Methods, Meta-Science, and Mentorship

We believe that good social psychology is not only about strong theory and data, but also about transparent methods, collaborative thinking, and supportive academic culture. To complement the thematic workstreams, these sessions are designed to help students strengthen their skills, awareness, and connections that will support their research and their wider career.

Plenary Session on Open Science

Led by Professor Roger Giner-Sorolla – a Professor of Social Psychology at the University of Kent, former editor of JESP, and a leading advocate for Open Science – this extended session explores key issues in research transparency, reliability, and relevance. You’ll learn about the evolution of open science in social psychology—from p-values and preregistration to replication and reform—and consider what it means to produce research that’s not only methodologically sound, but socially meaningful. This plenary will focus on three main problems, with discussion and Q&A for each:

  1. Problems of Evidence (Single Study). This session will describe the “problem of evidence” that hinged on the p-value and historical reporting practices. You’ll learn about the increased importance of theory; “new statistics” beyond the p-value; statistical power; improved reporting standards, including open data and materials; and measurement validity and reliability.
  2. Problems of Evidence (Literature-Wide). This session will discuss techniques that have been implemented to reduce publication bias across literatures and increase the quality of inference across multiple studies, including tolerance of nonsignificant outcomes; preregistration; registered reports; and replication.
  3. Problems of Relevance and Economics. This session will focus on issues with concentric bias of knowledge and prestige centred on the USA and with Global South nations and cultures at the periphery. It will raise awareness of the economics of publishing, and discuss initiatives to reform a system that unnecessarily siphons public money and labour into private pockets.

Methods Workshops

To help skills development, we have provided hands-on sessions to build or refresh your skills in core areas of analysis and research design. You will attend two interactive workshops in total, choosing between the first two on Wednesday 23 July and the third and fourth on Friday 25 July.

  1. Power Analysis and Simulation (Dr Daniel Toribio-Florez). Understanding statistical power is essential for planning robust studies. This workshop reviews the principles of power and guides students through practical exercises in R, including how to run power simulations to inform design decisions in their own research.
  2. Meta-Analysis (Dr Mikey Biddlestone). This session introduces the fundamentals of meta-analysis, a powerful tool for synthesising research findings across studies. Participants will learn how to calculate effect sizes, conduct moderator analyses, and assess the influence of publication bias using practical examples.
  3. Bayesian Analysis (Dr Simon Myers). Bayesian methods provide an intuitive way to evaluate evidence for hypotheses—including the null. This accessible, practical session introduces Bayes Factors and key concepts in Bayesian inference, with hands-on activities in Jamovi and R. No prior experience with Bayesian analysis is required.
  4. Git and Github (Dr Scott Claessens). Open science requires transparency—and version control is a key part of that. In this hands-on session, students will learn how to use Git and GitHub to track changes to their analysis code, collaborate efficiently, and publicly share reproducible research. No prior experience is needed, but participants should come with R, RStudio, and Git installed, and a GitHub account set up.

Early Career Mentoring

In this interactive session, three former EASP Early Career Award winners who work(ed) at Kent – Aleksandra Cichocka (2017), Jim A.C. Everett (2020), and Fanny Lalot (2023) – will share honest reflections on navigating academic life. You’ll have space to ask questions, discuss challenges, and get practical advice on publishing, job markets, collaborations, and staying motivated.

Meet the Editors

Get a behind-the-scenes look at the publishing process from editors of major journals including Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, and others. Led by Professors Dominic Abrams, Michael Hogg, and Roger Giner-Sorolla, this session will offer tips on preparing submissions, responding to reviewers, and finding the right outlet for your work.