News | Faculty of Psychology | University of Basel

01. October 2025: Chiara starts as a HiWi

Chiara supports the SDS team administratively!

During her biotechnology studies at the FHNW, Chiara works part-time in the Department of Statistics & Data Science at the University of Basel. She supports the doctoral students and lecturers with administrative issues, project planning and the organization of everyday work. She particularly appreciates the fact that she can gain insights into research and the university environment during her studies. She ensures that the team can concentrate fully on research and teaching.

28. September to October 01, 2025: FGME Conference

The SDS team in Berlin

From September 28 to October 1, the SDS team took part in the conference of the DGPs Methods Section at the Free University of Berlin. We were represented with four presentations on the following topics: Use of Machine Learning in Psychological Research (Jan), Methods for Evaluating the Stability of Decision Trees (Constantin), Use of Large Language Models for Abstract Screenings (Mirka) and Application of Decision Trees in Multilevel Data (Linus). In addition, we deepened our knowledge of mathematical foundations and Bayesian statistics at the pre-conference workshops and gained exciting insights into current methodological research.

15. September 2025: Sandro starts as a PhD!

Sandro remains part of the SDS team

After working as an assistant and research assistant for around a year, Sandro will remain in the Department of Statistics & Data Science as a PhD student. In his doctoral studies, he is working on the measurement of affect in intensive longitudinal data - with a particular focus on affect dynamics. In addition, he supports the department in teaching, initially by supervising bachelor theses and later also in the context of seminars and the supervision of master theses.

25. August 2025: Farewell to Luana and Sabine

Picnic in the Kannenfeldpark

On August 25, 2025, we said goodbye to our two auxiliary assistants, Luana and Sabine, at a cozy picnic in Kannenfeldpark. We had the opportunity to look back on our time together while enjoying the sunshine, delicious cookies and a fun and ambitious round of boccia.

We would like to thank you both for your valuable support in our team and your contributions to our work in research and teaching. We wish you all the best and every success for your future studies!

18. August 2025: Team building in Zurich

SDS team solves the Mindfall mission!

On August 18, 2025, the Statistics & Data Science team took part in a team-building activity in Zurich. For two hours, the team members worked together to solve a series of challenges in the historic old town until the "Mission Mindfall" was successfully solved. After the activity, the team enjoyed a dip in the Limmat and ended the day with summer rolls and banana ice cream with a view of the Glarus Alps.

21. until July 25, 2025: Summer School on Bayesian Statistics

Constantin at the University of Utrecht

From July 21-25, 2025, Constantin participated in a Summer School in Bayesian Statistics at Utrecht University, led by Sara van Erp, Suzanne Hoogeveen and Florian van Leeuwen. The program provided in-depth training in prior distributions, the WAMBS checklist, MCMC techniques (including Gibbs sampling and the no-U-turn sampler), spike priors, Bayesian multilevel modeling, and sensitivity analysis of priors. Constantin returns with expanded expertise to strengthen the SDS team's capabilities in advanced statistical modeling

24. July 2025: Linus "in focus"

UniBasel summer series

The summer series "In Focus" presents young researchers from the University of Basel, representing over 3,000 doctoral and postdoctoral researchers at the University of Basel. In this format, Linus had the opportunity to present his work on machine learning methods and his social commitment to the development of sports programs for people with mental disabilities.

Click on the tile to go directly to the article by Noëmi Kern. Photo: University of Basel, Christian Flierl

30. June to July 04, 2025: SMiP Summer School

Constantin and Jan in Mannheim

Constantin and Jan traveled around 375 kilometers up the Rhine to Mannheim, Germany, for a week at the SMiP Summer School. SMiP stands for "Statistical Modeling in Psychology" and is the name of a DFG research group dedicated to bridging the gap between psychological research and the latest developments in statistical modeling. At this year's Summer School, Constantin and Jan took part in a workshop on Multilevel Measurement Models led by Lesa Hoffman and Jonathan Templin from the University of Iowa in the USA. The workshop covered the use of latent variable measurement models for research designs with hierarchically structured data, using Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods for estimation. The program of the Summer School was completed by three keynote lectures, a poster session and evening social events, some of which took place under extreme weather conditions in and around the baroque castle of Mannheim.

26. until May 28, 2025: SAA Conference in Leuven

Linus, Constantin, Jan, Sandro and Mirka in Belgium

Linus, Jan, Constantin, Sandro and Mirka attended the Society for Ambulatory Assessment conference in Leuven at the end of May, where we gained many exciting insights into current research on experience sampling methods. Linus also presented his research on decision trees with multi-level data in the form of a poster. A big thank you also goes to Niels Vanhasbroeck, who presented the study "Affect dynamics or response bias" (Mirka, Niels & Francis Tuerlinckx, 2025) on behalf of Mirka due to a clash of dates (click on the tile for the paper). The (prospective) doctoral students rounded off their three-day stay in beautiful Leuven with basketball, air field hockey and a few rounds of Mario Kart.

19. May 2025: Teaching Excellence Awards 2025

Podium finish for Mirka!

In a multi-stage process, Mirka Henninger was shortlisted for the Teaching Excellence Award 2025 in the "Strong Foundations" category. We would like to thank everyone involved for the award and are delighted that the courses are appreciated by the students. This appreciation is a wonderful confirmation for us and at the same time an incentive to continue to promote our teaching in a committed and well-founded manner! Click on the news tile for more impressions of the award ceremony.

30. April 2025: ESM meeting

Exchange on experience sampling methods

On April 30, our meeting on experience sampling methods took place, at which Timon Elmer (Applied Social and Health Psychology, UZH), Lara Wolfers (Digital Lives), Ines Mürner-Lavanchy (Youth Mental Health), Rosa Lavelle-Hill (Digital Humanities and AI), Sarah Koch (Applied Exercise Physiology) and Mirka Henninger gave insights into their research projects. Among other things, they discussed the recording of everyday behavior and emotions, the further development of measurement methods, the use of digital technologies such as wearables and the linking of psychological and physiological data in everyday research. We were delighted with the exciting exchange about ESM studies and are already looking forward to the next ESM meeting.

March 2025: Visit from Landau!

Dominik is researching the psychometric properties of slider scales.

Dominik is a PhD student at the RPTU in Landau and part of Tanja Lischetzke's research group. In his research, he deals with slider scales (or visual analog scales) in different contexts. Among other things, he investigates the psychometric properties of slider and Likert scales in ambulatory assessment studies, for example with regard to measurement invariance and reliability.in March, he visited the Department of Statistics and Data Science, where he worked with Mirka Henninger on a model for recording response styles in slider scales.

12. until March 14, 2025: Research meeting

The SDS team in Günsberg, Solothurn

The SDS team spent three days at the research meeting in idyllic Günsberg near Solothurn. We were able to listen to exciting presentations, for example from Dr. Judith Rode, who gave us an insight into the coordination of research and clinical practice. There were also heated discussions on how to deal with p-values in psychological research and the sense and nonsense of post-hoc power analyses. At least as heated were (sometimes) the preparations of the dinners in the cooking teams, which nevertheless ended in a complete success! On Thursday evening, Linus, part-time game master, was able to give free rein to his creativity at the joint game evening, which we will remember for a long time to come. We rounded off our stay with a short hike to the "Hofbergli" mountain restaurant, organized by our hiking guide Jan

10. until February 14, 2025: Winter School Fribourg

Visual emotion recognition using AI: Linus, Jan and Constantin develop new app!

Bienvenue à Fribourg! Constantin, Linus and Jan spent a week at the University of Fribourg's winter school, which focused on data analytics and machine learning. During this week, they received an introduction to the Python programming language for data analysis and the use of machine learning. At the end, they learned about the infinite possibilities of deep learning with neural networks and worked with non-tabular data such as images and text. They became developers of their own app, which can be used to recognize emotions based on facial expressions. If a book is ever written about the great AI developers Constantin, Linus and Jan, this will be the week the story began.

17. December 2024: Annual financial statements

Annual financial statements of the SDS division

Today we look back on the first year of SDS and celebrated with our team, surrounded by countless plates of mezze. It was a year of arriving, getting to know each other and taking off. The fall semester saw the launch of the team's courses as well as various research projects in the field of machine learning. At the same time, we had the pleasure of welcoming numerous researchers as guests.
We are looking forward to the challenges and opportunities that the coming year holds for our SDS team.

December 2024: Nomination as "Lecturer of the Year"

Thank you very much!

The Psychology department and the students have nominated Mirka Henninger as "Lecturer of the Year 2024" for the lecture "Research Methods & Statistics I". We would like to thank you very much for the nomination and are delighted that the lecture is so appreciated by the students! We wish all students a relaxing semester break and look forward to a continuation in FS 2025!

November 2024: Visit from Leuven!

Jordan researches machine learning in ESM studies.

Jordan is a PhD student at the KU Leuven under the supervision of Eva Ceulemans and Ginette Lafit. His research focuses on longitudinal models and data, in particular on Experience Sampling Methods (ESM), where he develops methods for sample size planning, data preparation and quality assessments. He also investigates how ESM characteristics (e.g. designs, patterns of missing data) influence model performance. This November, he is visiting Mirka Henninger's group to explore machine learning and interpretable methods for ESM studies.

3. October 2024: Inaugural lecture

"From sumscore to machine learning... and back?"

On October 3, 2024, Mirka's inaugural lecture entitled "From sumscore to machine learning... and back" took place. In the inaugural lecture, the faculty and guests were taken on a journey through time from sumscore to modern analysis of time series data.
We were delighted that so many people were interested in our research and thank you very much for coming! more

16. until September 19, 2024: DGPs Conference in Vienna

Jan, Linus, Constantin and Mirka attend the DGPs conference.

In September, Linus, Jan and Mirka presented their research work as posters at the DGPs conference. Linus presented his master thesis on decision trees for multilevel data, Jan his internship project on effect sizes in model-based recursive partitioning methods and Mirka her research on local interpretation techniques for machine learning models. We are looking forward to many exciting discussions and a good time in Vienna - despite all the rain!

1. September 2024: Welcome Constantin!

Constantin enriches the SDS team as a doctoral student.

Constantin has a Bachelor's and Master's degree in psychology and is now working towards his doctorate here. During his studies, he has gained some experience with simulation studies, for example on factor analysis with EEG data, variable selection with L1 regression or stability assessment of decision trees. His research interests lie in particular in machine learning methods and longitudinal data. Constantin will supervise theses in the Bachelor's program and hold seminars in the Master's program, thus contributing to teaching activities.

1. September 2024: Welcome (back) Jan!

Jan will remain with the Department of Statistics & Data Science as a PhD student.

After his research internship in our department this year and a short summer break, Jan is now returning to the SDS team as a doctoral student. In his doctoral studies, he is working on the topic of study planning for machine learning methods. From this semester onwards, he will also be supervising bachelor theses and supporting the team in teaching activities.

1. September 2024: Welcome Linus!

Linus starts as a PhD student in our Statistics & Data Science department.

Linus studied psychology at the University of Zurich. He wrote his master's thesis at the Chair of Psychological Methodology, in which he investigated how hierarchical data can be integrated into machine learning methods. His research interests lie in particular in machine learning methods and hierarchical data.

1. September 2024: Welcome Sabine!

Sabine supports the SDS team as a research assistant.

Sabine is currently completing her Bachelor's degree in Psychology at the University of Basel. During her studies, she discovered her fascination for statistics in general and - as part of her Bachelor's thesis - for data simulation in particular. In a previous life, she worked as an author and literary translator from Norwegian.

1. July 2024: Welcome Sandro!

Sandro enriches our SDS team as a research assistant.

Sandro completed his bachelor's degree in psychology at the University of Basel and is currently studying clinical psychology and neuroscience for his master's degree, also at the University of Basel. He has already gained some experience in teaching by leading statistics tutorials. Sandro will support our teaching activities by preparing and discussing exercises for lectures, conducting literature searches for our ongoing studies and taking on organizational tasks.

15. June 2024: Welcome Luana!

Luana enriches our SDS team as a research intern.

My name is Luana Brunelli and I am currently studying Psychology at the University of Zurich and have developed a great interest in statistics during my studies. In my internship, I will investigate the reliability of intense longitudinal data, also known as Ecological Momentary Assessments. This type of data analysis offers me exciting insights into the temporal dynamics of behavioral and experiential patterns.
I am looking forward to deepening my knowledge and skills in this challenging and fascinating field of research.

1. June 2024: Welcome Mirjam!

Mirjam starts as a research assistant in our Statistics & Data Science department.

Mirjam is a trained mathematician with experience in numerous areas of data analysis (rabies transmission, antimicrobial resistance, clinical trials). Mirjam will contribute to our teaching activities through lectures and seminars at Bachelor and Master level. She will enrich our group on a part-time basis as she will continue her work as a high school teacher at the same time.

17. until April 19, 2024: Visit from Marie-Ann Sengewald & Carolin Strobl

Project work at the interface between psychometrics and machine learning.

Together with Carolin Strobl (University of Zurich) and Marie-Ann Sengwald (Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories, Bamberg, Germany) we are working on the integration of an effect size measure for differential item and step functioning into a machine learning procedure. We were delighted to welcome the two colleagues to Basel to discuss the research project and future work!

25. until March 26, 2024: SDS at the Applied Machine Learning Days at EPFL Lausanne

Jan & Mirka visit the Applied Machine Learning Days.

How will machine learning and artificial intelligence change our lives, our work and the way we interact? What strategies will be used to develop new algorithms? And how can we train data engineers so that these advances and developments are sustainable and responsible?
We were delighted to have the opportunity to learn more about these topics at the AMLD in Lausanne over the last few days - from Aleksander Madry from OpenAI, among others.

15. February 2024: Welcome Jan!

We are delighted to welcome Jan as a new member of our SDS team.

Jan completed his bachelor's degree in psychology at the University of Fribourg. He is currently studying for a Master's degree in Psychology at the University of Zurich. He has already completed his Master's thesis at the Chair of Psychological Methodology, in which he evaluated statistical methods for assessing test fairness. During his research internship, Jan will work on a research project at the intersection of psychometrics and machine learning. Until June 2024, his focus will be on conducting simulation studies to evaluate the effectiveness of a psychometric effect size in a machine learning method.

1. February 2024: Start of the Department of Statistics & Data Science

Mirka Henninger will start as the new Professor of Statistics and Data Science on February 1, 2024.

Mirka studied psychology at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and the University of Mannheim, where she also completed her doctorate in 2019. From 2020 she worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher and from 2023 as a Senior Researcher for Psychological Methods at the Psychological Institute of the University of Zurich. The research focus of the new department is on the development and evaluation of psychometric models, machine learning methods and multilevel model approaches as well as on testing their applicability in psychological research.