Speaker
Description
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 research practices, the session examines how biases such as publication bias, selective reporting, and confirmation bias can emerge from common research practices and systemic pressures. The focus is not on assigning blame, facilitating policing or prescribing a single correct approach but on understanding how transparency, reproducibility, and research integrity depend on the norms that govern scientific practice. Participants will leave with a deeper appreciation of how questioning these norms can be a productive and necessary scientific act.
About:
I am an ecologist and meta-analyst leading the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (BIOECOS) research group at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ in Leipzig, Germany. My research focuses on cross-scale data syntheses and evidence-based approaches to study organism–environment relationships and landscape-level biodiversity patterns, with applications in conservation and sustainable land use. I apply open science and transparent research practices throughout my work and have published on ecological synthesis methods, individual variation in ecological niches, and meta-analysis databases. I earned my PhD in behavioural ecology from Friedrich-Schiller University Jena and collaborate widely to bridge quantitative synthesis with ecological understanding.
