31
MARS

Critical challenges for research and researchers in the 21st century - 1st workshop

Conférence
Académique ou spécialiste
31.03.2025 15:00 - 18:00
Présentiel

Research today stands at a crossroads, grappling with reproducibility issues, misinformation, and systemic pressures that influence what gets funded, studied, and published. To discuss these challenges and potential solutions, this two-part lecture series brings together experts from different fields.

The first session examines how researchers can uphold transparency, credibility, and accessibility in an era of increasing scrutiny and mistrust. Topics include open science practices (Aaron Peikert, MPIB Berlin), interventions against misinformation (Ralph Hertwig, MPIB Berlin), and the impact of research regulation (Mélanie Levy, UniNe).

The second session (May 9th, 13:30–17:30) will shift the focus to systematic issues that shape scientific progress. Speakers include Jürgen Renn (MPIGeA Jena) on knowledge evolution, Giorgio Zanarone (UniL) on incentives in research careers, and Thomas Leibundgut (swissuniversities) on the academic publishing oligopoly. Malte Elson (UniBe) agreed to be our discussant.
Quand?
31.03.2025 15:00 - 18:00
Où?
Site PER 21 / Salle E120
Bd de Pérolles 90, 1700 Fribourg
Organisation
Departement für Psychologie
Prof. Petra Klumb
petra.klumb@unifr.ch
Intervenants
Aaron Peikert (MPIB Berlin)
Ralph Hertwig (MPIB Berlin)
Mélanie Levy (UniNe)

CYCLE d'événements:
Critical challenges for research and researchers in the 21st century - Two Workshops

The 21st century presents researchers with interwoven challenges that strike the heart of scientific integrity and progress. The evolution of research methods and statistics has brought both opportunities and pitfalls, with concerns about HARKing and p-hacking threatening the validity of our findings. In addition, the reproducibility crisis looms large, prompting a push towards open science practices. Researchers embarked on making their work transparent and replicable often face systemic barriers. This is further complicated by incentive systems in academia, which tend to prioritize novelty and quantity over rigor and reproducibility. With trust in science declining, the public turned to alternative epistemologies such that other coordinates might inform their decisions and actions. While challenging, communication with the public has become all the more crucial. Researchers must navigate a complex media landscape, making their work accessible to non-experts and combating misinformation. At the same time, researchers face pressures from economic, political, and cultural interests, potentially compromising the integrity and direction of their work. Perhaps most concerningly, the dominance of a handful of large publishing companies resulted in significant funds being diverted from active research towards publishing fees and subscriptions.

Addressing all these challenges requires a concerted effort from individual researchers, institutions, and policymakers to promote transparency, reform incentive structures, and protect the independence and credibility of scientific research. In this lecture series, some prominent perspectives are gathered that analyze the situation and, more importantly, recommend potential interventions.
 
Autres événements dans le cycle
31.03.2025Critical challenges for research and researchers in the 21st century - 1st workshop
09.05.2025Critical challenges for research and researchers in the 21st century - 2nd workshop