Daniël Lakens is an Associate Professor in the Human-Technology interaction group at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). His areas of expertise include meta-science, research methods and applied statistics. Daniël’s main lines of empirical research focus on conceptual thought, similarity, and meaning. He also focuses on how to design and interpret studies, applied (meta)-statistics, and reward structures in science. A large part of his work deals with developing methods for critically reviewing and optimally structuring studies. In this exclusive interview to netECR, Lakens provides very important insights on science, ethics, and academic career.