At the fourth edition of the Open and Responsible Science (ORS) Awards, the Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences (ESSB) achieved an exceptional result: all three award-winning projects originated within our faculty. The awards, presented annually by Erasmus University Rotterdam, recognise initiatives that advance open, transparent and socially responsible research and teaching. Each winning project received a €2,500 prize.
The ORS Awards align closely with the EUR’s strategic ambition to embed open science across research, education and societal impact. The success of the ESSB teams demonstrates how our faculty continues to lead in this area.
Winner Open Research: Little Lies, Big Impact?
The project by Lisanne Schröer and Rianne Kok (ESSB) examines how parental lies, viewed from the child’s perspective, affect the parent–child relationship and trust. The jury praised the project for its “extensive implementation of open science practices”, its “transparent methodology with publicly available data and materials” and its innovative, gamified instrument design that enhances participant engagement.
Winner Open Education: ShareStats
ShareStats, developed by statistics lecturers from four universities, including Marleen de Moor, Lidia Arends, Anne Kappesser, Floris Kervers, Gökhan Korkmaz, Oliver Lindemann, Marloes Onrust and Marike Polak (ESSB), focuses on creating and sharing Open Educational Resources (OER) for statistics education. According to the jury, the initiative is an “excellent example of a reusable, scalable educational infrastructure” and “unique in its search functionality and extensive database of R scripts”.
Winner Societal Engagement: Whose Best Interest?
The winning project in this category is a collaboration between Laura Cleton and Elina Jonitz (ESSB), Elias Tissandier (Leiden University) and Nour Samira Hjeij (University of Amsterdam). The jury described it as an “example of societal engagement with a highly topical and relevant issue, namely the integration of refugee families”. The project stood out due to its open access publications, transparent dissemination of findings and strong inter-university collaboration.
The importance of Open & Responsible Science at ESSB
The awards were presented by Marjolijn Antheunis (Dean of ESSB) and Semiha Denktas (Vice Dean of Research, ESSB). Denktas emphasised the crucial role of open and responsible research within the social and behavioural sciences:
"In our faculty, we believe that transparency, collaboration, and integrity form the foundation of academic progress. Open science makes knowledge accessible to everyone, and responsible science ensures that we use that knowledge in an ethical, inclusive, and careful manner."
Launch of the ESSB Open Science Champion Network
To further strengthen open science practices within the faculty, ESSB has established an Open Science Champion (OS Champion) network this academic year. This initiative aims to support best practices in Research Data Management (RDM) and to foster knowledge-sharing within and across teams.
Why an OS Champion Network?
The network aims to create an informal and accessible support structure in which colleagues can exchange experiences, discuss questions and learn from one another. Each team is invited to nominate one OS Champion - someone enthusiastic about open science, already familiar with good practices or eager to develop expertise in this area.
Role of the Open Science Champions
Within their teams, OS Champions act as local points of contact for open science and research data management, promoting good data practices and sharing relevant developments. They also provide input to the data steward on policies, workflows, tools and training. By participating in network meetings and staying connected through the Teams environment, Champions contribute to a learning community that supports cultural change across ESSB.
ESSB is strongly committed to open science
With three ORS Award-winning projects and the establishment of a faculty-wide Open Science Champion network, ESSB demonstrates its strong commitment to fostering transparent, collaborative and socially relevant research and education. These initiatives contribute directly to the EUR’s broader ambition to embed open science as a standard academic practice.
- More information
Julia Wetsteijn, communications ESSB, wetsteijn@essb.eur.nl
or
Marjolein Kooistra, communications and press ESSB, 0683676038, kooistra@essb.eur.nl
