As a venue, Leiden University is a fitting setting for recognising the outstanding achievements of the award winners and celebrating the inspiration that they bring as role models for encouraging a fairer society by motivating one individual at a time.

Crises like climate change and loss of biodiversity threaten our planet. That’s why sustainability is an important topic in research and education across Leiden University. On this website you read how scientists from many disciplines work together in researching sustainability.

Do you deeply care about our planet and are you eager to make a real change? Then our two-year MSc programme Industrial Ecology may be the place for you. The interdisciplinary programme, offered jointly by Leiden University and TU Delft, is a true powerhouse for sustainability solutions. As a student…

Voormalig demissionair staatssecretaris van Fiscaliteit en Belastingdienst Marnix van Rij gaf op 17 juni in samenwerking met universitair docent Esther Huiskers-Stoop een gastcollege over belastingrecht en duurzaamheid. Deze lezing werd op initiatief van student Darya de Wilt georganiseerd.

Electrocatalysis will play an increasingly important role in future in the transition to more sustainable energy. Thanks to chemist Isis Ledezma Yanez, we now know more about the hydrogen evolution process. PhD defence on the 9th of June.

Seminar

Leiden University continued to reduce its carbon footprint in 2021 by being more careful with natural resources and making structural reductions to its energy consumption. This is what it says in the Sustainability Report 2021.

To be eligible for Physics at Leiden University, you must meet the following admission requirements.

To be eligible for Physics and Education at Leiden University, you must meet the following admission requirements.

How can we organise society so as to keep our planet habitable for us and for all other life forms around us? To answer this question, Leiden researchers collaborate across disciplines, from biology to data science, and from environmental economy to archaeology.

To be eligible for Physics and Business Studies at Leiden University, you must meet the following admission requirements.

To be eligible for Research in Physics, Biological and Soft Matter Physics at Leiden University, you must meet the following admission requirements.

To be eligible for Research in Physics, Cosmology at Leiden University, you must meet the following admission requirements.

To be eligible for Physics and Science Communication and Society at Leiden University, you must meet the following admission requirements.

To be eligible for Physics and Classical/Quantum Information at Leiden University, you must meet the following admission requirements.

To be eligible for Research in Physics, theoretical at Leiden University, you must meet the following admission requirements.

To be eligible for Research in Physics, Quantum Matter and Optics at Leiden University, you must meet the following admission requirements.

The specialisation Global Order in Historical Perspective of the master’s in International Relations at Leiden University focuses on examining the historical processes and practices in the making of global order.

Governance of Sustainability is a two-year programme, worth 120 European Credit Transfer System points (ECTS).

The thermostat in Leiden University’s buildings will be turned down by two degrees. The temperature will also be adjusted in rooms that are cooled. This is the University’s response to the government’s call to use less energy.

Over 170 SUNRISE’s stakeholders gathered on June 17-18 at the Academy Palace of Brussels, in connection with the EU Sustainable Energy Week, as one of the Energy Days. Renewable energy experts from Academia, Industry and Policy addressed the current state of the initiative and its priority research…

Overview of all dissertations published by PhD candidates from CML.

Modern optimization algorithms offer solutions for architectural decisions like spatial, structural and energy efficiency. A young computer scientist from Leiden University co-authored a paper that won the Best Paper Award at a leading conference in Krakow during the summer.

Vibrating carbon monoxide molecules adsorbed at the surface of a salt crystal stop moving after a few milliseconds. Scientists now discovered this is dominantly due to the emission of electromagnetic waves. The role of the chemical bond at the surface thereby appears to be less important than previously…

All kinds of reasons have been put forward for why plants apparently fail to make maximum use of the available light. None of these reasons can explain why after two billion years of evolution they are not black, like industrial photovoltaic solar cells. Are we missing something?

In the hunt for new particles, physicists look at ever higher energy particle collisions, moving the energy frontier. Some particles however are elusive not due to their high energy, but because they rarely interact. This raises a new barrier: the intensity frontier.

According to GreenMetric, in 2020, Leiden University will be in 8th place in the global sustainability ranking UI GreenMetric. In this memo, participation in this ranking is evaluated, points for improvement are given and an ambition suggestion is made for 2021.

Friday 5 February is Warm Sweater Day, a national initiative that encourages us to be aware of the simple measures we can take to save energy. The quickest win – certainly now we are all studying and working at home – is to turn the thermostat down a couple of degree. Take a selfie and share it on Instagram…

In otherwise energetic desserts at the bottom of the sea, researchers have found oases where microbes can harvest energy. Remarkably, the microbes first have to be buried under starving conditions for 80,000 years. An international group of researchers, amongst them José Mogollón from the Insitute of…

Buurtlab 070 is a new Leiden University project in which residents, researchers and students from The Hague work together on climate, sustainability and biodiversity solutions. What do they expect of the lab?

Chemotherapy that does nothing until you irradiate it with light. Sylvestre Bonnet receives a Vici grant of 1.5 million euros for the development of this treatment. The Leiden chemist wants to build a new molecule to fight tumours that are at the time still difficult to treat.

The Leiden University Europe Hub approaches Europe from a broad and inclusive perspective.

What is the effect of light at night on plant phenology and physiology, and how does this affect plant interactions with other species?

What does it mean to eat healthily and responsibly? This question is gaining a new urgency now that in many countries undernourishment is being overtaken by diseases of affluence, such as obesity, and we are also becoming more aware of the environmental impact of our eating habits. It’s time to take…

Our Institute’s research focuses on ‘global vulnerabilities and social resilience’. Specifically, we highlight three interconnected themes: diversity, sustainability, and digitalisation.

Interdisciplinary research program exploring Indonesia's sustainable futures through innovative methods, focusing on energy, food, water, digital society, public health, and heritage.

Can we develop a tool to early identify male chicken eggs?

In order to solve problems such as the refugee crisis, countries must work together at international level. This requires big changes in the way in which states make and implement policy. Leiden researchers analyse these changes and advise policymakers on best practices.

Over the recent period there have been a number of protests and demonstrations at universities by people who oppose the universities’ collaboration with the fossil fuel industry. Students and staff in Leiden are also expressing their concerns about this issue. We are now publishing a list giving an…

Being a better neighbour to the nature around you

This year Leiden University exists for 444 years! This will be celebrated together with the residents of Leiden and The Hague during various activities. One of these is scientists and residents doing research on plastics and psychology together.

Knowing how to resolve global problems is one thing, but how do you make sure that it actually happens? That’s the real challenge, because there are powerful movements everywhere that want to reconstruct the walls of nation states. In an attempt to resolve this issue, Leiden researchers are experimenting…

The master’s specialisation Research in Theoretical Physics prepares you for a PhD position in theoretical physics. The research entails a broad range of topics including High Energy Physics and Particle Cosmology, Theoretical Physics of Life Processes and Condensed Matter Theory.

There are over 7,000 languages in the world and over half of the world’s population is bilingual. But how do all these people use their language? And how do these languages differ from one another? Under the slogan of ‘Interconnecting linguistic diversity,’ the researchers from the Leiden University…