We're involved in various research projects within the University, in addition to engaging with local and national policy makers.

Exploring the relationship between science and the media

We are interested in how press releases issued by universities and academic journals influence the reporting of science news in the media.

By understanding both positive and negative effects, the InSciOut project aims to formulate an evidence-based policy for maximizing the impact and accuracy of science-related public relations.

The InSciOut project has been supported by an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) transformative grant, the Wellcome Trust, and the British Psychological Society. It also benefits from our close relationship with the Science Media Centre.

More about InSciOut, including their research and who we're collaborating with.

Team members

Improving the use of evidence in public policy-making

We have explored new mechanisms to facilitate academic engagement with policy-makers, including the provision and explanation of peer-reviewed literature, statistical consulting, and the critical assessment of data or conclusions.

For more information, read the summary of our 2015 national consultation exercise with UK parliamentarians and associated peer-reviewed article in Evidence & Policy.

Team member

Current collaborators

Promoting open science

Psychology and cognitive neuroscience are in the midst of a reproducibility crisis that can be solved through the adoption of practices that boost the transparency of the research process.

Since 2014, Chris Chambers has served as chair of the Registered Reports Committee of the Center for Open Science (COS). Registered Reports are a new form of empirical article that tackles publication bias and biased research practices (such as p-hacking and post hoc hypothesising) by conducting peer review before data collection and analysis.

Chris also helped established the Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) Guidelines, which proposes a series of guidelines for academic journals to improve the credibility of published work.

In 2015, the TOP guidelines were published in the journal Science, led by COS Executive Director Brian Nosek. In 2018, Chambers, Marcus Munafò, Malcolm MacLeod, Laura Fortunato established the UK Reproducibility Network (UKRN) to coordinate the advancement of open research practices in the UK and internationally.

Team member