Open Science Innovation Award awarded for the first time

Stefan Appelhoff was honored for his work on the BIDS Data Standard  

July 15, 2024

The Institute is sending out a strong signal for transparency and reproducibility in research: the Innovation Award for Open Science was presented for the first time. "Especially in times of disinformation, scientifically transparent work towards society is important, which is why work on open science projects is particularly valued," explains Ralph Hertwig, Director of the Center for Adaptive Rationality and Managing Director of the Institute. "By introducing the award, we want to recognize the researchers and how they make their research more accessible, transparent, and reproducible."   

The five-member jury selected the winner from seven highly qualified applicants.   

Stefan Appelhoff, a postdoc in the ERC-funded Research Group Adaptive Memory and Decision Making, received the Open Science Innovation Award for his work on the Brain Imaging Data Structure (BIDS).   

BIDS is a collaboratively developed data standard that was originally designed for the organization and description of MRI data. As part of his doctorate, the neuroscientist expanded the data structure to enable the meaningful integration of EEG data and thus made a significant contribution to effective research data management. "This extension fulfills a previously unmet need and promotes the reusability and efficiency of research," was the jury's verdict.  

In his acceptance speech, Stefan Appelhoff highlighted the immense significance of Open Science, emphasizing that the investment of time and resources is worthwhile despite the challenges. In addition to direct feedback on his work, networking with other scientists through joint problem-solving and collaboration on projects is particularly valuable to him. Working on Open Science tools also allows him to gain experience that can further his career and is also in demand in the industry.   

"Not every contribution leads to a publication in a scientific journal, but the effort has been worthwhile to advance science in general", says Stefan about his work on Open Science.   

He has since overseen and supported the inclusion of many more data modalities in BIDS as a main contributor.   

The jury explicitly recognized the other, also thoroughly developed applications by Elisa Buchberger (LIP), Mengchen Dong (CHM), Anika Löwe (LIP), Konstantin Offer (ARC), Rodrigo Schettino (CHM) and Izabela Maria Sztuka (LMG). Some of them took the opportunity to present their work at the award ceremony. Detailed descriptions of their projects can be found on our website.   

Open Science is a movement that has established itself in numerous scientific fields in recent years to make research results freely and easily accessible. Transparent processes enable researchers to review published results or to evaluate already collected data in the context of new questions. The Research Data Management & Open Science working group led by Maike Kleemeyer was set up at the Institute for this purpose. The group, which consists of 20 members from different research areas, organizational units, and career levels, meets every 10 weeks to discuss new developments and exchange findings. 

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