DGPs Award for Maximilian Frank

Maximilian Frank, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Psychology at LMU, has been awarded the Quality Assurance in Psychology Award by the German Psychological Society (DGPs). With this award, the society recognizes his commitment to transparent, reproducible, and reliable science, as well as his contribution to embedding quality assurance in research and teaching.

Frank is pursuing his Ph.D. at LMU as part of the DFG Priority Program META-REP and is conducting research on heterogeneity estimation in meta-analyses. In addition to his research, he is actively involved in various ways in promoting open science and scientific quality assurance. His goal is to create sustainable structures that foster open, transparent, and learning-oriented science—from the training of early-career researchers to professional societies and international networking.

Frank is also active in the DGPs’ Open Science Commission, leads a working group on a culture of error within the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI), and serves on the board of the German Reproducibility Network. Another area of Frank’s work is the interdisciplinary LMU Open Science Center, which supports researchers in implementing open and transparent scientific practices and promotes the dissemination of “best practices” for reproducible research.

“Maximilian Frank exemplifies a new generation of researchers who advance scientific excellence not only through their own outstanding research, but also by establishing common standards, competencies, and structures. The fact that his commitment as a fellow and strategic advisor to the OSC is now being recognized by a major professional association underscores the importance of such activities for a university’s competitiveness and visibility,” said Professor Felix Schönbrodt, Academic Director of the LMU Open Science Center.

The jury particularly highlights that Frank established sustainable structures early in his academic career and successfully connected various groups of stakeholders. His commitment links local initiatives with national and international developments, thereby helping to improve the conditions for high-quality, trustworthy research in the long term.

“I am deeply honored to receive my professional association’s Quality Assurance Award. For me, as a doctoral student in particular, this is a great incentive to continue advocating for a cultural shift toward open and transparent science—a process that is actively supported at my university by the LMU Open Science Center. For me, the award also highlights the important role that early-career researchers play in shaping the future of science and demonstrates that it is worthwhile to collaborate with often-overlooked stakeholder groups—such as students and those involved in research infrastructure—to drive this change.”

The Quality Assurance Award is presented by the German Psychological Society (DGP) to individuals or institutions that have made outstanding contributions to promoting scientific quality in research, teaching, or application. Among other things, the award recognizes contributions to the promotion of open science standards, good scientific practice, and transparent research. The award will be presented on September 7, 2026, during the DGP Congress in Luxembourg.