Category: OSC Amsterdam

On June 12, 2025, the Open Science Community Amsterdam celebrated their third annual OSCAWARDS in SPUI25. The evening opened with a series of invited presentations and a panel discussion on the theme Trust in Science. Dr. Bojana Većkalov, a postdoctoral researcher at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, spoke about the psychological factors underlying science scepticism, such as the perceived distance between the public and the scientific community or the research topic itself. Next, Menno van den Bos, freelance journalist, editor at Het Financieele Dagblad, and creator of the newsletter De hype is real, offered a journalistic perspective on misinformation. He emphasized the responsibility of university press offices to avoid overstating research findings, which can inadvertently fuel misinformation, while also highlighting the shared responsibility of both journalists and scientists to ensure the accuracy of the information they communicate. Finally, Dr. Anne-Floor Scholvinck discussed the nuances of science mistrust and cautioned against the assumption that simply encountering misinformation leads to belief, or that belief necessarily translates into behavior.

Afterwards, in recognition of their outstanding contribution to open science, the Open Science Community Amsterdam has awarded their annual Open Science Prize to 10 researchers, educators, students, and librarians across our four affiliated institutes. The OSCAWARDS 2025 regularly showcase how versatile open science and open science initiatives can be. More than anything, the awards reminded us that open science is a shared effort. It brings together students, teachers, researchers, and support staff—and encourages collaboration across roles and disciplines.

To celebrate this diversity, OSCA awards 10 prizes across four different categories, including two specifically reserved for student-led projects:¹

Below we briefly summarize the winners in each category. Do you want to know more about these winning projects and all other nominations? We collected all projects with additional resources in this booklet: https://osf.io/k4rgb.

In the Transparency, Metascience, Preregistration, and Reproducibility category, Julius Pfadt and his team from the University of Amsterdam were recognized for their large-scale project investigating the adoption of statistical and open science practices—such as preregistration and data sharing—in psychology. Their study analyzed trends across 16,000 empirical articles published over the past 20 years.

Gerben ter Riet from Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences also received recognition in this category for his work measuring adherence to 14 key principles of open science and responsible research across projects at AUAS’ Faculty of Health, Sport & Exercise between 2020-2023. His research revealed significant differences between departments and will inform faculty-wide discussions about future research policies.

In the Open Educational Resources, Open Education, and Open Online Courses category, Barbara Leitner, Joeri Tijdink, and Mariëtte van den Hoven from Amsterdam University Medical Centres were recognized for their educational program designed to empower early career researchers through interactive videos addressing common academic dilemmas. The program uses a “choose your own adventure” format to encourage reflection and dialogue about research culture and responsible practices.

Johnny van Doorn from the University of Amsterdam also received recognition in this category for his work translating Andy Field’s well-known textbook Discovering Statistics Using SPSS into a version adapted for JASP, a free and open-source statistics software. His project supports a more accessible and affordable approach to teaching statistics in higher education.

In the Open Access, Open Data, Open Materials, and Open Software category, Judith ter Schure from Amsterdam University Medical Centres was recognized for her prospective living meta-analysis of clinical trials studying BCG vaccine protection against COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations. Her project featured innovative bottom-up statistical methods and comprehensive open documentation, with an ambitious approach to making supplementary materials findable through citations and highlighting authorship contributions.

Matthias Nau from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam also received recognition in this category for developing open-source computational tools that reconstruct gaze directly from MRI signals, eliminating the need for expensive eye-tracking cameras. His work enables even smaller MRI facilities to use eye tracking for research and clinical applications, dramatically reducing costs while increasing accessibility and inclusivity.

In the Stakeholder Involvement, Citizen Science, and Community Engagement category, Zakia Essanhaji, Daudi van Veen, Zehra Çolak, Dounia Bourabain, and Onur Şahin from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam were recognized for their podcast series exploring how racialized academics in the Netherlands and Belgium cultivate joy within institutions often marked by exclusion. Rather than framing experiences through suffering, the series uplifts stories of resistance, belonging, and radical imagination while offering accessible role models and mentorship through popular podcast platforms.

Sarju Sing Rai, Jeroen Meulenbrugge, Amber Mers, Manon Gerber, Fleur Alards, and Marjolein Zweekhorst from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam also received recognition for their educational module within the Global Health minor programme that brings together students from diverse disciplinary backgrounds to work with community partners on local and global health issues. The module focuses on social justice within global health research and includes projects with marginalized communities to co-create knowledge and effectuate positive change.

Student awards were presented to Nina Leonie Ehmann from the University of Amsterdam for her role in launching the Diamond Open Access Journal of Robustness Reports. The journal publishes short re-analyses of existing studies to test how robust scientific findings are when analyzed using different—but equally valid—methods.

María de los Ángeles Crespo López and Krishma Labib from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam also received a student award for their project examining how transparency and openness are framed in Open Science policies and practices, and how these framings relate to power, equity, and epistemic justice. Their work challenges the assumption that transparency is always beneficial and proposes a more critical and context-aware approach to openness that accounts for the right to refuse and protects marginalized knowledge systems.

We have seen that open science is not only about FAIR data or publishing deals. It’s about doing better research: making it more transparent, trustworthy, and useful. It’s also about building stronger connections with society, engaging communities, and making space for voices that are too often left out. And importantly, it’s a powerful tool for teaching and learning—helping students and staff develop more inclusive and thoughtful academic practices.

1. To avoid biases in the judgement of the awards, the jury who judges the submissions includes members of the OSCA but also open science experts outside Amsterdam. We also make sure that jury members do not evaluate submissions from their own institutions and that any potential conflicts of interest are avoided. ↩︎