diff --git a/rdmo/core/assets/js/components/Html.js b/rdmo/core/assets/js/components/Html.js
index acd13bbd2..706d15a2a 100644
--- a/rdmo/core/assets/js/components/Html.js
+++ b/rdmo/core/assets/js/components/Html.js
@@ -1,10 +1,33 @@
-import React from 'react'
+import React, { useRef, useLayoutEffect } from 'react'
 import PropTypes from 'prop-types'
 import { isEmpty } from 'lodash'
 
+import { executeScriptTags } from 'rdmo/core/assets/js/utils/meta'
+
+
 const Html = ({ html = '' }) => {
+  const ref = useRef()
+
+  // if html contains a <script> tag, and settings.TEMPLATES_EXECUTE_SCRIPT_TAGS is True,
+  // it will be executed using the method in https://macarthur.me/posts/script-tags-in-react/
+  if (executeScriptTags) {
+    useLayoutEffect(() => {
+      if (ref.current) {
+        // create a range objectm, set it contain the referenced node
+        // and create a new fragment with the html code within that range
+        const range = document.createRange()
+        range.selectNode(ref.current)
+        const documentFragment = range.createContextualFragment(html)
+
+        // remove the rendered html and inject it again, triggering a re-run of the JS code
+        ref.current.innerHTML = ''
+        ref.current.append(documentFragment)
+      }
+    }, [html])
+  }
+
   return !isEmpty(html) && (
-    <div dangerouslySetInnerHTML={{ __html: html }} />
+    <div ref={ref} dangerouslySetInnerHTML={{ __html: html }} />
   )
 }
 
diff --git a/rdmo/core/assets/js/utils/meta.js b/rdmo/core/assets/js/utils/meta.js
index d8186e6c2..04721b1e6 100644
--- a/rdmo/core/assets/js/utils/meta.js
+++ b/rdmo/core/assets/js/utils/meta.js
@@ -7,3 +7,5 @@ export const staticUrl = document.querySelector('meta[name="staticurl"]').conten
 export const siteId = Number(document.querySelector('meta[name="site_id"]').content)
 
 export const language = document.querySelector('meta[name="language"]').content
+
+export const executeScriptTags = document.querySelector('meta[name="execute_script_tags"]')?.content === 'true'
diff --git a/rdmo/core/settings.py b/rdmo/core/settings.py
index aaa3fa80e..2f5c442ec 100644
--- a/rdmo/core/settings.py
+++ b/rdmo/core/settings.py
@@ -220,7 +220,8 @@
     'PROJECT_SEND_ISSUE',
     'NESTED_PROJECTS',
     'PROJECT_VIEWS_SYNC',
-    'PROJECT_TASKS_SYNC'
+    'PROJECT_TASKS_SYNC',
+    'TEMPLATES_EXECUTE_SCRIPT_TAGS'
 ]
 
 SETTINGS_API = [
@@ -251,6 +252,8 @@
     'projects/project_interview_sidebar.html',
 ]
 
+TEMPLATES_EXECUTE_SCRIPT_TAGS = False
+
 EMAIL_BACKEND = 'django.core.mail.backends.console.EmailBackend'
 DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL = 'info@example.com'
 
@@ -309,6 +312,10 @@
 
 EXPORT_MIN_REQUIRED_VERSION = '2.1.0'
 
+MARKDOWN_TEMPLATES: dict[str, str] = {
+    # for example: 'not_empty': 'core/text_blocks/template_for_not_empty.html',
+}
+
 PROJECT_TABLE_PAGE_SIZE = 20
 
 PROJECT_VISIBILITY = True
diff --git a/rdmo/core/utils.py b/rdmo/core/utils.py
index 155109c6d..0f9861347 100644
--- a/rdmo/core/utils.py
+++ b/rdmo/core/utils.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 
 from django.conf import settings
 from django.http import Http404, HttpResponse, HttpResponseBadRequest
-from django.template.loader import get_template
+from django.template.loader import get_template, render_to_string
 from django.utils.dateparse import parse_date
 from django.utils.encoding import force_str
 from django.utils.formats import get_format
@@ -267,6 +267,19 @@ def markdown2html(markdown_string):
         f'<span class="show-less" onclick="showLess(this)"> ({hide_string})</span></p>',
         html
     )
+
+    # textblocks (e.g. for help texts) can be injected into free text fields as small templates via Markdown
+    html = inject_textblocks(html)
+
+    return html
+
+
+def inject_textblocks(html):
+    # loop over all strings between curly brackets, e.g. {{ test }}
+    for template_code in re.findall(r'{{(.*?)}}', html):
+        template_name = settings.MARKDOWN_TEMPLATES.get(template_code.strip())
+        if template_name:
+            html = re.sub('{{' + template_code + '}}', render_to_string(template_name), html)
     return html
 
 
diff --git a/rdmo/projects/templates/projects/project_interview.html b/rdmo/projects/templates/projects/project_interview.html
index 0eaa00c37..7e94ea009 100644
--- a/rdmo/projects/templates/projects/project_interview.html
+++ b/rdmo/projects/templates/projects/project_interview.html
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 
 {% block head %}
     <meta name='project' content="{{ project.id }}" />
+    <meta name='execute_script_tags' content="{{ settings.TEMPLATES_EXECUTE_SCRIPT_TAGS|lower }}" />
 {% endblock %}
 
 {% block css %}