the global stage — is a rare privilege, and a fitting way to mark where our journey has led.
Join us
Workshop: The Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT) — Prof. Wilmar Schaufeli & Prof. Leon de Beer — Monday, 21 September 2026, 10:00–13:00. Click here to register.
Talk: Burnout among academic and support staff at universities — Prof. Wilmar Schaufeli — Tuesday, 22 September 2026, 12:00–13:00
Book launch: Capabilities at Work — Wednesday, 23 September 2026. Link: https://bit.ly/CapabilitiesAtWork
