The two-year Advanced MSc IRD programme offers you a unique blend of academic education in international relations and political science with practical graduate education and training in international negotiation and diplomacy.

Leiden University actively seeks to prepare students for the labour market and wants to help young alumni at the start of their careers. For this we like to use the knowledge and experience of Leiden alumni. To bring these students and young alumni who have questions about their career in contact with…

Quantum software is essential to make quantum technology work. Research centers QuSoft and aQa work together at the forefront of the Netherlands’ quantum software efforts. With the launch of the Quantum Software Alliance (QSA), this collaboration now scales globally.

In the South and Southeast Asian Studies programme you will gain a strong foundation in the academic, language and critical thinking skills essential to understanding the history, culture and modern context of this dynamic and increasingly important region.

For thousands of years, the prehistoric communities of the Low Countries followed their own path, compared with the rest of Europe. An international research team has now published these findings in Nature.

Plant communities consisting of many different species are less vulnerable to attacks of plant eating animals or diseases than less diverse communities. It also helps if plant species in one community are not closely related to each other. That is the outcome of an international study published in Nature…

Now that a Brexit agreement has been reached, envy is rearing its ugly head among Swiss politicians. This envy is not only rooted in reluctance towards the European Court of Justice or having to accept EU rules. It also comes from the fact that for some time now many Swiss believe that the current bilateral…

How do you combine the growth of wind energy with the protection of vulnerable seabirds? With her master’s thesis on this delicate balance, Sofie Hajer won the 2025 Unilever Research Prize. Her work provides new insights into how ecology and policy can strengthen each other.

Increasingly, citizens are going to court to challenge decisions by the Public Prosecution Service not to prosecute in certain, sometimes socially sensitive, cases. Yet, these citizens are not always taken seriously as democratically engaged persons. A mistake, says Sophie Koning.

The seminar is dedicated to the research and work in progress of Leiden Centre for Continental Philosophy staff and doctoral students. It also welcomes guest speakers.

The brains of adolescents react more strongly to receiving rewards. This can lead to risky behaviour, but research in Leiden has shown that it also has a positive purpose: it makes learning easier. The publication of an article on the research findings led to a lot of media attention.

On early October, the Master of Laws: Advanced Studies in International Children’s Rights released its October Newsletter to its friends and partner networks.

Diplomatic Studies (DIST) is a peer-reviewed book series that encourages original work on the theory and practice, processes and outcomes of diplomacy.

The legal relationship between Switzerland and the EU dates back to the 1950s and 1960s, when Switzerland concluded its first agreements with the then European Communities. Since then, numerous other agreements have been concluded. In view of this long history of development, it is not surprising that…

As most of you are well aware of, Climate Change has been an ongoing and pressing topic, and therefore deserves our close attention. What and how exactly happens during Climate Change? What are the effects of it? AND possibly most importantly, what can WE as students do about it?

What do people like Martin Luther King Jr. and Barack Obama have in common? They have mastered the art of public speaking. There are plenty of books on learning this skill, but one aspect of rhetoric remains underexposed in science: how do you make sure the audience remembers your message? Martijn Wackers…

What is the environmental impact of the fish on our plates? And is an electric car really more sustainable when we include the generation of electricity? Jeroen Guinée maps the environmental impact of products and technologies. He analyses them from raw material to waste disposal. He was appointed Professor…

Leiden Professor of Museums, Collections and Society, Pieter ter Keurs, conducts research into the provenance of museum collections. This is important for the return of heritage. But Ter Keurs is interested in why people collect at all.

The Faculty of Science has presented an infographic with tips and tricks for work stress. The reason for this was the Personnel Monitor 2018, which showed that work pressure is a problem for many employees at the Faculty. ‘It is important to start the discussion about work pressure, and to break the…

Rewarding good behaviour, instead of punishing it – a proven pedagogical method. Would it also work in tackling tax avoidance? This question sparked the interest of PhD candidate Josephine van der Have. Her research investigates the potential of a trademark for fair taxation.

Using mathematics as a weapon against desertification. With this subject, Robbin Bastiaansen managed to win the C.J. Kok Jury Prize 2019, the prize for the best dissertation of the Faculty of Science that year. Nine months later, we speak to him about this prize. How does he look back on it?

On 22 November, Tom Buitelaar, Assistant Professor at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, presents his new book ‘Assisting International Justice’. Five questions to Buitelaar about the book and the book presentation.

‘Over the last few years we have focused much more on our environmental policy and have got better at telling the world what we do,’ says Jan van der Boon, Director of Administration at the Leiden University Administration and Central Services Department. This is how he explains Leiden’s impressive…

It doesn't happen every day that the research project of a first-year bachelor’s student results in a scientific publication. And not only that, but as first author and on the cover of a leading physics journal. ‘We have given our lab education a thorough overhaul and it is paying off.’

With the elections on the horizon, politicians frequently make bold statements to gain the support of voters. Leiden students of journalism check the truth of these statements.

The Honours College Law (HC Law) is soon going to look very different. What does the HC Law currently do, and what’s going to change? Why should you apply for it? To answer these questions, we spoke to Maartje van der Woude, Designated Professor at the HC Law. She’s designing the new programme in collaboration…

On Friday, April 5, the Ecuadorian police stormed the Mexican Embassy in Quito to arrest former Ecuadorian vice president Jorge Glas Espinel.

A vitamin D deficiency is often associated with smoggy English industrial cities during the Industrial Revolution, but research carried out on skeletons now suggests that the ‘English disease’ was also prevalent in rural areas of the Netherlands. Doctoral defence on 29 January.

String theory has come under fire in recent years. Promises have been made that have not been lived up to. Leiden theoretical physicists have now for the first time used string theory to describe a physical phenomenon. Their discovery has been reported this week in 'Science'.

Dr Valentina Azzarà, an honorary research fellow at the Faculty of Archaeology and an expert on prehistoric Oman, was recently invited to feature in a National Geographic documentary that aired last year. The opportunity came after a series of discussions and preparations that saw her engage with the…

What does it mean to be Aruban, Bonairian or Curaçaoan? In the Traveling Caribbean Heritage project historian Gert Oostindie studies this question together with PhD candidate Joeri Arion and heritage specialist Valika Smeulders. Other researchers and the islanders themselves are also collaborating…

On 16 February, LUC held its first-ever alumni reunion in Oxford. The ‘City of Dreaming Spires’ not just houses the world’s oldest English-speaking university and the real-life locations for the Harry Potter films – it is also home to an ever-growing number of LUC alumni.

On 17 November, the European academic community will be a partnership richer, when EUniWell, the European University of Well-Being, is launched. Within EUniWell, Leiden University and six other universities are working together on well-being challenge. Four Leiden researchers explain the benefits of…

Two statues of gorillas abducting women: they were what led PhD candidate Dick van Broekhuizen to write a new type of history of nineteenth-century sculpture. ‘If you view nineteenth-century art history from a less narrow perspective, the narrative changes completely.’ PhD ceremony on 21 June.

The way the great masters of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries learned to draw is more similar to a present-day drawing class or book than you might think. Professor of ‘Art on Paper and Parchment’ Yvonne Bleyerveld tells us about the art of copying and model books.

Philosophy lecturer Victor Gijsbers has been awarded the 2017 Faculty Education Award. The Faculty Education Award is given each year to the Faculty’s most inspiring lecturer. After attending one of Gijsbers’s lectures, the jury said it was impressed by his energy and dry humour.

From exploring global issues at LUC to shaping young minds in the classroom, LUC alumna Malou den Dekker shares how her academic journey led to a career in education.

The Foundation for Austrian Studies and the Institute for History are very glad to announce that Monika Baár has been appointed as the holder of the Special Chair for Central European Studies.

Today, ESA’s Gaia mission releases its new treasure trove of data about our home galaxy. Astronomers, led by the Leiden astronomer Anthony Brown, describe strange ‘starquakes’, stellar DNA, asymmetric motions and other fascinating insights in this most detailed Milky Way survey to date.

Companies in Poland employ North Korean forced labourers on a large scale. Some of these companies are supported by the European Union. These are the findings of a research team headed by Leiden Professor of Korean Studies Remco Breuker and employment lawyer Imke van Gardingen. The study is still ongoing…

Quantum technology has the potential to transform society. But how can you effectively inform the public about such complex and enigmatic science and technology? PhD candidate Aletta Meinsma explored this.

Honduras recently severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan after 82 years. In doing so, the country is following the trend of other Central American countries that have turned their backs on the Asian island in recent years. Why are these countries making this choice now and what does it mean for Taiwan's…

GTGC looks back on another successful edition of its annual conference. From 5 to 7 June, the programme held its third international conference, this year with the theme 'Emerging Trends in Global Governance'.

Financial markets and their behavior: the newspapers are full of it. You might wonder whether a physicist can discover interesting aspects. In October three introductory lectures start in preparation for the college in the spring of 2010.

On March 28th, the book "Elke provincie een eigen gouden eeuw" (Each Province Its Own Golden Age), edited by Louis Sicking, will be released by Prometheus Publishers. Twelve authors each examine a province in detail and focus on an aspect of its history whose significance extends beyond the region i…

Leiden University has selected an architect for the realisation of its new beta-campus. As a team, Designers bureau Inbo in Rotterdam and JHK Architects have won the tender for phase 1, the new housing estate for the Faculty of Science.

Neanderthals in cold regions probably ate a lot more vegetable food than was previously thought. This is what archaeologist Robert Power has discovered based on new research on ancient Neanderthal dental plaque. PhD defence 1 November.