There was a lot of fuss last week about the ‘dragnet law’, in which intelligence services are now authorised to conduct large-scale tapping of cable communications. The public image here is that the privacy of innocent citizens will almost certainly be violated. Paul Abels, professor of governance of…

Students of the Faculty of Science have chosen Dennis Claessen (IBL) as the best teacher of last year.

Nicolette Heijkant is our guest on the latest episode of Leiden Lawcast. Heijkant is an experienced lawyer who won her spurs working in the legal profession in Amsterdam’s business district, the Zuidas, and is now working for a legal-aid practice in Brabant. In this episode, we speak to her about her…

The Faculty of Humanities has made a festive start to the academic year. On 7 September, staff members were able to meet each other at a drinks party in the Hortus botanicus.

The Board of Governors of Leiden University has initiated the process of finding a new Vice-Rector Magnificus who will take up the position on 1 August 2016. Executive search agency Van der Kruijs is assisting with the search.

Last week Esther Kentin participated in the Second Meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-Ended Expert Group on Marine Litter and Microplastics organized by UN Environment in Geneva.

Prof. Ton Liefaard and dr. Stephanie Rap (together with Apollonia Bolscher LL.M.) are involved in developing a training Toolkit and Manual for the project Improving Juvenile Justice Systems in Europe: Training for Professionals (JUST/2013/FRC/AG).

Members of Parliament will soon be discussing with various organisations what the Netherlands can do to stop pushbacks, a policy where migrants are forced back at the European borders.

Atte Ahola, who graduated last year from the bachelor’s programme in Urban Studies, has won the award for Best Undergraduate Thesis in Europe in the category of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the Global Undergraduate Awards 2025.

Migrants are expensive. Or are they? Professor Olaf van Vliet collaborated on a big research project from Leiden University to map the costs of migration. During the last episode of this season of the podcast Open Geesten (Open Minds), he talks about the initial results. Do migrants really put a lot…

Amazing discoveries by Jean Jacques Hublin of Early modern Humans in Morocco.

At the Institute’s Council meeting of last December the Institute’s biannual prize for teaching was awarded. The award is named after Carla Musterd, a former, highly valued, member of staff, who was famous for her unflinching dedication to teaching standards and excellence.

Kai Hebel explains how the 1975 Helsinki Accords shaped European diplomacy and why their spirit remains urgently relevant in an era of renewed geopolitical in the Guardian.

Four scientists will receive the TOP grant for Physical Sciences from the NWO (Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research). They are astronomer Ignas Snellen, mathematicians Tim van Erven and Charlene Kalle and computer scientist Siegfried Nijssen. The funds will be used to finance temporary research…

From 26 to 30 June 2017 a summer course on Europeanisation of administrative law in the Member States of the European Union will be held by the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law.

In the podcast EU Scream, a non-for-profit organization based in Brussels, Martijn Nouwen tells about his research into communications about European tax rulings.

In the upcoming Dutch general elections, the focus of the party campaigns is on national issues. Luuk van Middelaar, Professor of Foundations and Practice of the European Union and its Institutions, argues in a column in Dutch newspaper NRC that foreign policy should also be on the agenda.

Wim van Saarloos will become vice president of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), and return to the Leiden Institute of Physics as professor of theoretical physics. Currently, Van Saarloos is Transition Director at the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO).

An interesting Ottoman History podcast that deals with the slave trade and the African Diaspora in Ottoman Izmir.

The Institutes board and the board of Education of the Institute of Public Administration also include a student member. The student member attends the meetings of the board with and represent the interests of the students. In this message she briefly introduces herself.

In SustainaBul, 16 higher education institutions are ranked on sustainability each year. Leiden University has managed to keep its fifth place. A good position, but with room for improvement.

In the last week of January, Prof. Rex Arendsen and PhD candidate Maarten Manse of the Department of Tax Law at Leiden Law School, taught an ‘Intensive Course on Tax Law' at the Gadjah Mada University (UGM) in Yogyakarta. This week of lectures illustrates the fruitful cooperation between both univer…

AI networks CLAIRE and ELLIS have jointly won the prestigious German Artificial Intelligence prize. The WELT newspaper awarded the prize, worth 100,000 euros, last week in Berlin. The AI Prize is an innovation award for pioneering achievements in AI research and development.

During the last weeks of 2018, Judi Mesman presented the 'Kennisagenda Jeugd' to various departments and ministries, where she was welcomed with open arms. As figurehead of the NWA 'Jeugd' route, Judi worked together with the 'Taskforce Jeugd' in recent years on the development of the 'Kennisagenda…

The European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) has awarded a network grant for the project GoodBrother. On behalf of Leiden University, Bart Custers, professor of Law & Data Science and director of eLaw, the Center for Law and Digital Technologies, contributed to writing this proposal.

I would like to start with my “personal safety risk”. In the last years I noticed it is becoming more accepted to listen to music using earphones in the hallways, offices and laboratories. But how does this affect our safety and should we accept this?

Media outlets Investico, de Groene Amsterdammer and Trouw reported on the wide-scale collection by the Dutch police of personal data of demonstrators and their family members. Bart Schermer, Professor of Privacy and Cybercrime, commented on the issue.

Nico Verloop, Professor Emeritus of Educational Studies at Leiden University, passed away on 5 June 2025. Nico was the founder and first professor-director (from 1995-2010) of ICLON (Leiden University Graduate School of Teaching) at Leiden University.

Ali Al Tuma, PhD candidate at the Leiden University Institute for History, has won the Sharjah Award for Arab Creativity for his play ‘Yusuf Melik Espanya’ (Yusuf King of Spain), that tells the story of a young Moroccan whose brothers conspire to send him off, against his will, to the Spanish Civil…

Have you ever wondered what your choices would be, facing a major crisis? Had your thoughts about the course of action taken bij authorities, media, law enforcement or the public in the wake of a terrorist attack?

A fragment of a human skull discovered in sediments extracted from the bottom of the North Sea, 15 km off the coast off the Netherlands, has been identified as belonging to the extinct Neandertal group.

Illegal images spread fast via social media. That became painfully clear last week following incidents involving teenagers in Dutch towns. Bart Schermer, Professor of Law and Digital Technologies, spoke to NRC newspaper about the role and responsibility of social media platforms.

Cathelijn Waaijer (CWTS) was awarded the 2015 Eugene Garfield Doctoral Dissertation Award at the 15th International Society of Scientometrics and Informetrics Conference at istanbul last month.

The Ghent Rolin-Jaequemyns International Law Institute (GRILI) is a research institute within the Faculty of Law at Ghent University. Founded in 2015 at the initiative of Prof. Tom Ruys, the Institute brings together the existing expertise within the law school in the broader international law domai…

Mariana de Campos Françoso and Amy Strecker published a new article in the International Journal of Cultural Property last week entitled 'Caribbean Collections in European Museums and the Question of Returns'.

Last week, the 12th Annual Conference of the European Society of International Law (ESIL) took place on the topic of How International Law Works in Times of Crisis. The conference was hosted by the Riga Graduate School of Law in cooperation with the Latvian Constitutional Court. The conference intended…

In November, Somalia was the latest country to join the East African Community (EAC). This follows the Democratic Republic of Congo's accession to the regional intergovernmental organisation in March.

On Thursday 7 February 2019, the Office for International Education of Leiden Law School successfully held the first Alumni Career Support Café. The event was specifically for students from all the Advanced LLM Programmes. After some words of inspiration from the Career Advisor of the Law School and…

On a sunny Saturday on June 9th, the first Alumni Reunion of the BA International Studies took place in The Hague. Organised in Café Schlemmers, a stone’s throw away from a Plein buzzing with students trying to enjoy to the comfortable temperatures, approximately 40 alumni and BAIS staff got together…

Hoe ver mogen demonstranten gaan? En moet de politie ingrijpen als iemand zich vastketent? Jeroen ten Voorde, hoogleraar straf- en procesrecht, sprak met Omroep Gelderland over het demonstratierecht: ‘Ik zou niet meteen zeggen dat het strafbaar is.’

On the 17th of October professor Alan Neal will deliver his inaugural lecture as Professor of Social Justice at Leiden Law School. Professor Neal will teach the international labour law course in the Master’s Program Arbeidsrecht (Labour Law), the inaugural lecture will also be the first lecture in…

Employees are now in a better position to negotiate the terms and conditions of their employment. This is mainly visible in wage increases and fringe benefits. Olaf van Vliet, Professor of Economics at Leiden University, spoke to NU.nl about workers' improved negotiating position.

The Dutch Tax and Customs Authority is planning to start enforcing income tax and contribution obligations again following a moratorium lasting several years. The tax authority is doing this in a move to combat sham self-employment; a dossier that continues to be a huge obstacle for the Dutch House…

The Leiden Law Blog has been completely renewed. It is now more interactive and blogs can be more easily shared.

Moldavia is going through a governmental crisis. Antoaneta Dimitrova was asked to clarify the events on the Dutch radio programme ‘Bureau Buitenland’. She commented on the current political relations but also issued a warning: ‘Panic is rising, there is a real danger of conflict in the country.’

Last week, the results of the 2016 call for proposals of the European Institute of Technology Raw Materials (EIT RM) became available. Both Leiden University and Delft Unversity of Technology are partners in this Knowledge and Innovation Community, in which some 100 research institutes, industries and…

Only 35 years old and already a research group leader, on his way to tenure. And: numerous papers, grants and fellowships to his name. Leiden physicist Jordi Tura i Brugués receives today the Young Scientist Prize for his outstanding contributions to quantum research.

The introduction of market forces in the field of youth protection has failed. This is clearly demonstrated by the unrest and problems surrounding the dismantling and splitting up of youth care organisation Intervence in Zeeland, says Professor of Child Law Mariëlle Bruning.

For the second time in six months, Hans-Martien ten Napel has been invited to write the opening essay for a series of international blog posts.

Max van Duijn, Assistant Professor at the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS), has been awarded a Veni grant for his research into children's empathy. The ability to empathise can be studied by telling stories. This process, known as 'Theory of Mind' or ‘mindreading’, can provide important…