# Ekaterina (Katia) Damer

> Ekaterina (Katia) Damer is a German behavioural scientist, co-founder and former CEO of Prolific, and an angel investor and founder mentor based in the London area. She co-founded Prolific with Phelim Bradley in 2014 while completing her psychology doctorate at Sheffield. In May 2025, Besample named her as an investor and advisor in its $1.1 million pre-seed funding announcement.

- **Role:** Angel investor and founder mentor; investor and advisor at Besample
- **Organizations:** Prolific, Besample
- **Nationality:** German
- **Education:** Integrated Social and Cognitive Psychology studies, Jacobs University Bremen (now Constructor University), Social and Developmental Psychology studies; first class honours, University of Cambridge, PhD in psychology; diversity science, University of Sheffield, Visiting researcher in psychology, Stanford University
- **Known for:** Co-founded Prolific in April 2014 while undertaking a psychology doctorate., By March 2017, Prolific had enabled over one million responses in over 6,500 studies, serving over 1,300 researchers from more than 300 academic institutions., Prolific participated in Y Combinator Summer 2019.

## Career timeline

- **2009-2011** — Research assistant at Jacobs University Bremen, including conducting experiments and recruiting participants.
- **2010** — Research internship at Columbia University.
- **2013** — Began psychology doctoral studies at Sheffield.
- **2014** — Co-founded Prolific with Phelim Bradley in April; company joined Oxford startup incubator that year.
- **2016** — Visiting researcher at Stanford University.
- **2018** — Completed Sheffield doctoral studies.
- **2019** — Led Prolific as CEO during Y Combinator Summer 2019; published reflections on growth and culture.
- **2021** — Spoke at BeOnline on research incentives and reproducibility.
- **2025** — Named investor and advisor to Besample in its May 28 pre-seed announcement.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Prolific in April 2014 while undertaking a psychology doctorate.
- By March 2017, Prolific had enabled over one million responses in over 6,500 studies, serving over 1,300 researchers from more than 300 academic institutions.
- Prolific participated in Y Combinator Summer 2019.
- Co-author of research on counter-stereotypes and cognitive reflection, and online research data quality.
- Participated in Besample’s $1.1 million pre-seed round announced May 28, 2025.

## Latest updates

- **2025-05** — Besample announced a $1.1 million pre-seed round including Damer, naming her as an investor and advisor and identifying her as Prolific’s former CEO.
- **2024-11** — Her public Luma profile records joining in November 2024 and describes her as a behavioural scientist, entrepreneur and angel investor.

## Links

- LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/ekaterina-damer
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/ekadamer

---

Profile page: https://yespress.io/ekaterina-damer
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-23