Dutch scientist detecting fraud worldwide wins award

Elisabeth Bik studied Biology at Utrecht University, where she also obtained her PhD in Microbiology. She worked for many years at the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) before moving to Stanford University in the United States. Since 2019, she has been dedicating herself to detecting fraud in scientific publications.

Bik has a particularly good eye for tampered images. She has discovered countless image editing methods researchers use to try to polish their results. According to the Einstein Foundation, an organisation from Germany, Bik has spotted errors in no less than 7,600 publications, of which 1,100 have been retracted.

Trump
Bik became famous during the pandemic due to her criticism of a French study on hydroxychloroquine as a possible cure for Covid-19. Donald Trump, who was the president of the United States at the time (and will soon return to the White House) embraced the study, although Bik had many reservations about its quality. The French researcher behind the study sued her, but Bik received a lot of support from other scientists.

According to the Einstein Foundation, Bik has “had a huge impact worldwide” by exposing fraud and manipulation in science. Bik intends to use the 200,000-euro prize to continue her battle against scientific fraud.