(Press-News.org) The recipient of this year’s Individual Award, Simine Vazire, is a psychologist at University of Melbourne and editor-in-chief of Psychological Science. She is recognized for pioneering methodological rigor, reproducibility, and collaborative research in psychology, shaping initiatives such as the Society for the Improvement of Psychological Science (SIPS) and the journal Collabra. The Institutional Award honors a nationwide effort to systematically evaluate research results in laboratory biology. The Brazilian Reproducibility Initiative is the largest coordinated replication effort in the field worldwide, showcasing the transformative potential of country-level research improvement efforts. The Early Career Award goes to the project Erring Rigorously by Maximilian Sprang, bioinformatician at the Medical Center of Mainz University. The project quantifies the impact of errors in high-throughput sequencing and, by distinguishing true biological signals from technical artifacts, aims to improve reproducibility and data reliability in functional genomics.
The €350,000 Einstein Foundation Award for Promoting Quality in Research honors researchers and institutions whose work helps to fundamentally advance the quality and robustness of research findings. The award is bestowed jointly with the QUEST Center for Responsible Research at the Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin.“The Einstein Foundation Award, now presented for the fifth time, recognizes and incentivizes forward-thinking approaches that enhance the integrity and openness of research processes,” explains Martin Rennert, Chair of the Einstein Foundation’s Executive Board. “Over the past years, we have seen the award’s impact grow—whether by strengthening publishing standards or identifying and reducing biases in research practices. In a time of rapid technological change and persistent challenges to research quality, celebrating those who champion transparency and rigor is more important than ever.”
The award is presented in three categories to individual researchers, institutions, and early career researchers. Awardees are selected by a prestigious international jury of experts from various disciplines. “There is no other organization having this much positive impact on research quality, transparency, and trustworthiness,” says Marcia McNutt, president of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and president of the award jury, highlighting the significance of the award program. “The 2025 awardees demonstrate that improving research quality is both possible and powerful: through pioneering leadership, coordinated national reform, and rigorous methodological innovation,” says Ulrich Dirnagl, Founding Director of the QUEST Center at BIH and Award Secretary. “Their achievements strengthen the foundations of reliable, transparent science worldwide.”
Nominator Richard Lucas, Professor of Psychology at Michigan State University, says: “Against massive resistance and entrenched inertia, Simine Vazire has established rigorous new standards in the field. In doing so, they have restored the next generation’s faith that psychology can truly be a science of solid, trustworthy research.“
Jürgen Zöllner, Representative of the Award Benefactor Walter Wübben and jury member, explains: “The Brazilian Reproducibility Initiative proves that a coordinated, nationwide effort to strengthen research rigor and reproducibility is possible — and should inspire disciplines and funders worldwide to follow suit.“
Christopher Baum, Chair of the Board of Directors of the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité, which funds the Early Career Award, says: “Erring Rigorously sharpens the line between real biological signals and technical noise — boosting data reliability in line with the Early Career Award’s goals and the Berlin Institute of Health’s commitment to patient-centered, reproducible, transparent science.”
The individual and institutional awards are funded by the Wübben Stiftung Wissenschaft, while the BIH QUEST Center for Responsible Research supports the Early Career Award. Additional resources are made available by the State of Berlin. The publisher Nature Portfolio, the Public Library of Science (PLOS), the National Academy of Sciences, the Berlin University Alliance, the Max Planck Society and the Max Planck Foundation support the Einstein Foundation Berlin and the BIH QUEST Center for Responsible Research in promoting and implementing the award.
For more information on the winners, as well as on the finalists for this year’s Early Career Award, please visit the dedicated press section on the Foundation’s website.
The call for international nominations and applications for the Einstein Foundation Award 2026 will be published in January 2026 at award.einsteinfoundation.de.
The Einstein Foundation Berlin is an independent, not-for-profit, science-led funding organization established as a foundation under civil law in 2009. Since then, its task has been to promote cutting-edge international science and research across disciplines and institutions in and for Berlin. To date, it has funded eight Einstein Centers, over 70 projects, and more than 240 researchers, including three Nobel laureates.
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