MZES Fellow Dr. Jana Berkessel has been granted the Early Career Award of the European Association of Social Psychology (EASP). The social psychologist was honoured for her major contributions to the field by advancing understanding of how the effects of poverty, obesity, and political affiliation systematically vary across cultural contexts. According to the laudation, Jana Berkessel combines individual-level theory with large-scale cross-national datasets and highly productive interdisciplinary collaborations spanning psychology, economics, and policy research. Methodologically, her work is highly diverse, including experiments, survey research, big data, and digital trace analyses. She is also highly active in science communication and policy outreach, contributing to media, public talks, and has co-founded institutional open science initiatives that strongly promote transparency, inclusivity, and societal impact in psychological science.
The award was presented at the EASP General Meeting, which took place in Strasbourg from 30 June to 4 July 2026.