Tree Hole Rescue · South China Regional Liaison
Tree Hole Rescue (树洞救援行动) is an AI-assisted suicide-prevention initiative founded by Zhisheng Huang, a tenured professor of Artificial Intelligence at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Since 2018, the all-volunteer team — now over 1,000 members, including psychiatry and psychology specialists — has used AI to scan Chinese social media for signs of suicidal crisis and mobilize trained volunteers to intervene, preventing thousands of suicides.
Joined the team in late 2018, initially through Huang's "Micro-Universe Action" reading group and knowledge-graph training sessions.
Training
Completed the team's first "Psychological Crisis Intervention Liaison" course (Sept–Dec 2021) and passed its examination — while serving, for that same cohort, as its sole teaching assistant: independently running the full process from registration and class record-keeping to student management, organizing the final assessment, and issuing certificates to every graduate. Her own thesis placed first in the cohort.
Talks
Annual Conference Talk (Aug 2021)
"An Analysis of Suicide Among PhD Students and Countermeasures" — drawing on published surveys (APA, a UK international-student study, a 2013 Yale study) and case studies, the talk examined why doctoral researchers are a particularly high-risk group and what protective factors — reframing setbacks, finding sources of self-worth outside academic output, and building peer support — can help.
Berlin & Brandenburg Chinese Scholars Association Talk (Jan 2022)
"How Overseas PhD Students Can Cope with Mental Health Challenges" — invited to speak at the Berlin and Brandenburg China Scholarship Council Students & Scholars Association's doctoral-student welcome session (supported by the Chinese Embassy's education office), covering early warning signs, self-help strategies, and how to reach the Tree Hole Rescue team when a crisis intervention is needed.
Read the full talk →Since 2024, has also organized in-person peer-support salons in Shenzhen — including the inaugural "Tree Hole Mind, Shenzhen Home" salon (Oct 2025), hosted by founder Zhisheng Huang on the theme of happiness, AI, and mental health.
WeChat write-up of the Oct 2025 salon →