Lorenza Colzato

Lorenza S. Colzato (born 20 September 1974) is an Italian cognitive psychologist whose research "aims to understand the neural and neuromodular underpinnings of cognitive control in humans."
Life.
Colzato was born in Bolzano, Italy. She studied cognitive and clinical psychology at the University of Padova, Italy, in 1999. She then moved to Leiden University where she obtained her PhD degree (2005) under the supervision of Lex van der Heijden. In 2006, she began work as an assistant professor at the Cognitive Psychology Unit of Leiden University (Cognitieve Psychologie). Since 2017, she is professor by special appointment at the Ruhr-University of Bochum and since 2019, she works as researcher at the Faculty of Medicine of the TU Dresden. She is also a psychotherapist.
Research.
Colzato's research is focused on how thinking and creativity are shaped. Her research often touches on popular topics and the resulting papers are discussed in popular media: examples include studies on exercise and creativity, the effect of odors on trust, and the effect of meditation on creative thinking.
Investigation.
As of December 2019, Colzato's work at Leiden University is being investigated for various alleged breaches of academic integrity, including data manipulation, misattribution of authorship, and collection of blood samples without permission from the Medical Ethical board. The latter would be a criminal offense. Colzato has resigned from her position at Leiden University, and has requested a second opinion from the university's academic integrity committee. She also has pointed out that one of the accusers, a PhD candidate at that time, was the person who actually performed the study (which the medical ethics review board declined to approve), took the blood samples and is the lead and corresponding (hence, responsible) author of one of the two articles in question. She has further argued that Leiden University has violated various rules and regulations throughout the investigation. However, both the University Scientific Integrity Committee (CWI) and the Netherlands Board on Research Integrity (LOWI) concluded that, whatever the wrong-doings of her accuser may have been, such would not be sufficient to exculpate Colzato (being the supervisor or principal investigator) for the confirmed integrity violations, including performing an unapproved medical study. On September 21, 2020, the Dutch newspaper "NRC Handelsblad" reported that Leiden University had, in August, made Colzato's provisional dismissal a definitive one.