The 'deepest and sharpest' image of the Universe to date: the first photos from the new James Webb space telescope yesterday mesmerised astronomers and the public alike. Leiden Professor of Molecular Astrophysics, Ewine van Dishoeck, spoke to various media outlets about the first images, which include…

Government and public bodies in the Netherlands increasingly make use of complex data that has been collected on citizens. But the connections between all this data are nontransparent and the algorithms government services use to process the data are difficult to verify. This is a recipe for persistent…

Latin America has seen multiple waves of regional integration, with various levels of success. The last wave foundered after the rise of nationalist politicians. But new developments require a reconsideration, including a number of new, more collaborative-minded presidents coming to power and urgent…

Hospital pharmacist and lecturer on the master’s programme in pharmacy Arianna Pranger has made it to the final of the Lecturer of the Year 2021 competition. Outgoing minister Van Engelshoven (Education, Culture and Science) will award the prize to the winning lecturer.

The risk that conspiracy theories could incite a broad movement against the established political order is virtually non-existent. This is what researcher Jelle van Buuren of the Institute of Security and Global Affairs concluded in his PhD dissertation.

Bachelor's students Kirsten S. Barink, Milène van der Geest, Claire van den Helder and Pim L. Ruhe are granted the Speckmann award for their Fieldwork NL report 'If it would have been a colour it would be pitch-black', a report on people suffering from the phenomenon of 'Electrohypersensitivity'.

If you're in Leiden this week, you can't miss the large groups of international students exploring the city. The Orientation Week Leiden (OWL) - the twice-yearly introduction week for international students - started on Tuesday 24 January, this time with more than 400 new students. ‘Every second building…

In Ancient Egypt, prominent families engaged in ancestor worship to maintain their high standing. Renata Schiavo researched this link between religion and power for her PhD. ‘People were afraid that their ancestors would bring misfortune if the family’s prestige declined.’

Denemarken wordt binnen de EU als voorbeeld van streng migratiebeleid gezien. Universitair docent Immigratierecht, Mark Klaassen waarschuwt in een BNR-artikel dat het Deense model valse verwachtingen creëert en weinig kans biedt op grootschalige toepassing.

Houses, warehouses, wells, a mooring and even a stable. All of this can be seen on the oldest known map of the island of Dejima acquired by Leiden University Libraries (UBL). The map provides a highly detailed picture of a tiny living environment on the isolated island.

Poama and Theuns co-wrote an opinion piece on why voting in prison should be mandatory worldwide. It appeared on National Interest's website on February 12.

On Thursday 30 May, Leiden University hosts a workshop to foster collaborations to improve the governance of European textile waste export. Different stakeholders, including municipalities, associations of textile collectors and sorters, industry and consumers associations, are warmly invited to join…

Skilful watercolours by botanical painter Esmée Winkel, anatomical flower models and the odd stunning real orchid. In the Extraordinary Orchids exhibition at Oude UB, the Hortus botanicus shows us the wonderful world of the orchid.

The international astronomy outreach project IAU100 has won the first Communication Award by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). The initiative was founded by Leiden team manager Pedro Russo and team members Jorge Rivero González, Bethany Downer, Lina Canas and Marieke Baan.

A team of Dutch and Scottish researchers led by Simon Portegies Zwart (Leiden University) has found an explanation for the chaotic behavior of the orbit of Halley's Comet. The findings are accepted for publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Large pairs of planets thought to orbit each other without a star, do not exist after all. That conclude Leiden researchers, after extensive computer modelling and simulations. What the double dots seen by the James Webb Space Telescope are, remains a mystery.

Marc Koper, Professor of Catalysis and surface chemistry, has won the Brian Conway Prize for Physical Electrochemistry of the International Society of Electrochemistry (ISE). The ISE jury chose Koper as the winner due to his outstanding contributions in the field of physical electrochemistry.

Three Leiden researchers have been awarded a prestigious Vici grant, the Dutch Research Council (NWO) announced on Tuesday. Two of the researchers work at Leiden University and the third at the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC).

Why are morpho butterflies blue? That is what high school students Frederique Kerstens and Koen van Griensven investigated in their high school profile paper at the Leiden Institute for Research in Physics. In doing so, they won the KHMW Profielwerkstukprijs 2023. ‘We didn't expect it, but are of course…

Eastern and Southern European countries struggle with ‘brain drain’ as skilled workers move to other EU Member States. Could restricting free movement be a legitimate and lawful way to address this trend? Researcher Martijn van den Brink will investigate the issue.

In the ‘Imaginary’ exhibition, its curators show how society is made up of mathematics. From algorithms that save lives to ones that generate art. The exhibition is from 2 June to 25 July at Oude UB in Leiden.

Questionnaires or concentration tasks can be used to screen for anxiety, but so too can EEG recordings – at least indirectly. The frequent mind wandering of anxious people can also be seen on MRI scans. These are just some of the findings of clinical neuropsychologist Dana van Son. PhD defence on 24…

The human brain stores not only individual words, but also all kinds of abstract information about these words. Research by Leiden linguists has shown that speakers have ready access to this information.

Sarah de Rijcke (CWTS) receives a ZonMw Fostering Responsible Research Practices grant for the project 'Optimizing the responsible researcher: towards fair and constructive academic advancement'.

What lessons can public leaders draw from crisis management? In the second Leiden Leadership Lunch in our series on ‘Leadership opportunities in times of crisis’ Dr. Jaap van Lakerveld and Dr. Jeroen Wolbers – experts in the field of crisis management – shared their insights from the recently published…

The third Honours Academy Star was awarded to Jan Sleutels during the opening ceremony of the academic year of the Honours Academy on Tuesday 6 October. Sleutels is a lecturer in the Honours College Humanities Lab of the Faculty of Humanities and coordinator of the Pre-University College.

Princess Beatrix celebrated her eightieth birthday on 31 January. She has a warm bond with Leiden University, having studied Law and Sociology here. Since graduating, she has been a frequent visitor to the University, to receive an Honorary Doctorate, for example, and at the re-opening of the Academy…

Many students who graduated during the pandemic were unable to celebrate their graduation in style. To make up for this, they were given the chance to sign their name in the Sweat Room on Friday 26 May.

Leiden archaeologists have set fire to a reconstructed Neolithic house in Horsterwold: all in the name of science. Studying the remains will help them understand present and future finds.

For most, it had been a while since they had seen each other: about thirty BA International Studies alumni who met up at Cafe Luden for a reunion on July 6. And, now that the BA programme has existed for seven years, there were some people who had never even met each other. 'What year did you start,…

It is still not easy to ‘come out’ about your sexual orientation or gender identity. On Coming Out Day (11 October), the issue was the focus of global attention. This year, instead of the traditional rainbow flag, the ‘progress pride flag’ flew above University buildings.

“The ideas from society should be heard in order to narrow the gap between government and the people”. These words from Kwagjin Choi, Korean diplomat and co-architect of South Korea’s People Diplomacy sum up why, in the view of this guest speaker at ISGA, foreign ministries should pay much more attention…

On 19 June, an Iranian man was stabbed by another Iranian man at the train station in the Dutch city of Leeuwarden. He had been placed on an Iranian execution list because of his political past in Iran. Was this attack the work of the Iranian secret service?

Het Europees Hof voor de Rechten van de Mens oordeelt unaniem dat Rusland verantwoordelijk is voor het neerschieten van vlucht MH17. Nabestaanden spreken van erkenning en opluchting. Hoogleraar Internationale Geschillenbeslechting, Eric De Brabandere, duidt in een NOS-podcast het belang van deze uitspraak…

This week has seen the publication of the Research Handbook on Cross-border Bank Resolution.

The Duurzame Jonge 100 (Sustainable Young 100) is an annual election for young entrepreneurs, young professionals and students who show that a sustainable future is possible. The 100 most inspiring people in the field of sustainability are chosen from all participants and appear on the list. This year,…

The Dutch Research Council (NWO) has announced that Tanja Hendriks, along with 17 Leiden University researchers, will receive a Veni grant, embedded at the ASCL. With this grant, Hendriks will be able to develop the research project 'Taking a Risk on Disasters: speculative humanitarianism amidst a changing…

Belle Beems, universitair docent Europees mededingingsrecht, stelt in een uitzending van Kelder & Co, Radio1, dat de grootste uitdaging om grote technologiebedrijven te reguleren niet ligt in nieuwe wetgeving, maar in het effectief handhaven van bestaande regels.

Developing safer alternatives to harmful PFAS filters and seeking new enzymes for medical applications. Two projects with Leiden researchers have been awarded funding through the Dutch Research Council's (NWO) Open Technology programme.

Na de informele top in het Belgische kasteel van Alden Biesen wil de Europese Unie vaker gebruikmaken van zogeheten kopgroepen via het instrument van enhanced cooperation om besluitvorming te versnellen. In een interview voor Het Financieele Dagblad analyseert Joris Larik (Leiden University College…

The life cycle of comets near the star Beta Pictoris is similar to that of comets in our own solar system. This is the conclusion of a team of astronomers from the Netherlands, France and Brazil. It seems that, just like in our own solar system, there are fewer comets as the star gets older. The researchers,…

Ghazwan Yaghi was a leading archaeologist and researcher in Damascus but had to flee in 2014 because of the war. An NWO 'Refugees in Science' grant has enabled him to pick up where he left off in his academic career. 'I've found myself again in this project.'

In light of the changes made to face to face teaching by Leiden University, LUC student association Fortuna rose to the challenge by coining a virtual Well-Being week and facilitating it online.

They call their team ‘The Walking Dead’: Leiden Egyptologists Lara Weiss, Huw Twiston Davies and Nico Staring. A fitting name for a group that conducts research into Saqqara, an Egyptian city of the dead. ‘We are trying to trace religious traditions. What did these mean for people’s lives and burying…

Over a century ago, Alexandra van Elroy's great-grandfather left for Japan, where her grandmother was born. Together with her mother, Maaike van der Loon, she reminisces about her family history, through which a key thread is the study of Japanese and Chinese.

The major aim is to examine the potential of learning the body to produce a similar physiological (autonomic, neuroendocrine, or immune) and physical (e.g., desensitization of persistent physical symptoms) response to placebo medication than to active medication (pharmacological conditioning). If proven…

Knowledge of Muslim societies is essential to function in a globalised world and to fully understand our own Dutch society. Leiden researchers explore the languages, cultures, religions, legal systems and history of Muslim societies and in this way contribute to a centuries-old tradition.

On the 28th of September Go Hirasawa successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

Reconstructing Later Prehistoric Societies in Northern Iraq (ca. 7000-3000 BCE)

Knowledge and culture subproject 1: