Steering Committee

Steven Verheyen is an Assistant Professor of Cognitive Psychology at Erasmus University Rotterdam, where he also coordinates the Open Science Community Rotterdam and is Open Science Champion of the Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences. His work on individual differences in language use is positioned at the intersection of quantitative psychology, philosophy of language, and cognitive linguistics. He also conducts meta-scientific research on incentivization, contributorship, conflicts of interest, and replication. He is currently serving as editor of the Review of Philosophy and Psychology, PCI Psychology, and Replication Research. At FORRT, he aims to promote open and responsible research through pedagogical reform.

I’m a PhD Candidate in Social, Personality, and Developmental Psychology at Western University in Canada and an active member of FORRT’s Qualitative Research & Mixed Methods sub-cluster. At FORRT, I focus on creating accessible, equity-focused teaching materials that support researchers in developing rigorous, transparent, and reflexive qualitative and mixed-methods practices. I love building resources that help demystify methodology and make open science more inclusive—especially for early-career scholars. My own research explores how diverse and intercultural couples navigate identity, disclosure, and resilience under conditions of marginalization. I’m passionate about intersectionality, relationship processes, and rethinking methodological “rigour” in ways that honour complexity and lived experience. Outside of research, you’ll usually find me baking something cozy, tending to my growing plant collection, or planning overly detailed travel itineraries. I love blending creativity, community engagement, and thoughtful scholarship in everything I do.

Dr. Sarah Sauvé is currently a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Lincoln. She is a white immigrant living and working on the land of the people who colonized the land on which she was born and spent most of her life so far. She is interested in applying feminist and critical theory and praxis to music science research, where her specialties include the neuroscience of learning, music perception in older adults, computational modeling and public engagement. In FORRT, she has been involved in co-leading Team Citational Politics and is very excited to be part of FORRT's first steering committee as Director of Social Justice and DEIA!

I am senior researcher and metaresearcher at the Center for Reproducible Science at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. After my PhD in Biostatistics at University of Zurich, I left academia to join the data team of the Swiss National Science Foundation as a statistician, where I worked on diverse data and statistics projects informing science policy. I returned to academia, after having developed a new passion for metaresearch - the interdisciplinary study of research itself. Now, my research interests include developing and testing new approaches for allocating research funding, statistical methods in research, and improving reproducibility and the uptake of Open Science. Also, I love teaching!

Cognitive psychologist turned meta-scientist. PhD obtained at KU Leuven (Belgium), and currently working as an assistant professor at Leiden University (The Netherlands) in the Methods & Statistics unit of the Institute of Psychology. Research interests include the potential and risks of using Large Language Models in (meta-)science, the pedagogy of responsible research practices, evaluating the robustness of scientific findings, and examining evidence accumulation, correction mechanisms as well as the adoption of responsible research practices through the lens of metascience. Teaching introduction to statistics, research methodology, and responsible research practices.

Berit T. Barthelmes is a PhD student in Psychology at the University of Illinois Chicago, working with Dr. Christine Coughlin in the Future Learning and Memory (FLAME) Lab. Her research focuses on the development of episodic memory and spontaneous future thinking in children, examining how these abilities support learning, imagination, and self-projection across time. She also investigates how mind-wandering relates to the emergence of future-oriented cognition. Before beginning her PhD, Berit earned an M.Sc. in Psychology: Development, Neuroscience, and Cognition at the University of Zurich, where her master’s work sparked a broader interest in the theoretical foundations of psychology and metascientific questions. She is excited about advancing open, transparent, and conceptually grounded approaches to developmental and cognitive science.

Dr Madeleine Pownall is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Leeds. Her work spans three main areas: pedagogical research on psychological literacy and student outcomes; open and transparent research practices in psychology; and feminist social psychology, particularly around gender and equity in education and research. She is interested in how psychological science can be made more inclusive, reflective, and socially responsible. Dr Pownall teaches across undergraduate and postgraduate levels, focusing on evidence-based and inclusive approaches to learning and assessment. She also contributes to projects that promote open scholarship and the integration of global citizenship within psychology curricula. Alongside her research and teaching, she serves on professional committees, mentors early career researchers, and co-authored A Feminist Companion to Social Psychology. Her work aims to support students and researchers to engage critically and ethically with psychological knowledge.

Lorna Hamilton is Professor of Developmental Psychology and Inclusive Education at York St John University. Her research uses participatory approaches, longitudinal designs and mixed methods to understand educational experiences and outcomes for neurodivergent children and young people. Lorna is committed to social justice in education, with a particular focus on Universal Design for Learning, compassionate pedagogies and widening access to higher education.

Dr. Montoya is an Associate Professor of Quantitative Psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She is an advocate for open science and leader across communities, serving on the Board of Directors for the Center for Open Science, the APA Open Science and Methodology Panel, and multiple editorial roles for coordinating registered reports, including as a recommender for Peer Community In Registered Reports. Her research focuses on early adoption of new research practices, with a particular focus on registered reports. She also studies open science practices for computationally intensive approaches such as Monte Carlo simulations.

I am a Research Fellow working in primary care research and implementation science at the Leeds Institute of Health Sciences, University of Leeds. I am a keen advocate for open research practices, which led to me joining the amazing FORRT community in 2021! Since, I have worked behind the scenes on aspects such as our communication (e.g., newsletter, social media), and community and cohesion building.

Bio coming soon.

Lukas studied consumer behavior and market research, PhD in psychology, and currently managing director of the Münster Center for Open Science where he is responsible to support members of the University of Münster with respect to Open Science. Lukas is heavily invested in repetitive research and has been creating open resources and open infrastructure to support replications and reproductions (e.g., a database, handbook, and academic journal).

Sarah Ashcroft-Jones is a researcher of the psychological and behavioural sciences at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Her research interests include decision making, categorisation, and cognitive biases. Her current work focuses on understanding the individual and structural factors that influence financial and health behaviours. She leads the Junior Researcher Programme, which develops opportunities for early career researchers in the psychological and behavioural sciences. She is an advocate of open science practices and open pedagogy.

Joy, creativity and integrity are the values at the root of how Sara Lil moves through the world as an environmental scientist, interdisciplinary scholar and educator. She is interested in how different parts of our environment intertwine and impact how we show up as individuals and in community from plants to people. At FORRT, Sara adopts social justice and systems-thinking approaches to help foster a space where academic scholarship is both scientifically rigorous and socially just.

John J. Shaw (he/him) is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Edge Hill University and a Chartered Psychologist with the British Psychological Society. His research sits in cognitive and developmental psychology, with one consistent theme: sleep. He studies how sleep supports learning, memory, and cognitive performance, including how sleeping soon after learning can strengthen understanding of newly taught mathematical concepts. He also works on how social media use in preadolescents relates to sleep and wellbeing, at a stage where many children are online before traditional “minimum age” guidelines. Beyond sleep, he has collaborated on work examining how autistic children understand ownership and how neurodiversity is treated within academia. Alongside his academic role, he is active in open research and reproducibility work, contributing to the Framework for Open and Reproducible Research Training (FORRT), an international initiative focused on research transparency and accessible training for early-career researchers.

Ruth Van der Hallen is an Associate Professor in Clinical Psychology at Erasmus University Rotterdam, where she combines teaching, research, and academic leadership. She coordinates the Master’s specialisation in Clinical Psychology and leads projects that connect academic training with professional practice in clinical settings. In addition, she serves as a confidential counsellor for students and staff at the university. At FORRT, she acts as a confidential advisor and offers a safe and independent point of contact for community members seeking advice or support when navigating sensitive situations involving inappropriate behaviour, interpersonal conflicts, and concerns related to integrity and professional conduct.

Bio coming soon.

Max Korbmacher is a neuroscientist with a research focus at the intersection of basic and translational brain science. His primary work involves the analysis of large-scale neuroimaging datasets to develop and adapt machine learning models that generalize from healthy populations to individuals with neurological disorders. These models are informed by ageing research and aim to elucidate mechanisms of brain structure and clinical presentation across the lifespan. His broader research interests span neurology, psychology, and meta-science, with a particular emphasis on enhancing the transparency, reproducibility, and interpretability of empirical research. Dr. Korbmacher is actively engaged in interdisciplinary collaborations and contributes to ongoing efforts to strengthen methodological standards in neuroscience and beyond.

Dr Karen Matvienko-Sikar is a Health Psychologist Senior Lecturer in the School of Public Health, University College Cork, Ireland. Karens research interests and expertise are in the area of maternal and child health, particularly perinatal mental health and infant feeding. She is also an advocate for open research, a BITSS Catalyst, and leads the Principles and Practices of Open Research (PaPOR TRaIL) open education resource for which she has received research commendations and awards.

Fotis Mystakopoulos is a professional actively engaged in advancing Open Science. His career trajectory reflects the evolution of information science, from its traditional roots in library services to its modern role in shaping research policy and data infrastructure. With a background in Library and Information Science, he has developed expertise in key areas of scholarly communication, including Responsible Research Assessment, Open Access, Open Science Training, and Research Data Management. Beyond his formal roles, he is actively engaged in community building, supporting initiatives that connect researchers and professionals around shared values and practices of openness and advocating for cultural change in academia that aligns with the ethos of Open Science. Currently, alongside his professional duties, he is pursuing a PhD at the University of West Attica, examining the evolution of academic libraries, and their services within the expanding global landscape of Open Science.

I recently joined FORRT and am beginning to support the team with operational and administrative tasks, especially in accounting and coordination. I’m excited to contribute to FORRT’s mission of fostering open and reproducible research and to learn more about the work that makes such initiatives possible. My background is in office administration and project organization, and I’m particularly interested in how clear structures and good processes can help teams work more effectively.

Bio coming soon.

Bio coming soon.

Bio coming soon.

Dr. Charlotte Pennington is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Aston University, Birmingham, UK. As an experimental social psychologist, Charlotte is interested in understanding how people’s complex social environments impact on health and wellbeing, with a particular interest in alcohol consumption and addiction. Charlotte is an expert in Open Scholarship: she is author of “A Student’s Guide to Open Science: Using the Replication Crisis to Reform Psychology”, which won the 2024 British Psychology Society Textbook Award, and is an Action Editor of Registered Reports for Addiction Research & Theory and Peer Community In. Charlotte also sits on the APA Open Science & Methodology Expert Panel, working to deepen commitment to open research, transparency, and methodological rigour. She has been an active member of FORRT for over 6 years, contributing to many initiatives, such as FORRT’s glossary, educator’s corner, impact on students, lesson plans, and mapping of open scholarship communities. As Director of Communication, Dissemination & Impact, Charlotte works to enhance FORRT’s visibility, reach, and mission at a global scale.

Bio coming soon.

Bio coming soon.

I am a PhD student at King’s College London researching ADHD and women’s health, with a particular focus on the menopausal transition. I have a strong interest in open and transparent research practices, and I am passionate about improving accessibility and equity throughout the research process. Before beginning my PhD, I worked as a Research Fellow in Open Science, where I focused on identifying accessible feedback opportunities across the research cycle. I have been actively involved in several FORRT initiatives, including contributions to the Replication Database and Team Curriculum through creating lecture materials, both of which deepened my commitment to collaborative, community-led scholarship. I am excited to join the FORRT Steering Board as a Steward and look forward to contributing to FORRT’s mission to advance open, responsible, and inclusive research practices across disciplines.

Riva Quiroga is currently a Research Fellow at OLS, a nonprofit dedicated to capacity building and the diversification of open leadership in research worldwide. She is a Software Sustainability Institute Fellow and the founder of the local research software engineering community in Chile (RSE Chile), where she is based. She also serves as an editor at Programming Historian, a diamond open access journal that publishes multilingual, openly peer-reviewed tutorials to help people from the humanities and related fields to learn a wide range of open digital tools, techniques, and workflows for research and teaching. Riva is actively involved in open source communities such as R Ladies, where she is part of the Global Leadership Team and an organizer of local chapters in Chile. She is also a co-organizer of her local PyLadies community and the chair of LatinR. She holds a PhD in Linguistics and has developed an interest in metaresearch over the past few years.

Bio coming soon.

I work as a Lecturer in Organisational Psychology at Birkbeck Business School, University of London. There, I teach on organisational psychology master programmes and research how workforce diversity can be harnessed to improve organisational performance, and how we can improve the reliability of research. This includes co-leading FORRT’s Replication Hub, acting as a Senior Editor for Replication Research, and leading the UKRI-funded project Making Replications Count. In addition, I am interested in intergroup contact research, and serve as Co-Chair of the International Contact Research Network. I am also very interested in Open Science and an avid R user. In that space, I enjoy contributing to the development of tools that support open research - for instance, the CiteSource package that supports meta-analyses. I have also authored three R packages, rsprite2, timesaveR and metaUI.

Bio coming soon.

Bio coming soon.

Bio coming soon.

Ruth Van der Hallen is an Associate Professor in Clinical Psychology at Erasmus University Rotterdam, where she combines teaching, research, and academic leadership. She coordinates the Master’s specialisation in Clinical Psychology and leads projects that connect academic training with professional practice in clinical settings. In addition, she serves as a confidential counsellor for students and staff at the university. At FORRT, she acts as a confidential advisor and offers a safe and independent point of contact for community members seeking advice or support when navigating sensitive situations involving inappropriate behaviour, interpersonal conflicts, and concerns related to integrity and professional conduct.