'The kind of knowledge you gain in International Studies can take you anywhere,' says Gaby van de Wal (26, The Hague, The Netherlands), who graduated from the programme in 2018. Her own career path is proof that indeed, an International Studies degree comes with many opportunities.

Many students see themselves working at an NGO in Brussels after graduation. Alumnus Calum Thomson (26) is doing just that. In 2021 Calum started working at the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum (EaP CSF): a platform aimed at promoting European integration, facilitating reforms and democratic…

As of 1 September, Pim Overgaauw is appointed as Institute Manager of the Mathematical Institute. The job is not new to him, as he has been ad interim institute manager since March 2022. For now, Overgaauw will be working for the MI three days a week, but it is expected that this can be extended to…

This project is part of a broader research agenda aiming to better understand the relationships between the development of contemporary security concerns and the evolution of forms of security cooperation and crisis governance.

On 6 March, Jelle Klaas, lawyer for the Public Interest Litigation Project of the Dutch Section of the International Commission of Jurists, delivered a lecture to the students of the Advanced Master’s in European and International Human Rights Law at Leiden Law School.

Leiden Law School takes great pride in announcing that the University of Strathclyde has bestowed an honorary doctorate on Professor Ann Skelton, Professor of Children's Rights in a Sustainable World at Leiden Law School and Chair of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. This prestigious…

Democracy in Action is a Horizon Europe-funded initiative exploring how grassroots movements, cultural spaces, and digital innovations can strengthen democratic participation. With a special focus on youth, women, ethnic minorities and night culture, we bring together researchers, grassroots movements,…

When the corona epidemic broke out, Nuno Atalaia, a teacher of Portuguese, ‘democratised’ his lectures. He is one of the three nominees for the LUS Teaching Prize. What is it about this approach that appeals to students?

On 27 February, Rodrigo Pica, Secretary of Chile’s Constitutional Court, gave a lecture to the students of the Advanced Master’s in European and International Human Rights Law at Leiden Law School.

On Thursday 29 April 2021, Melanie Fink appeared before the European Parliament’s Working Group on Frontex Scrutiny.

What are the institutional dynamics of the adoption of internal market legislation?

The postdoc received the 2020 Thesis Prize for her PhD research on the role of the EU Member States in regulating and remedying corporate human rights violations.

The call for a social media ban for children is louder than ever. Professor of Children's Rights Ton Liefaard argues in ‘Trouw’ newspaper that this would be unwise. 'For children, online and offline aren't different worlds'.

On Thursday 26 October, the Europa Institute held its fourth ‘Meet the Author’ event.

Jasmina Mačkić, assistant professor at the Europa Institute, presented her research during ‘The Dissident’, a live talk show which is organised regularly by World-Talks, on 24th May 2018. The event revolved around the Nigerian human rights defender Justus Ijeoma, the founder of the International Human…

Last week Mariana Gkliati gave a working group session in the context of the Refugee Studies reading group of the Refugee Law Initiative of the University of London.

How can heritage institutions make their organisations, collections and exhibitions more inclusive and accessible? University lecturer Eliza Steinbock will investigate this using a NWO Smart Culture grant.

Leiden Law School and the Center for Constitutional Studies of the Mexican Supreme Court (CEC-SCJN) have signed a memorandum of understanding, to carry out joint activities in the field of constitutional law and children's rights.

On 22 November 2018, Henk Hulshof and dr. Yannick van den Brink from the Department of Child Law participated in a juvenile justice conference in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The central theme of the conference was ‘establishing a child-friendly criminal justice system in Mongolia’.

On 20 June 2025, Melanie Fink presented her research on ‘Robo Swarms and Polygraphs: The Future of European Border Management and its Human Costs’ at the Research Workshop on ‘Migration law at the intersection of international, EU and domestic law: institutional structures and the protection of human…

National and international actors have attempted to provide accountability for the events at Srebrenica in July 1995. This research project aims to draw lessons learned from those multiple efforts in assessing whether securing a measure of ‘justice’ for the victims has been successful and how national…

On 23 June 2022, Kristof Gombeer succesfully defended his dissertation entitled ‘Relations of Duty in an Age of Rights: A study of the supply side of human rights in the context of maritime migration’.

Writing a book on the recent history of Leiden University in corona times. For educational and policy historian Pieter Slaman (34), this has meant working in the attic of his parents’ house while they looked after his daughter, along with numerous online conversations and very few, if any, visits to…

Over the past five years, medical anthropologist Annemarie Samuels has studied palliative care in different parts of the world. Over the next five years, she will focus on end-of-life care in the Netherlands. 'Everyone has the right to good care at the end of their life, but what that means differs…

On 14 March 2016 the LLM in Immigration Law Programme and the Centre for European and International Legal Affairs (Queen Mary University of London) hosted the Expert Round Table ‘The Deadliest Frontier: Taking Stock of Mediterranean Crossings in 2015’.

Last week, to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Prof. Dr. Ton Liefaard shone a fresh light on children’s rights, in Italy.

Dear friends of the institute,

Prof. Julia Sloth-Nielsen has been awarded the Schim van der Loeff grant by the Leiden University Fund to conduct research on unaccompanied migrant children in Zambia.

From Wednesday 20 October 2021 to Thursday 21 April 2022, Leiden Children’s Rights Observatory and the Centre for Constitutional Studies of the Supreme Court of Mexico organize an Online Webinar Series on Children’s Access to Justice and the Optional Protocol on a Communications Procedure (OP3)

From 2-4 November Jorrit Rijpma taught the students of the Master in European Law at the European Public Law Institute in Athens.

Mariana Gkliati participated with a paper presentation at the Panel: European borders and the role of Frontex, on 29 November in Trento.

Indonesian Law and Reality in the Mahakam Delta

This project contemplates an ethics of difference and singularity that can effectuate a displacement of anthropocentrism and radical transformation in the way we understand and approach relationality across species borders. PhD defence on 16 December 2019.

17 November 2021. Jan Aart Scholte and co-researcher Hortense Jongen presented their work on 'Institutional Sources of Legitimacy in Multistakeholder Governance at ICANN' at the annual conference of the Netherlands Institute of Governance in Utrecht.

How did disability become a global concern? In this project we will identify the contribution of international agencies, governmental and non-governmental organizations and, just as importantly, disabled people themselves, to the IYDP and by showing the connections, interactions and entanglements between…

Helen Duffy, professor of international law in Leiden, is Abu Zubaydah’s international lawyer and commented on the case for the BBC and other media.

On the 6th of January, Kefan Bao successfully defended a doctoral thesis. Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Kefan on this achievement!

Mariana Gkliati was invited by the Lawyers Without Borders Student Division of Aberdeen University to participate in their Annual Human Rights Conference dedicated to refugee protection.

As part of Metamorfoze, the national digitalization project for the preservation of paper heritage, journals of The Van Vollenhoven Institute’s library have been digitized.

On 27 January 2020, Dr Yannick van den Brink, Assistant Professor at the Department of Child Law, participated in a live webinar titled ‘Pre-Trial Detention of Children in India’.

In Summer 2015, Bob Wessels accepted a post as (visiting) External Scientific Fellow of the Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for International, European and Regulatory Procedural Law.

Valentina Carraro presented her paper at the workshop ‘Collective agency of international institutions’, University of Bamberg, 6-7 October 2022.

Lecture

For many years, human rights have mostly been a theme where states constituted the most important actors. Influenced by globalisation and the worldwide integration of the economy, multinational corporations have grown to feel more responsible for compliance to human rights.

On 11 April 2016 the European Center for Connstitutional and Human Rights hosted a Round Table on topics related to the EU agency Frontex.

Stephanie Rap and Julia Sloth-Nielsen have presented at the International Symposium on Social Work in Juvenile Justice in Beijing, from 27-28 October 2018.

Is the right to choose your healthcare provider protected in the Dutch Constitution? What are the consequences then for the Dutch healthcare system? PhD defence on 5 July 2022.

On November 23, 2017, Professor Simone van der Hof chaired a panel on age verification in the digital world at the Safer Internet Forum 2017 in Brussels.