You can find some tips here on how to maintain your mental health.

Fitness is more than physical health alone. An equally important aspect of our general well-being is mental fitness. Mental fitness refers to the fitness of the mind. During your PhD research, there might be periods in which you feel insecure or down. It is essential to take good care of yourself. Don’t…

This focus area adresses the mental well-being of people of all ages, from infants to the elderly. The emphasis lies on understanding, preventing, and treating mental health problems in a variety of contexts, such as the family, school, and work environment. We carry leading research and education programmes…

Are you curious about how health, behaviour and our living environment are connected? At Leiden University, you’ll explore how people grow up, age and live together in a changing world. From mental health to healthcare innovation, from lifestyle to healthcare policy: you’ll learn to understand societal…

Are you curious about how health, behaviour and our living environment are connected? At Leiden University, you’ll explore how people grow up, age and live together in a changing world. From mental health to healthcare innovation, from lifestyle to healthcare policy: you’ll learn to understand societal…

The theme 'Health and well-being in a healthy society' is one of the focal points of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences (FSW). We are committed to promoting health and well-being for people of all ages.

Multilingualism and Wellbeing is an innovative text that combines sociolinguistic, psychological and philosophical approaches to explore multilingualism as a source of wellbeing. It challenges the “monolingual bias” and the common assumption that multilingualism is solely driven by utilitarian, formal,…

In what ways can mental health care policy and interventions help break the cycle of mutually reinforcing societal stressors and mental health problems in Burundi?

Exploring the landscapes of mental health and cardiometabolic research.

The self-assessment tool on inclusion and wellbeing is designed to help teachers and school leaders to evaluate and improve their school's inclusion policies and practices. It includes a series of targeted questions related to improving school success for all and fostering an inclusive and healthy e…

Improving health, enhancing well-being and reducing health disparities across society.

Are you curious about how health, behaviour and our living environment are connected? At Leiden University, you’ll explore how people grow up, age and live together in a changing world. From mental health to sustainable cities, from lifestyle to healthcare policy: you’ll learn to understand societal…

Are you curious about how health, behaviour and our living environment are connected? At Leiden University, you’ll explore how people grow up, age and live together in a changing world. From mental health to sustainable cities, from lifestyle to healthcare policy: you’ll learn to understand societal…

Both good employer practices and good employee practices are open norms. These open norms can lead to uncertainty about what employers should focus on and what rights (and obligations) employees have in that respect. The objective of this study is to give substance to the norm of good employment practices…

In the Dutch healthcare system, only MHC psychologists (GZ-psychologen) are licensed to practice psychology unsupervised.

The research area "Health and well-being in a healthy society" studies the institutional and behavioral factors that play a role in health and well-being for people of all ages.

Mental health issues in the Dutch court: The criminal court as a border guard between the regular Mental Health System and the Criminal Justice system?

Over the past two centuries, socioeconomic development has improved material living standards but has also intensified environmental pressures, including climate change and biodiversity loss.

Stress among students is a growing problem. A new Student Wellbeing taskforce will be looking at the mental health of students at Leiden University.

Introduces a novel trope of photographic images dealing with states of mental disorders; focuses on photographs that visualize disturbed corporeal and mental perceptions of the world and connects medium-specific characteristics of photography to concepts from mental disorder studies.

Our ability to learn and control movements is essential for engaging in goal-directed behaviour. From buttoning your shirt and driving a car, to cooking dinner and brushing your teeth -- our actions in daily life rely on this ability.

The University’s Vision on Student Well-Being outlines how the University plans to promote student well-being in the coming years.

Do babies and toddlers thrive more in a noisy or quiet day care centre? Research by specialist in Education and Child Studies Claudia Werner shows that children feel most comfortable in an environment where there is a little noise. With this kind of research, the method of analysis is very important.…

Mensen worden steeds ouder. Soms in goede gezondheid, soms zijn er uitdagingen die de kop op steken. Met onderzoek, innovatief onderwijs en co-creatie met oudere mensen werken studenten van de master Health, Ageing and Society aan oplossingen voor deze uitdagingen.

How has landscape and land use changed in these two case studies since independence? What has caused these changes, whether anthropogenic or natural? How do local communities in the areas of study perceive these changes? How can community knowledge be integrated with mapping tools (GIS) to contribute…

In a longitudinal study, Eichengreen and colleagues explored how the certain aspects of emotional intelligence impact the development of adolescents’ mental health, thus identifying potential warning signs and targets for intervention programs. Despite a higher risk for mental health issues and lesser…

This 3-year EU Erasmus+ co-funded project focuses on the strengthening and improvement of teaching qualitative research methods across a range of disciplines in the Social Sciences and Humanities in Bhutan.

This lecture will be hosted on Thursday, 14 May 2026 at 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm.

MERGE aims to understand how we can improve the usefulness and accessibility of policy frameworks and indicators on well-being and strengthen the transition toward sustainable development policies.

Our mission is to bring together research and practice focused on the improvement of mental health and the enhancement of treatment / psychotherapy success. To reach this goal we focus on the following paths:

I want to understand the overlap between physical health, mental health, and healthy aging and whether/how stress (behaviorally and biologically) may tie these concepts together.

In this article, Honorata Mazepus, assistant professor at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, and Dimiter Toshkov, associate professor at the Institute of Public Administration, discuss whether the winner–loser gap extends beyond the political domain to subjective health and well-being as…

Making predictions about emotional problems or the effects of air pollution: Marjolein Fokkema’s algorithms are getting better at this all the time. She is making her algorithms increasingly flexible, so they can predict not just characteristics at one particular moment, but also how skills, for example,…

As of 1 November W&N has a wellbeing officer. Alexandra Blank will commit herself to the wellbeing of our students. Students, but also lecturers and mentors can approach her with ideas and initiatives to support students.

Santideva's 8th century Mahayana Buddhist classic, the Guide to the Practices of Awakening (Bodhicaryavatara), has been a source of philosophical inspiration in the Indian and Tibetan traditions for over a thousand years.

Leiden University and four other parties have signed a declaration in which they agree to improve the well-being of students in Leiden. They signed this Declaration on Student Well-Being on 5 April at the Leidsch Besturendiner, a dinner for student associations, universities, local government and bu…

Up to 50% of all children and adolescents growing up worldwide are exposed to at least one form of childhood adversity (CA), which is one of the strongest predictors for later-life psychopathology.

How do young adults find their way in an increasingly complex society? In Leiden, as part of the GUTS project, we study how brain development and self-regulation play a role in this process.

Over 200 staff from Leiden University discussed student well-being with one another and students at the Staff Symposium on Student Well-being. In various workshops and lectures, lecturers, student advisers, student counsellors and other staff members discussed how they could contribute to our students’…

How do you know if your idea has succeeded? The Queen coming to call a year and a half later might just be a clue. This happened to the Leiden student foundation ‘Door Het Geluid’, which promotes student well-being.

Anne-Laura van Harmelen has received a Vidi grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO). This talent programme will enable Van Harmelen to research the social and neurobiological mechanisms of resilience in young people with childhood trauma.

How can we work together to create a safe study and learning environment and offer students the support that they need? The Vision on Student Well-Being outlines the University’s plans to promote student well-being in the coming years.

In a paper, researchers suggest how the next European Commission can develop an alternative policy model that centres people’s well-being.

This research investigates the changing landscape and land use in two case studies of the coastal villages of St. Kitts and the Kalinago Territory of Dominica. By integrating human and ecological aspects of agrarian landscapes, this research analyzes how land degradation or land change impacts cultural…

What is the effectiveness of two school-based skills-training programs in promoting mental health?

Leiden University regularly welcomes members of the Royal Family to attend opening ceremonies, lectures, presentations and unveilings of works of art.

On Friday 28 November, Leiden University celebrated its broad pallet of research and education at a unique anniversary event. We took collaboration between fields of science, and between researchers and society, one step further.