The racial origins of the p-value by Theresa Wege
2021-03-30 12:30 - 13:30 UTC | MS Teams
About the speaker
Theresa Elise Wege is a PhD student and PGTA for statistics at the Centre for Mathematical Cognition, Loughborough University. While her research is focused on preschool maths, she thinks about statistics pedagogy and introducing students to the philosophy of science as part of her teaching role.
About the talk
Where do the statistical methods we commonly use come from? In this presentation, Theresa will explore the origins of the p-value and other statistical methods and discuss their connections to eugenics and white supremacist thinking in the early 20th century. With a feminist epistemology in mind, Theresa will present the discovery of statistical methods embedded in the biographies of Sir Francis Galton, Karl Pearson and Sir Ronald Fisher. She will conclude with how thinking about the origins of statistical methods can be integrated in the statistics curriculum and how it can facilitate discussions in the open science context.

Hans Eysenck: personality and fatal diseases; exposing a scientific scandal by Dr Anthony Pelosi
2021-04-08 12:00 - 13:00 UTC | MS Teams
About the speaker
Dr Anthony Pelosi is a consultant psychiatrist at Priory Hospital Glasgow. Since the early ‘90s, Pelosi has published extensive critiques of the work of Hans Eysenck, In February 2019, Pelosi published a paper in the Journal of Health Psychology, in which he stated that the Eysenck case is “one of the worst scientific scandals of all time,” which was also accompanied by an editorial from David Marks, in which he called for an inquiry by King’s College London and the British Psychological Society.
About the talk
During the 1980’s and 1990’s, the late Hans Eysenck conducted a programme of research into the causes, prevention and treatment of cancer and other fatal diseases in collaboration with one of his protégés, Ronald Grossarth-Maticek. This led to what must be the most astonishing series of findings ever published in the peer-reviewed scientific literature. I am going to present just a selection of these findings. I will also summarise a study in which these scientists describe in detail – and without a trace of insight – a criminally negligent clinical experiment on 41 people who were at grave and imminent risk due to malignant hypertension.
I will be asking the RIOT Science Club what I have been asking myself for three decades. How on earth could this work have been published and why was nothing done about it until last year? I will be making a few suggestions. i) Professor Eysenck considered himself to be some sort of genius. Over the years, he managed to beguile numerous young researchers who egged him on in this belief. Some of them still try to defend his work on fatal diseases. ii) He was encouraged to continue this research by tobacco company scientists even when they knew that it was so flawed. iii) Eysenck thought of himself as the world’s greatest psychometrician. However, he had only a loose and fluctuating grasp of the difference between statistical significance and effect size. iv) His university and his regulatory body were not up to the task of dealing with such a person.
I will be asking for suggestions about how to undo some of the damage to science that has been caused by this scandal.

Using Superpower R package to simulate power by Dr Aaron R. Caldwell
2021-04-15 15:00 - 16:00 UTC | MS Teams
About the speaker
Aaron is an exercise physiologist with a PhD in Health, Sport, and Exercise Science from the University of Arkansas. He is currently as ORISE Postdoctoral Fellow at the United States Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine where his current research projects are focused on human performance in extreme environments (heat, cold, and altitude). In addition, Aaron works as an applied statistician. He has gained expertise in statistics through a Graduate Certificate in Statistics & Research Methods program while at the University of Arkansas, and is continuing his education with an MSc in Analytics through the Georgia Institute of Technology.
About the talk
Power analysis has become the sine qua non for justifying for sample sizes in experimental studies. For simple one or two sample comparisons, the process is fairly straightforward. When the experiments become more complex, such as when factorial designs are implemented, the tools used for power analysis are sparse and the calculations become more difficult. A simple solution to the problem of design complexity is just to simulate the study design in order to estimate power. However, simulation tends to require more technical knowledge and some ability to write code. Therefore, Superpower R package was created to streamline the simulation process and make simulation tools accessible for the average researcher. Currently, the package allows for Monte Carlo and “exact” simulations for factorial designs with both within and between subjects factors. This allows for power estimates for ANOVA, MANOVA, and estimated marginal means comparisons. In addition, this is a useful teaching tool as it can show how violating assumptions (e.g., homoskedasticity or sphericity) can affect both statistical power and type 1 error rates. In this presentation, I will demonstrate 1) why these principles are important 2) how Superpower, in both its R and Shiny formats, can be useful and 3) how non-simulation based functions can be used to justify your alpha level.

Research and researcher assessment; how do we do it, are we doing it right, and what is the role of preprints? by Prof Chris Jackson
2021-04-21 11:00 - 12:00 (Europe/London) | MS Teams
About the speaker
Prof Chris Jackson is Chair in Sustainable Geoscience, at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Manchester.
About the talk
We assess research outputs and thus researchers by a range of metrics, often during job appointments and promotions. What tools do we use and are they fair? Do they get us the desired result? What, in fact, is the desired result? And what role do preprints play in this and in, more generally, creating an open and progressive research culture?

Dynamic systems modelling and simulation - assisted thought experiments by Dr Charles Driver
2021-04-26 14:00 - 15:00 UTC | MS Teams
About the speaker
Dr Charles Driver is a researcher at the Center for Lifespan Psychology at the Max Planck Institute in Berlin. He focuses on improving methods for mapping theories of change to data and applying these to different problems across the broad domain of human development. One of his projects included writing the statistical software package “ctsem” in R, which can be used to model dynamic systems. (@CharlesDriverAU)
About the talk
Most phenomena of scientific interest can be loosely thought of as ‘dynamic systems’, in the sense that they usually change in different ways depending on different inputs. In the social sciences, phenomena are usually highly complex and dependent on many features of the world, such that any formal model is inherently a vast simplification. In order for our modelling simplifications to provide useful insight, they need to adequately represent the core aspects we are interested in, and cope with the many aspects we are not. In this talk I will discuss some of the basic ideas of modelling dynamic systems, demonstrate how simulating such systems can yield important insight and questions, and outline the ctsem software for estimating dynamic systems models in social science contexts.

The matter of facts: Citation bias and distortion by Dr Rhodri I. Leng
2021-05-04 13:00 - 14:00 (Europe/London) | MS Teams
About the speaker
Rhodri Leng is a quantitative sociologist of science. His research concerns developing understanding of how the structure of citation networks affects the spread of information across the scientific literature, how the spread of information affects the development of scientific opinion, and involves integrating this understanding into theories of scientific development. An important element of his work involves developing methods to detect citation bias and other citation distortions in the literature. This involves methods of systematic literature retrieval, systematic review and meta-analysis, citation network analysis, and content analysis.

Service user involvement in mental health research by Dr Sagar Jilka
2021-05-13 12:00 - 13:00 UTC | MS Teams
About the speaker
Sagar Jilka is the co-ordinator for the patient and carer involvement and engagement theme within the NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre. He has previous experience of research and applied science in academia and industry and facilitates service user-led projects.
About the talk
I will familiarise participants with the background, methods and approaches to service user involvement within mental health research. We will discuss what is meant by “PPI” (patient and public involvement) and I will provide examples of service user involvement in current research studies. We will end the session discussing how to get advice from service users, guidelines and best practices when discussing your research with service users.

Interpreting replications by Dr Jill Jacobson
2021-05-21 14:00 - 15:00 (Europe/London) | Zoom, United Kingdom
About the speaker
Dr Jacobson is a social psychologist who has taught statistics and research methods at the undergraduate and graduate level for the last 20 years. Her primary research is on the social-cognitive and social-behavioral consequences of various self-constructs such as depression, causal uncertainty, and self-esteem importance. More recently, she has begun examining topics in meta-science including a SSHRC-funded project on participant prospection and non-naïveté.
About the talk
This seminar will discuss how we evaluate when a replication should be considered failure/success and what that means for original studies.

DORA: Re-thinking and re-engineering what we value in research by Prof Stephen Curry
2021-05-24 12:30 - 13:30 (Europe/London) | MS Teams
About the speaker
Stephen Curry is a Professor of Structural Biology at Imperial College London where he also serves as the Assistant Provost for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. For many years he has been a writer and campaigner on a range of scientific issues including open access, research assessment, research funding and science policy. He is currently chair of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA).
About the talk
The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) is a campaigning initiative to improve the ways that we evaluate research and researchers. It aims particularly to call out the problematic nature of the over-reliance on aggregate metrics such as the journal impact factor in assessment processes. Such metrics have enduring appeal because they appear to offer the simplicity and objectivity of numerical analyses. I will discuss the work DORA is doing to promote and develop alternative and more holistic processes of research assessment – work that is synergistic with broader moves to advance open scholarship and enduring issues of equality, diversity and inclusion.

Bayesian statistics without tears by Prof Eric-Jan Wagenmakers
2021-06-03 14:00 - 15:00 (Europe/London) | MS Teams
About the speaker
Dr Wagenmakers is a professor at the psychological methods group in the department of psychology, University of Amsterdam. He is also the founder of JASP, an open-source statistics program. His research interests include Bayesian inference, models of decision making, and philosophy of science. As a noted expert in Bayesian statistics, Professor Wagenmakers has been actively promoting open research and addressing the reproducibility crisis.
About the talk
In this presentation, Professor Wagenmakers will outline the pragmatic advantages of a Bayesian approach to data analysis. Concrete demonstrations with the JASP program (jasp-stats.org) will showcase the ease with which researchers may draw conclusions from data that can supplement or supplant the conclusions afforded by a traditional analysis.

Coherence or correspondence? What truths are we seeking in reproducibility? by Prof Stephen Senn
2021-06-07 13:00 - 14:00 (Europe/London) | MS Teams

The producibility crisis in Philippine psychology: A reproducibility crisis in the making? by James Montilla Doble
2021-06-17 12:00 - 13:00 (Europe/London) | MS Teams
About the speaker
Mx James Montilla Doble (he/they) is a lecturer and PhD student in social psychology at the University of the Philippines Diliman Department of Psychology. His research interests include metapsychology as well as issues related to research ethics. They are affiliated with the following organizations: Center for Open Science, South East Asian Network for Open Science (SEANOS), and Philippine Researchers for Open Science (PROScience). He is also currently one of the graduate student representatives of the Society for the Improvement of Psychological Science (SIPS) Executive Committee and a member of the Steering Committee of the upcoming Advancing Science in South East Asia (ASISEA) conference in Q4 2021. You can find James here: website and @lysanderjames.
About the talk
To establish the current state of psychological research in the Philippines, respondents who have completed or are completing graduate studies in psychology were asked what, in their opinion, are the most pressing issues in conducting psychological research in the country. Thematic analysis of responses shows that in contrast with the replication crisis gripping the field in other countries, an enduring “producibility crisis” continues to dominate Philippine psychology twenty years after Bernardo (1997) observed the lack of research culture among Filipino psychologists, which he attributed to lack of resources and negative attitudes towards research. Other than these threats to research production, there is a clear overlap between the problems encountered and mentioned by this study’s respondents and those already identified by metapsychologists from outside of the Philippines, such as poor research competence and efficacy, unethical research conduct, and misaligned incentive structures, e.g., publication bias and the “publish or perish” culture in academia. Implications of the connection between the producibility and replication crises are discussed, as well as solutions to both crises to improve overall producibility and stimulate the growth of Philippine psychology.

Transparency in qualitative research and using Dedoose for coding by Dr Crystal Steltenpohl
2021-06-18 14:00 - 15:00 (Europe/London) | Zoom, United Kingdom
About the speaker
Dr Crystal Steltenpohl is a community psychologist, whose research focuses on a wide range of topics related to community well-being, such as perceptions and interactions between individuals and community-based interventions. She has conducted research and evaluations using qualitative and quantitative methodology and data and designed and conducted trainings for effective collaboration and communication within organizations. She is also an active advocate of the open science movement, particularly passionate about driving initiatives focused on inclusion, diversity, equity, and access. She is actively involved with the Centre for Open Science and the Society for the Improvement of Psychological Science.
About the talk
This seminar will discuss transparency in qualitative research and demonstrate practical steps to use Dedoose as tool for coding.

False dichotomy: Predatory journals and inclusivity and scholarly publishing by Dr Larissa Shamseer
2021-06-22 15:00 - 16:00 UTC | Zoom, United Kingdom
About the speaker
Dr Larissa Shamseer (MSc, PhD) is a CIHR postdoctoral fellow with the Knowledge Translation Program of the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute in Toronto. Her research to date has focused on optimizing research transparency to reduce research waste. She is currently researching equity in academic publishing and reward. Dr Shamseer completed her PhD in Epidemiology at the University of Ottawa in 2021, where she led early work characterizing predatory publishing. She has over 70 publications across these areas, including several first-author publications in high-impact journals (e.g. Nature, BMJ). Dr Shamseer also led the development of the widely-used Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic review and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P 2015) guideline (cited over 9000 times, Scopus), and was on the steering committee updating the PRISMA 2020 Statement. You can find Dr Shamseer on Twitter @LarissaShamseer and learn more about her work on ORCID.
About the talk
So-called “predatory” journals are pervasive in scholarly publishing and their ever-increasing presence is alarming to the science and publishing communities. Predatory journals and their content are considered untrustworthy due to their failure (and sometimes false claims) to peer review or carry out standard journal practices. Some journals once-labelled as “predatory” may not intentionally carry out nefarious or deceptive operations. Further, potentially useful research may be contained in predatory journals. This talk considers the origins and definitions of the term “predatory” journal, why researchers publish in them, their impact on research integrity, and advancing equity and transparency in scholarly publishing.

Negotiating for open publishing: Freeing journal articles from paywalls by Chris Banks
2021-06-30 13:00 - 14:00 UTC | MS Teams
About the speaker
Chris Banks (FRSA) has worked in libraries since 1985, including spending over 20 years at the British Library. Since 2013 she has served as Director of Library Services at Imperial College London. She is a member of the UUK/Jisc Content Negotiations Strategy Group, Chair of its Content Expert Group, and a member of the team currently negotiating for a new UK agreement with the publishing giant Elsevier. In non-pandemic times she sings with the London Philharmonic Choir.
About the talk
COVID-19 has thrown a spotlight on the need for open rapid reproducible sharing of scientific knowledge and yet this open means of dissemination is still not the norm and instead, the outputs of publicly funded research are too often found behind costly paywalls, accessible only via the libraries of the wealthier institutions. Chris will describe the transition that is underway which will enable more publicly-funded research to be freely and globally accessible at a fair price that recognises the value that can be added by publishers.

Tomfuckery, A Redux: Academic distortions beyond regular bad science by Dr James Heathers
2021-07-06 15:00 - 16:00 (Europe/London) | MS Teams

Towards a better understanding and communication of uncertainty in empirical research by Dr Lonni Besançon
2021-10-07 12:00 - 13:00 (Europe/London) | MS Teams
About the speaker
Lonni Besançon is a postdoctoral fellow at Monash University, Australia. He received his PhD in computer science at University Paris Saclay, France. His thesis “An interaction continuum for 3D dataset visualization” received the second price of the prix de these GDR-IGRV. He is particularly interested in interactive visualization techniques for 3D spatial data relying on new input paradigms and his recent work focuses on the visualization and understanding of uncertainty in empirical results in computer science.
About the talk
Statistical analysis is at the heart of empirical research work. Yet current reporting styles and guidelines on interpretations have been found to be prone to dichotomous thinking and eventually lead to issues such as the file-drawer effect or even the replication crisis. In my work, I have first explored my research field to find evidence of dichotomous reporting. Based on the threats of a replication crisis I have observed in empirical computer science, I have explored alternative visual presentations of statistical results that could help to avoid binary interpretations of results.

Claims and evidence by Prof Mark Sabbagh
2021-10-15 14:00 - 15:00 (Europe/London) | Zoom, United Kingdom
About the speaker
Mark Sabbagh is a professor of psychology at Queen’s University (Canada), specializing in developmental psychology. His research examines the social, cognitive, and neurobiological bases of preschoolers’ theory of mind development, and how theory of mind skills contribute to healthy social relationships throughout the lifespan. His work has been supported by SSHRC, CIHR, and NSERC.
About the talk
The evidence that we gain in a research study rarely provides a strong basis for making broad, generic generalized claims regarding what we have “discovered.” We shouldn’t be surprised, harshly judgmental, or even especially gloomy when weak empirical findings don’t “replicate.” I suggest we move to a slightly different way of thinking about all this.

Measuring ideology: Current practices, consequences, and recommendations by Dr Flávio Azevedo
2021-10-25 11:00 - 12:00 (Europe/Oslo) | Zoom, United Kingdom
About the speaker
Flávio is a Fulbright Fellow and research associate at Friedrich Schiller University, Germany. His research in Political Psychology focuses on ideology, its measurement & theory, as well as on the psychological roots of ideological endorsement. Flavio is the principal investigator of the PBBS, a series of studies informing psychological explanations of political attitudes, values, voting, and participation. Flavio co-founded and directs FORRT, an award-winning grassroots interdisciplinary international organization aiming to integrate open and reproducible research training into higher education.
About the talk
Political ideologies are foundational to a broad range of social science fields, and when applied to research, scholars have used diverse and wide-ranging approaches to its measurement. We sought to investigate standard practices by conducting an exhaustive literature review of >400 scientific articles, spanning from the 1930s to 2020s. We identified a high proportion of unique, non-validated, on-the-fly measures with little to no content overlap suggesting scholars may not be justified in generalizing findings across studies. We test this empirically by applying different ideological instruments to established & replicated theories to show empirically that results indeed can change as a function of the measure. We then discuss its consequences and recommendations.

Reimagining sample diversity in behavioural science by Sakshi Ghai
2021-10-28 12:00 - 13:00 UTC | Zoom, United Kingdom
About the speaker
Sakshi Ghai is a PhD student in Psychology at the University of Cambridge and her research focuses on the psychology of technology in the context of the Global South. Sakshi is passionate about diversifying behavioural science.
About the talk
In this talk, I will reflect on the perils and opportunities of diversity classifications and discuss why the time has come to rethink the study of diverse populations in behavioural science.

Errors in articles of erroneous articles by Prof Lex Burdorf
2021-10-28 15:00 - 16:00 (Europe/Amsterdam) | MS Teams
About the talk
There is an intense debate about quality of research, whereby some claim that most research findings are false, and others point towards the relatively high retraction rate of wrong articles by top journals. Is retraction a sign of poor science? How do we deal with scientific mistakes? Is the current scientific system, where you can publish anything you want, contributing to better science?

Adversarial collaboration: (Open) Science at its best by Dr Tim Rakow
2021-11-04 12:00 - 13:00 (Europe/London) | MS Teams
About the speaker
Dr Tim Rakow is a Reader in Psychology at King’s College London. He has over 20 years experience of supervising research and teaching research methods to psychology students. Tim uses a range of research strategies to examine human judgment and decision making. He has published over 50 research articles in more than 25 different academic journals, spanning the disciplines of psychology, health, medicine, decision science and behavioural economics. He is an Associate Editor for the journal Thinking & Reasoning and co-author of the 1st EMEA Edition of the Cengage textbook Research Methods for the Behavioural Sciences.
About the talk
Adversarial collaboration is an approach to resolving scientific disputes, wherein researchers who have different positions on the issue at hand collaborate with the aim of making progress on their disputed research question. Adversarial collaboration sits squarely within the open science framework because it puts a premium on transparency in hypothesis specification, study design, data analysis, study interpretation and reporting – and supplies a framework that can encourage rigour in these components of the research process. This talk will use examples of published adversarial collaborations to give an overview of the approach, outlining some of its key features, and identifying potential benefits of the approach.

How do we apply open science practices to neurodevelopmental research? by Dr Hannah Hobson
2021-11-11 12:00 - 13:00 (Europe/London) | Zoom, United Kingdom
To join the talk, follow this link.

About the speaker
Dr Hannah Hobson is a Lecturer in Psychology at the Department of Psychology, University of York. She completed her DPhil at Oxford University in 2016, examining imitation abilities in children with autism or Developmental Language Disorder, and measures of brain systems argued to support imitation. She went on to complete a post-doc with Geoff Bird at Kings College London, before taking her first lectureship at Greenwich University in 2017. She moved to York in 2019. More details about her research can be found on her faculty page or lab website. In addition to her research activities, Dr Hobson also helps direct the Development, Disorders and Clinical Practice MSc at York’s Psychology Department and has an active interest in reproducibility in psychology and the biomedical and social sciences. More details about her involvement with open science can be found on the Open Autism Research site.
About the talk
How do we apply open science practices to neurodevelopmental research? In this talk, Dr Hobson will discuss her experiences conducting a registered report and asking autism journals to offer this format. She will also summarise investigations into the typical statistical power of a study into developmental disorders.
To join the talk, follow this link.

Communicating on the efficacy of facemasks: What went wrong by Tori Egherman
2021-11-18 15:00 - 16:00 (Europe/Amsterdam) | MS Teams
About the speaker
Tori Egherman is a writer, editor and researcher in communication and storytelling. She helps organizations and individuals with their communication so that they can be more effective and engaging. She is experienced in science communication, grant writing, developing communication strategies, designing presentations, building strong communication teams and other communication-related activities.
About the talk
Sometimes you’re answering the wrong question. This was the case when it came to the efficacy of facemasks in controlling the spread of COVID-19. This talk demonstrates how the research that existed concerning facemasks answered the wrong question.

Moving towards a more cumulative science in developmental psychology by Dr Michael C. Frank
2021-11-18 16:00 - 17:00 (Europe/London) | Zoom, United Kingdom
To join the talk, follow this link.

About the speaker
Michael C. Frank is David and Lucile Packard Professor of Human Biology at Stanford University and Director of the Symbolic Systems Program. He received his PhD from MIT in Brain and Cognitive Sciences in 2010. He studies language use and language learning, focusing especially on early word learning. He is the founder of the ManyBabies Consortium, a collaborative replication network for infancy research, and has led open-data projects including Wordbank and MetaLab. He was a Jacobs Foundation Fellow and has received the Troland Award from the National Academy of Sciences, the FABBS Early Career Impact Award, and the Marr Prize and Glushko Dissertation Prize from the Cognitive Science Society. He served as Chair of the Governing Board of the Cognitive Science Society and has edited for journals including Cognition and Child Development. You can find Michael on Twitter, his website, and his blog.
About the talk
In recent years, many psychologists have become increasingly concerned about issues of reproducibility and replicability. From small sample sizes to post-hoc analytic flexibility (“p-hacking”), many factors conspire to decrease the robustness and trustworthiness of results in published research. These problems are important in developmental psychology as well, though the scope of the problem is unknown. The speaker will present some scientific and meta-scientific work he has done on these issues (including progress on the ManyBabies project, a large collaborative replication project in the infancy field) and describe some practical steps to take for increasing the robustness of your own work.
To join the talk, follow this link.

Registration: Shortcomings, deviations, solutions by Dr Robert Thibault
2021-11-23 16:00 - 17:00 (Europe/London) | MS Teams
About the speaker
Dr Thibault studies how to increase the reliability and efficiency of scientific research. He is also interested in promoting evidence-based decision making and encouraging the public uptake of science. He completed a PhD in cognitive neuroscience at McGill University in 2019. His doctoral work focused on brain imaging, including neurofeedback, placebos, and suggestion. His book Casting Light on The Dark Side of Brain Imaging, co-edited with Dr Amir Raz, is available here. Dr Thibault also works as a consultant on topics related to neurofeedback and experimental design. In his spare time, he enjoys rock climbing and other outdoor activities.
About the talk
In this talk, Dr Thibault will go through his recent work investigating the shortcomings to study/clinical trial registration and will touch on proposed solutions. One highlight of the talk will be his recent scoping review of discrepancy reviews – i.e., studies that have assessed undisclosed discrepancies between the registered protocol and the final publication. We will also learn about proposals for experimental design assistant tools, and releasing data conditional on the registration of an analysis plan based on blinded data.

Good riddance: Academic publishers are abandoning publishing by Prof Björn Brembs
2021-12-08 13:00 - 14:00 (Europe/London) | MS Teams
About the speaker
To learn more about the speaker, click here.

How to become a pseudoscientist by Prof Edzard Ernst
2021-12-09 12:00 - 13:00 (Europe/London) | Zoom, United Kingdom
About the speaker
Professor Edzard Ernst is Emeritus Professor at the University of Exeter, where he established the world’s first Chair in complementary medicine in 1993. He has previously been Professor in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PMR) at Hannover Medical School (Germany ) and Head of the PMR Department at the University of Vienna (Austria). He is an extremely prolific author, with over 1000 publications in scientific journals, over 50 books in press (most notably, Trick or Treatment? Alternative Medicine on Trial with Simon Singh), and numerous collaborations as a columnist. He founded and has been Editor-in-Chief for Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies and Perfusion, and served as EIC for the European Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
Ernst is the recipient of 17 scientific awards and 2 Visiting Professorships. He served on the Medicines Commision of the British Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency. His last 25 years of career have been focused on the critical scrutiny of alternative medicine in both academic and outreach settings. He currently lives between Cambridge (UK) and Brittany (France).
About the talk
Times are hard, not least for scientists! It seems therefore wise to consider alternative career paths. Why not become a pseudoscientist? Even though there is plenty of competition, pseudoscientists can lead a fulfilled and happy life – and the income will exceed that of a scientist manyfold.
So-called alternative medicine (SCAM) has long attracted an unusually high percentage of pseudoscientists. Having observed many of them for almost 30 years, I feel I am in a good position to reveal some of the tricks and strategies that helped them succeed. I have thus condensed them into my nine lessons for beginners:

Invent a bizarre theory
Abuse the tools of science to confirm your theory
Avoid facts and use fallacies instead
Make as many bogus claims as you can get away with
Perfect your cherry-picking skills
Claim that you have found a panacea
Charge exorbitant fees
Be economical with the truth
When found out, go on the attack

I am confident that my nine lessons will lead anyone who follows them rigorously to a successful career in pseudoscience. Good luck!

Five things about open science that every researcher should know by Dr Dan Quintana
2022-01-21 13:00 - 14:00 (Europe/Oslo) | Zoom, United Kingdom
To join the event, follow this link.

About the talk
In this talk, Daniel Quintana will share five things about open science that every researcher should know, including how open science practices can benefit both your career and scientific discovery. Daniel will also provide some practical tips on getting started with open science practices.
About the speaker
Daniel Quintana is a Senior Researcher in Psychoneuroendocrinology at the University of Oslo. His research investigates how hormones influence our thoughts and behaviours, the neurobiology of autism spectrum disorders, and research methodology. Along with his research, Dan is also a science communicator, using various social media platforms and podcasts to share scientific research and discuss the scientific research process.
To join the event, follow this link.

Version control for academics with GitHub by Dr Samuel Forbes
2022-02-01 14:00 - 15:00 (Europe/London) | Zoom, United Kingdom
About the speaker
Dr Samuel Forbes is an Assistant Professor in Developmental Psychology at Durham University (@samhforbes). Outside of his research, Dr Forbes is an experienced GitHub user and maintains several R packages, which can be seen on his own GitHub page.
About the talk
Version control can be an important skill for both ensuring files are backed up adequately, and for maintaining good organisation of analysis scripts and documents. I will give a basic introduction to how GitHub might be used by academics both at an individual and at a team level.
