Reflections from SIPS 2025 in Budapest
This June, Ekaterina Pronizius had the privilege of serving as the Chair of the Program Committee for the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for the Improvement of Psychological Science (SIPS), held in beautiful Budapest, Hungary. The in-person conference took place from June 25 to 27, preceded by an informal Day 0 dedicated to exploring Budapest together and building meaningful connections beyond academic discussions.
This year’s meeting was particularly special as it marked SIPS’s 10th anniversary, celebrating a decade of open, rigorous, and collaborative psychological science. The event featured a vibrant program of workshops, hackathons, lightning talks, unconferences, and roundtables, covering topics such as data fabrication detection, reproducible research with GitHub, enhancing theory building, neurodiversity research, and the role of AI in psychological science.
Ekaterina moderated the second keynote roundtable, “The Past, Present, and Future of Scientific Reform II,” featuring Lisa Spitzer, Alexandra Sarafoglou, Agata Bochynska, Jeffrey Lees, and Marton Kovacs. This session provided insights into the experiences and perspectives of rising stars in open science and concluded with an open discussion, inspiring attendees to envision the next steps in scientific reform.
Additionally, Ekaterina gave a lightning talk pitching an idea for "Big Team Science in clinical psychology", sparking discussions about how to design large collaborative projects to advance research with vulnerable populations effectively and ethically. Her talk highlighted the importance of networking, strategic study design, patient access, and funding to build successful BTS groups in clinical domains.
The event concluded with a memorable social gathering on a sightseeing boat along the Danube, allowing participants to reflect on the meeting’s insights while enjoying Budapest’s stunning riverfront views.
SIPS 2025 was a powerful reminder of the value of community, transparency, and collective action in improving psychological science. Ekaterina expressed deep gratitude to everyone involved in making this milestone meeting an inspiring success, especially the local organizers from the ELTE University lead by Balazs Aczel, PhD.
Throughout the conference, Ekaterina was supported by her dedicated intern Anna Kulesza, whose assistance in coordination and preparation contributed significantly to the success of the meeting.
Conferece webpage: https://www.improvingpsych.org/SIPS2025/
Abstract booklet: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1d7vLbWt8-XQ6VDm4uchr8dhZtfJNqnTfNeWr5GZwGJE/edit?usp=sharing
