Students rethinking science
We empower the next generation of researchers and establish a culture of open, fair, and critical scientific practice.
Our Approaches
Learn
Providing education on principled research.
Research
Enabling students to conduct transparent and rigorous research projects.
Publish
Offering hands-on experience with open publishing and peer review.
Advocate
Fostering global dialogue on the future of science.
What makes us unique?
We empower the researchers of tomorrow by giving today’s students a voice that’s heard. With a holistic approach to open science across four engagement pillars, we offer many ways to get involved. We have a strong track record of achievements and are well-connected and respected in early-career researcher empowerment and open science. Our members and alumni are ambitious, highly engaged, and among the most academically excellent students in Germany.
What have we achieved so far?
We have created a wide range of programs, workshops, and publications that engage students in principled science. Our work has been recognized through institutional support, scholarships, media coverage, and strong partnerships with leading universities and organizations.
We, for instance:
Organized a seminar series on interdisciplinary research communication with 100+ global participants, together with the Rhodes Scholar Group for Open Science, and the Master of Public Policy at the University of Oxford.
Held a multi-month reproduction summer school & hackathon with around 30 participating ECRs globally, together with the Institute of Medical Informatics at Charité Berlin and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, sponsored by the Marburger Bund.
Continuously offer a highly-regarded Peer Review Crash Course, allowing hundreds of students to learn about peer review and open science (besides our regular live seminars, we launched an on-demand version online).
Participated in and contributed to many scientific conferences and events (e.g., Open Science Festival, Z2X Festival of ZEIT Online, Oxford/Berlin Summer School on Open Research, Academic Publishing in Europe Conference, Lange Nacht der Wissenschaften Berlin, Open Science Workshop of the Berlin University Alliance).
Collaborated on a JAMA paper to evaluate bias due to affiliation in peer reviews using a widely used large language model and published a 144-page issue of our own journal publications.
Our founding idea
In this short video from the Berlin University Alliance, our co-founders Anne Neumann, Felix Hambitzer, and Dario von Wedel present the philosophy and ideas behind the initiative.