Roderick Bouman is collection manager of the Leiden Hortus botanicus. He keeps track of which plants there are in the garden, where they come from and makes sure visitors can find the right information about them. ‘We are like a regular museum,’ says Bouman. ‘Except that our objects are alive. That…

Jasper Knoester is the dean of the Faculty of Science. How is he doing? What kinds of things is he doing and what does his day look like? In each newsletter Jasper gives a peek into his life as dean.

Leiden University wants to increase the security of its systems. That is why since 1 May the ‘sneakers team’ has been making many miles through our buildings. This team with various specialists will map all measuring and research systems. Today Roland van Dam introduces himself, he is the project manager…

An impressive 60 alumni recently came to the Dutch Embassy residence in Japan to meet, network, see friends and practise their languages.

Professor of Psychiatry Anne Speckens studied medicine in Leiden and did her psychiatry training there too. She opened the Radboudumc Center for Mindfulness in Nijmegen. What does she do there and how does she look back on her time as a student?

A flu virus could cause a pandemic. And then we would be poorly armed because flu viruses are starting to become resistant to flu medications like Tamiflu. Chemist Merijn Vriends successfully worked on an improved version of such medications. He will be awarded his doctorate on September 12th.

Over the past two years, the institute has undergone important developments under the leadership of Scientific Director, Professor Hanneke Hulst. She also steered the Institute with passion and determination through this tumultuous period. She leaves behind a strong, resilient and forward-looking organisation.…

The organ in the Academy Building is 25 years old. University organist Jan Verschuren and tuner Bert Crama talk about the long history of university organs, improvising with short cortèges and their love for this organ.

As a student, Ratna Lachmansingh wrote her thesis on horror films. Now she is the director of Leiden International Film Festival.

Imagine we could do what green plants can do: photosynthesis. Then we could satisfy our enormous energy needs with deep-green hydrogen and climate-neutral biodiesel. Scientists have been working on this for decades. Chemist Chengyu Liu will receive his doctorate on 8 June for yet another step that brings…

The balance is positive: the faculty is growing faster than expected, reserves have been built up, and new programmes are attracting many students. At the same time, rapid growth requires realistic budgets, targeted staff expansion and agility in changing circumstances.

Jasper Knoester is the dean of the Faculty of Science. How is he doing, what exactly does he do and what does his day look like? In each newsletter, Jasper gives an insight into his life.

For over a year now, ombuds officer Marjan van Dasselaar has been devoting her efforts to a safer work environment at the university. What are her first impressions of this period? ‘People should feel free to call me sooner and more often, also for seemingly trivial situations.’

Diversity and inclusion within the police creates opportunities but also meets resistance. Professor by special appointment and former police officer, Saniye Çelik, emphasises how ambivalent feelings about D&I are essential to the learning process and can lead to informed decisions and real change.

Interview with Pieter Slaman who received the LUS Education Prize. What makes the award so special to him and does he already know how he will use his prize money?

Conference, Symposium

Activity

Lecture

PhD defence

If you buy something online, the webshop can adjust the price based on your data. Kimia Heidary investigated the phenomenon of online price discrimination. ‘It’s not necessarily unfair. Different prices for different people has been around for years.’

The legal distinction between victims of human trafficking and victims of migrant smuggling is unjust, argues De Massol Rebetz in her PhD thesis. In certain instances, smuggled migrants should be treated the same as victims of human trafficking.

For nine years, Mirjam de Baar was vice-dean at the Faculty of Humanities. On Monday 17 March, she took her leave in the Academy Building. ‘You have worn out two deans, two vice-deans, four business managers and six assessors.’

Organisation

Travel grant call for applications open to people who were identified as female at birth or who identify as female at the time of application for externally-funded Ph.D. students (not funded by any outside source such as ERC, NWO, etc.) and/or staff members (postdoc, docent, UD, permanent/non-permanent…

Everything is peaceful again in and around the Wijnhaven building at Campus The Hague. Earlier today, the location was the scene of a large pro-Palestinian protest. Lectures were cancelled. In the end, everyone left the building voluntarily.

Arteriosclerosis bears great similarities to autoimmune diseases. Researchers from Leiden University show this in a new study they published in the renowned scientific journal Nature Cardiovascular Research. 'This discovery suggests that treatment methods for autoimmune diseases might also be effective…

ICT, Security

Editors: Irene Hadiprayitno and Rizal Shidiq (Leiden Institute for Area Studies, Leiden University, the Netherlands)

Archaeologist Tuna Kalayci investigates roads in a recent edited book. What happens if we think of roads not only as containers of action but also as dynamic and complex phenomena, as the action itself? This question inspired Dr Tuna Kalayci to bring together various studies across a wide range of epochs…

The symposium will be held on 11 June 2025 from 10.00-17.00 and is organized as a starting point for the publication of an edited volume – a selection of symposium attendants will be invited to submit book chapters.

The academic year is drawing to a close, and summer is on the horizon. FGGA students are working hard to wrap everything up. We asked some of them to reflect on the past year and share their insights and tips for fellow students.

Professor Susanna Lindberg has been appointed Scientific Director of the Institute for Philosophy with effect from 1 February. In her new role, she aims to foster connections among people. ‘I want my colleagues to feel good.’

During the Opening of the Academic Year 2024-2025, we asked guests for their wishes and ideas for Leiden University's anniversary year in 2025.

Organisation

Words originally intended to indicate space, such as ‘out’, are also regularly used to indicate cause and effect. Why does this happen? And how does it work in other languages? PhD candidate Camil Staps decided to find out.

Pablo Merayo Montes recently joined the Institute for History as a PhD candidate within the NWO-funded project 'Dutch guest workers in 18th century Spain’ under the supervision of Raymond Fagel. Below, he introduces himself.

You can hardly avoid it if you want to quickly implement satellite internet. Elon Musk's company Starlink is "all-powerful in space" (Volkskrant). Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant wrote an extensive article on the situation and the possible dangers and alternatives. For this, they interviewed several experts,…

The winner of the 2022 Spring edition of the NWO Venture Challenge was announced during the Dutch Biotech Event. The innovative startup Iprotics has developed specific proteasome inhibitors that potentially treat multiple myeloma (MM) without the side-effects known from traditional proteasome inhibi…

Jelle van Buuren, university lecturer at ISGA, discusses the role that social media played in the storming of the Capitol last Wednesday

During a recent event, the Leiden Institute of Environmental Sciences presented the breadth of its research on biodiversity.

On Wednesday 6 July 2022 Leiden University College The Hague (LUC) celebrated the graduation of the Class of 2022. The 170 students received their Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree’s in LUC’s interdisciplinary honours programme Liberal Arts & Sciences: Global Challenges.

Organisation

Joëlle Koning has been appointed as Head of Student Affairs (OSZ) in the Faculty of Humanities from 1 July.

Lukas Milevski is a lecturer in International Studies at the Institute for History. He introduces himself.

The ‘Amorphophallus titanum’ at the Hortus botanicus Leiden is blooming. This Titan Arum, also known as the ‘giant penis plant’, last flowered in 2009.

Yesterday, an article appeared in Biznews about the watershortages in California. David Zetland, university lecturer at Leiden University College, gives his opinion about this problem.

A programming competition in Minecraft? It really exists! And even better news: this time LIACS’ student team Mike's Angels achieved the first place! The team has been rewarded $500.

On 15 October 2021, the EFTA Court held its annual conference in Luxembourg, this year under the title 'People in the EEA'. The EFTA Court is in charge of cases arising under the law of the European Economic Areas (EEA) in the EEA/EFTA states Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. Christa Tobler was invited…