The Netherlands in September 2021 could be characterised as a low-trust society. Trust in the government has declined significantly in the past one-and-a-half years: from almost 70 percent in April 2020 to less than 30 percent in September 2021. There has also been a slight decrease in trust between…

The development of smart cars, video games that adapt to your gaming behaviour, law enforcement assigning your neighbourhood a risk score, insurance rates determined by your behaviour, finding your perfect match via an app: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly and radically transforming our interactions…

How can social scientists contribute to a healthier society? That question was central to the Healthy Society Event on 9 June 2022, which successfully marked the start of a more conscious and intensive collaboration between the five Institutes of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences on education…

The new minor ‘The (un)just society’ will start in September 2024. We asked Judi Mesman some questions about this new minor.

Maartje van der Woude, Professor of Law and Society at the Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance and Society, has been elected, after a vote among the members of the Law and Society Association (LSA), as one of the eight ‘elected trustees’ to join the ‘Board of Trustees’ of the LSA.

Friday 4 November marked the 65th anniversary of the founding of Leiden’s P.C. Hooft Historical Debating Society. Although new members have not been accepted for several decades, the society is still alive and kicking. A retrospective with former presidents Jos Hooghuis and Saskia Leupen.

In the National Think Tank, 20 young academics spend four months mulling over a solution to a societal problem. Two Leiden alumni tell us more.

Recognition for an unprecedented career of more than forty years: Professor of Applied Statistics Jacqueline Meulman of the Mathematical Institute receives the Career Award of the Psychometric Society. ‘A fantastic surprise.’

The Leiden municipality wants to make the city centre climate-proof and combat heat stress by greening it. But they want to do this in a way that does justice to the city’s heritage. Researcher Fenna IJtsma delves into historical greenery to offer inspiration.

It is difficult to imagine a society other than a hierarchical nation-state. This is in part because we neglect alternative forms from the past, argues archaeologist Lewis Borck in the Journal of Contemporary Archaeology.

‘Quantum technology is going to change the world, but most people don’t feel connected to it. I want to change that,’ says Julia Cramer, assistant professor at Leiden University. Known for her passion for science communication, Cramer actively seeks opportunities to share the wonders of quantum technology…

Professor emeritus of Animal Behaviour Carel ten Cate is awarded honorary membership by the Dutch Society for Behavioural Biology (NVG). He received the honour for his activities for the Society and the discipline of behavioural biology.

Professor Eric De Brabandere has been appointed as the new Director/Head of Department of the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies, succeeding to Professor Nico Schrijver who has led the Centre for more than 12 years. Eric De Brabandere holds the chair of international dispute settlement law…

Leiden Law School and the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies are very pleased to announce that Dr. Mamadou Hébié will be re-joining the Grotius Centre on the 1st of May 2021.

Together with the municipality of The Hague, the Centre for Innovation of Leiden University is launching a new Hub in the city that connects organisations on data technology, peace and justice together.

The Erasmus Training Centre in Jakarta supports the exchange of students and researchers between the Netherlands and Indonesia, with training courses and language lessons. The centre was opened officially on 13 February by Minister of Education Jet Bussemaker.

Professor Jan-Bart Gewald has been appointed as the new director of the African Studies Centre in Leiden with effect from 1 September 2017, for a period of five years. Professor Gewald will succeed Ton Dietz, who will be retiring in September.

Nine staff members of the Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance, and Society participated in the Law and Society Association’s (LSA) annual conference from 27-30 May. VVI staff presented ten conference papers, organised multiple sessions, as well as served as chairs and discussants for numerous…

People who have taken antibiotics in the past three months pay more attention to negative facial expressions, according to research by postdoc Katerina Johnson and assistant professor Laura Steenbergen. This may explain how antibiotics increase the risk of developing depression.

The Upper and Lower Houses of the Dutch Parliament are struggling with how tolerance should best be interpreted. As a result, the freedom in the Netherlands for people who hold alternative views is diminishing. This is Floris Mansvelt Beck’s conclusion on the basis of his PhD research. Defence on 2…

Uit onderzoek van Nieuwsuur blijkt dat de politie zich niet houdt aan de Arbowet om agenten voldoende bescherming tijdens hun werk te kunnen bieden. Barend Barentsen, hoogleraar Sociaal recht, zegt in Nieuwsuur ‘het kwalijk te vinden dat een grote overheidsorganisatie zich niet aan de regels houdt.…

Minister Dijkgraaf (Education, Culture and Science) has appointed Ionica Smeets and Alex Verkade as coordinators of a new national centre for science communication. The centre will foster a dialogue between researches and society and will gather and share expertise to make science communication more…

What is the history of plastic packaging in human society?

A new health programme will reward patients with - or at risk of developing - cardio-vascular diseases for keeping to a healthy lifestyle. A research group including psychologist Andrea Evers has been awarded 2.5 million euros by the Dutch Heart Foundation and the Ministry of Public Health, Welfare…

An in-depth history of Large Language Models—and what their ubiquity, disruption, and creativity mean from a wider sociopolitical perspective.

Connecting space to society and gaining problem-solving experience: that’s the goal of LDE Space & Society, a new honours programme for bachelor’s students in Leiden, Delft and Rotterdam. What does the programme look like? And what do students hope to learn? We visited a kick-off session full of exc…

Max Bader has been awarded a € 300,000 grant by the WOTRO Science for Global Development of NWO for a project about the role of civil society in fighting corruption in Ukraine. The project will be implemented jointly with the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Kyiv.

Eduard Fosch Villaronga, Assistant Professor at eLaw, co-organised together with Aurelia Tamò-Larrieux, Christoph Lutz, Anton Fedesov, and Anto Čartolovni the GoodBrother International Conference on Privacy-friendly and Trustworthy Technology for Society on 28 June 2022 in Zagreb, Croatia.

Prof. Dr. Marieke Adriaanse has been appointed as strategic representative and new member of the steering committee of the Healthy Society Programme. This programme is a collaboration between Leiden University, Delft University of Technology, Erasmus University, Medical Delta, and the Province of South…

On June 26-28, 2024, the Annual Conference of the International Society for the Study of Medieval Theology will take place. The theme this year is "The End: Finiteness, Death and Completion in Medieval Theology". Deadline for paper proposals: 20 December 2023.

With the official launch of the Al-Babtain Leiden University Centre for Arabic Culture, Leiden University and the AbdulAziz Saud Al-Babtain Cultural Foundation have opened the door for new opportunities of cultural and academic exchange. Have a look at last week's festivities.

In Spring 2023, Simona Demková and Daniel Mândrescu from the Europa Institute secured the new Leiden University Starting Grant, valued at EUR 240,000, for a collaborative project: ‘The EU’s Human-Centred Digital Transformation.’

Expert in Classics Renske Janssen has been awarded a Rubicon grant. She will use the grant to conduct research at the University of Edinburgh into how Roman law was perceived by society at the time.

How can we use Population Health Management to help the citizens of The Hague get and stay healthier? This was the key question during the 5th Working Conference of LUMC-Campus The Hague on 15 January in The Hague. The issue was debated by more than 150 doctors, researchers, lecturers, healthcare professionals,…

He is said to be one of the greatest living statisticians. Bradley Efron gave a lecture in Marekerk and opened LUXs, the Leiden University Center for Statistical Science, the first university statistics centre in the Netherlands.

The ALMA Local Expertise Group (Allegro) is located in the Leiden Observatory (Sterrewacht). Professor Ewine van Dishoeck: ‘The Netherlands has played an important role in establishing ALMA. Thanks to this subsidy, we can now reap the scientific benefits.'

On 27 and 28 April, Simona Demková participated as a panelist at the conference 'A

The Sun and all the stars in the night sky reside in the Milky Way galaxy. In the at-rest reference frame of the Galaxy, typical stars travel with velocities of about 100-200 kilometres per second.

Last week an audit committee from the Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders (NVAO) visited the Wijnhaven building at Campus The Hague to review the proposed new English-taught master’s degree programme ‘Law & Society: Governance and Global Development’.

From March 1, Alenka Prinčič will be the new Head of the Centre for Digital Scholarship (CDS) at Leiden University Libraries. Her expertise in the areas of Research Support, Research Infrastructures and Open Publishing as well as her longstanding experience as a manager are excellent starting points…