Academics who offer their books free online reach many more readers and are cited slightly more often. Surprisingly enough, it has little effect on the sale of paper editions, positive or negative. This is the conclusion of PhD candidate Ronald Snijder. PhD defence 29 January.

Leiden University is working on sustainability and should give its efforts more publicity. This is the conclusion of Industrial Ecology master’s students who investigated the extent to which Leiden University is green and sustainable.

Leiden University now offers almost 20 Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs). The enthusiasm displayed by participants makes it rewarding to develop and teach such courses, say MOOC lecturers Marlies Reinders and Edwin Bakker. But that is not all, ‘You bring together a global community.’

On 29 October, seven innovative lecturers from different faculties will join the existing ten fellows of the Leiden Teachers' Academy. The current fellows have been engaged for the past year in implementing their innovation projects. How are these progressing?

More collaboration, combining data and asking the right questions. These are a few of the recommendations that policymakers and researchers formulated at the conference 'Data gedreven Beleidsontwikkeling' on 28 November 2017.

More allowance should be made for differences between municipalities, argues Geerten Boogaard, Thorbecke Professor of Local Government. The Municipalities Act could, for instance, offer a ‘menu of options’ for the decision on whether to have an elected mayor. Professor Boogaard will deliver his inaugural…

In the Leiden Municipality Challenge, 25 students investigated how Leiden could become more sustainable. In doing so, they enlisted the help of the city's citizens. 'When citizens themselves participate in the research process, they have a better understanding of how science works.'

The Dutch Constitution is the second oldest constitution in the world after the US Constitution and it dates back to 1814. Wim Voermans, Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law and author of the book ‘Our Constitution’ published earlier this year, advocates for a more accessible Constitut…

How can a society protect itself from cyber threats? Sixty talented young researchers and professionals are learning more about this at the International Cyber Security Summer School in The Hague.

A consortium including economists, psychologists and public administration scholars from Leiden University will study public acceptance of the hydrogen transition in the Netherlands. They will look at the labour market impact, public perceptions of hydrogen and businesses’ willingness to invest.

On April 14, 2025, Dr. Hans Petschar, the recently-retired Director of the Bildarchiv und Grafiksammlung at the Austrian National Library in Vienna, delivered the Sixth Annual Austrian Studies Lecture 'Austria’s Present Past: A visual journey through Austrian history 1925 – 2025'.

It was a soggy Friday, but the visitors to the Master's Open Day were made of sterner stuff. Bachelor's students from all around the world defied the rain and wind to take a look at Leiden and The Hague to find out more about master's programmes and to get to know the cities themselves.

After almost 18 months of following lectures alone in their rooms, many students are going back to face-to-face classes for the first time. And the same is true for the lecturers. How do people feel about it? We went to Leiden Law School to find out. ‘For a whole year, I’ve been watching lectures in…

Over 100 Leiden University alumni gathered in the heart of Brussels for the annual Leiden Alumni in Brussels Event on 29 February. The European Banking Federation (EBF) generously hosted the event for the second time at their premises on Avenue des Arts.

Steven Verburg wins the 2022 Hugo Weiland Prize for best thesis in Central European Studies; Caroline Schep and Anneke Romijnders awarded “Honorable Mentions” for their thesis work.

The Young Academy Leiden (YAL) acquired six new members on 1 September. We talked to the new and former chair of this platform for young academics about what they have achieved over the recent period and what is on the agenda for the coming year.

A better balance between teaching and research duties, greater recognition of team performances and the elimination of simplistic assessment criteria. The ‘Academia in Motion’ paper published by the Leiden University Recognition and Rewards describes the main problems with recognition and rewards in…

The sixteenth Annual Convention of Austria Centers took place in Budapest, Hungary in June 2024. There, colleagues gathered from around the world, coming from Jerusalem, Olomouc, Vienna, Berkeley, Edmonton, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Budapest and, of course, Leiden.

On Sunday, April 23, 2023, Prof. dr. Sarah Cramsey, Special Chair for Central European Studies, gave a special lecture alongside the Practicum Musicae Orkest at the Cultuurhuis de Paulus in Oegstgeest.

Its idyllic setting and white sandy beaches have made the Maldives a hotspot for tourists. This provides an income but is a problem for the fragile natural environment. Students from various universities worked with the local people to make the soil more fertile. How did they go about it?

Bringing research and teaching closer together is part of the mission of Leiden University. The 'Career Policy for Academic Staff' working group that has draw up new guidelines for appointing academic staff discovered that the University has many members of staff who do not conduct research.

How do you keep students’ attention when you have to compete with digital distractions like Facebook? What skills do you need in today’s rapidly changing world? Teachers attended a congress on innovative teaching on 23 November.

One of the ambitions of the Learning@LeidenUniversity vision on teaching and learning is to foster an international and inclusive educational community in which everyone feels welcome, regardless of religion, sex, sexual orientation or cultural background. One student service that promotes inclusion…

Every year the Leiden Centre for Science and Technology Studies publishes the Leiden Ranking, a league table of universities based on the quality of their academic education. But the data can be used for many different purposes, deputy-director Ludo Waltman explains.

The government could do more to improve its diversity, says Saniye Çelik. By hiring people from a variety of backgrounds, the government will be better able to handle issues together with its citizens. Employees will also feel more connected to the organisation. PhD defence 10 November.

10 October is the Day of Sustainability. What is the current status of sustainability at Leiden University? Things are moving ahead. Professor of Environmental Biology and Dean of the Faculty of Science, Geert de Snoo, outlines a new prospect: biodiversity.

Over the past few months, students and staff from the Faculty of Humanities have produced many wonderful podcasts - perfect for listening during a long walk or while preparing the Christmas dinner.

Dr. Naomi Truan, Assistant Professor of German Sociolinguistics at the Leiden University Centre for Linguistics delivered a lunchtime talk sponsored by the Austria Centre Leiden and the Central and East European Studies. We asked her about her presentation, her research and the state of Central European…

The Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs (FGGA) is pleased to introduce a new research seminar series. The FGGA Research Seminar will be a forum for the presentation and discussion of current, high-quality research on topics covered by the faculty.

For the spring semester 2025, the Austria Centre Leiden and the Institute History are excited to welcome Prof. Eva Pfanzelter to Leiden for her term as Visiting Professor in Central European Studies. Prof. Pfanzelter will teach two classes, give public talks in Leiden and around The Netherlands and…

Leiden University will be the stage of the annual award ceremony of the World Cultural Council (WCC) on 8 November. We answer the five key questions about these prestigious prizes.

OpinioJuris, one of the world’s leading international law blogs, has hosted an interdisciplinary online symposium on Professor Carsten Stahn’s new book entitled ‘Confronting Colonial Objects’.

This November, Leiden Jewish Studies Network has presented the Best Thesis in Jewish Studies award to a highly talented Leiden graduate, Lotte-Sofie Groenendijk, and awarded an honourable mention to Nasreen Javanjoo.

The United States has recently imposed sanctions on four more senior officials of the International Criminal Court, including Judge Prost, who is a Canadian national. Jens Iverson, assistant professor of international law, commented on this in The Globe and Mail, Canada’s national newspaper.

Antwoord op veelgestelde vragen over onderzoek met proefdieren bij de Universiteit Leiden. FAQ

The Leiden University Medical Anthropology Network (LUMAN) brings medical anthropologists together with the aim of fostering interfaculty collaborations and creating common ground for working interdisciplinary on health-related themes in Leiden and beyond.

Speech Prosody 2024 includes several poster sessions, the description of which you can find below.

Tell the truth about sustainability, become climate neutral by 2025 and safeguard democracy within the University. These are, in short, the demands of a petition by University Rebellion, a subgroup of the Extinction Rebellion movement. On 19 November they visited all Dutch universities, including Le…

How do you make niche subjects interesting and accessible? Benjamin Suchard, historical linguist and researcher, seems to have created the perfect recipe, which consists of his various projects alongside his regular research, including a Twitter account and a major international film.

Language evolution, targeted drugs or archaeological interpretation. Researchers are making increasing use of supercomputers that can rapidly process large quantities of data. This is one reason why the University data centre will be extended and updated. ‘Datamining means we can get a better picture…