In my talk I will discuss the Open Science movement and its concerted efforts to reform science from the ground up, highlighting its discourse culture, forms of organising, and the implications of their proposed reforms. My own sociological research on the transdisciplinary community forming around replications will be one focus of the talk, delineating potential advantages and pitfalls of...
Practicing the principles of good and open science does not always align with career advancements in academia. In contrast, there is a tension between what guidelines for research integrity tell us and what we are rewarded for. This is a structural problem that deeply affects research culture. We will start this workshop by simulating how individuals decisions on scientific practices may...
In this 90-minute workshop, we will dive into the basic principles of generative artificial intelligence systems such as ChatGPT and learn what these systems can do and what not. We go through the most important best-practices, e.g. in prompt-engineering and quality assurance so that we can get the most out of this technology for our daily work in scientific research.
Good science is more than rigid methodology, solid statistical analyses and transparency. It’s about people, the systems they operate in and the history that shaped them. Increasingly, researchers are striving to make science more equitable, diverse and inclusive. But changing the workplace and academia on a day-to-day basis is an ongoing challenge. In this workshop, we will highlight key...
Statistical models are essential tools for understanding data and drawing scientific conclusions. Despite the adoption of modern statistical methods (hierarchical models, structural equation models, Bayesian inference, …) in many disciplines, using these tools responsibly can be challenging. Classical issues, such as model assumptions, uncertainty, and experimental design remain and intersect...
This workshop is aimed at early career researchers who want to develop workflows that allow collaborators, peers and their future selves to reliably run and understand their code. We will explore common sources of irreproducibility, such as lack of documentation, inconsistent project structure, errors derived from copy-paste, among others.
Participants will learn practical strategies for...
My presentation will cover the main causes that have led to a reliability crisis in science, as well as the most-promising solutions towards overcoming the crisis. I will emphasize the utility of p-values in hypothesis testing, and the necessity to control for pseudo-replication and overdispersion in the data. Further, I will explain the problem of multiple hypothesis testing combined with...
Meta-analyses are critical for evidence synthesis and policy-making, yet they often suffer from the same transparency and methodological issues they criticize in primary studies. This workshop explores common problems in meta-analyses, including low transparency and reporting, poor reproducibility, inadequate handling of heterogeneity and publication bias, and lack of risk of bias assessments,...
This 90-minute workshop focuses on authorship in the context of good scientific practice. Participants will reflect on general aspects of research integrity and scientific misconduct and examine the roles and responsibilities associated with authorship. Based on international and institutional guidelines (e.g. DFG, Leipzig University, COPE, ICMJE), the workshop compares authorship criteria and...
Democracies face a dual challenge. On the one hand, democratic institutions are increasingly under pressure from authoritarian, right-wing populist, and extremist actors. On the other hand, socio-ecological transformation in response to climate change requires decisive action, social solidarity, and trust in democratic institutions. These processes are intertwined: ecological crises -...
This workshop designed for Early Career Researchers (ECR) and students focus on research assessment and the work of the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA). It is based on the observation that current research assessment relies on quantitative indicators and often misses to acknowledge the wide array of contributions made by researchers. In a world café like setting we will...
In recent decades science has increasingly demanded scientists write more, be cited more, and produce more. This creates a quandary, scientists, entering the profession either in order to “make a difference’ or driven by curiosity are focused on a narrow track of writing papers. Furthermore, we have entered an age of distrust, where a scientist dedicating a lifetime to their topic can be...
Taking inspiration from guerilla warfare, I will introduce a framework for managing scientific research that addresses the complexity of research while advancing goals of transparency and reliability. Real science is complex, and there is no single scientific method. It is a chaotic network of theories, data, models, graphs, comparisons, summaries, and narratives. A flaw in any part can ruin...
Correlation does not imply causation – but then, what does it tell us about the world out there? In my talk, I will provide a non-technical introduction to directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) as a tool to understand the relationship between correlation and causation. Three simple fundamental causal structures can go a long way to improve how we reason about the world, both in everyday life and in...
Getting the first research articles published can feel like navigating the waters of a stormy ocean. The academic publishing system is designed to ensure quality, transparency, and equity in disseminating scientific knowledge. However, its processes may not be immediately intuitive to everyone. In this workshop, we will start from real examples of published research articles and demystify the...
Scientific practice is shaped not only by formal methods and standards but also by shared norms that are often implicit and rarely examined. This workshop invites participants to critically explore how such norms influence everyday research decisions, the production of evidence, and the credibility of scientific knowledge. Using examples from evidence synthesis, meta-analysis, and open...
Transparency and reproducibility are essential to good research practice. Although replicating scientific findings can be challenging, achieving full computational reproducibility for the outputs reported in a manuscript, is both necessary and achievable. This workshop will introduce participants to creating a reproducible workflow for a publication-ready manuscript that integrates data,...
Biomedical research is celebrated as a driver of innovation and patient benefit — yet much of what we produce is unreliable, unpublished, or irrelevant. Preclinical work still struggles with basic internal validity: missing blinding and randomization, small samples, flexible analyses, and a storytelling culture that turns exploratory findings into “discoveries.” Publication bias remains so...
Public trust in science is fracturing along partisan lines—a gap that has widened dramatically over the past two decades. This polarization is not simply a misinformation problem to be solved by better fact-checking. Algorithmically curated platforms sort audiences by ideology, reinforce existing beliefs, and undermine shared deliberation. Drawing on recent research, this talk examines why...
