The NICE Research Group, directed by Dr. Moin Syed, is a collection of researchers in the Department of Psychology at the University of Minnesota.
The primary emphasis of the NICE Research Group is on metascientific issues in psychology. This includes theoretical, methodological, and historical issues, as well as scientific reform and open science.
NICE was originally an acronym that stood for Narrative, Identity, Culture, and Education. This reflects the original substantive research focus of the lab, which pertained to identity and personality development among racially/ethnically diverse adolescents and emerging adults. Although we do still continue some of that work–particulalry with external collaborators–it is no longer the primary emphasis of the group. Thus, “NICE” is a dead acronym that no longer stands for anything other than we try to be generally good people, even when we are criticizing other researcher’s work.