Four green research institutes in Leiden are joining forces to integrate evolution and biodiversity research, at local and at the national level. Pivot in this collaboration is Frederic Lens.

Students gain practical experience while clients receive a solution to their software needs: the student software company LUdev hits two birds with one stone. ‘Through LUdev, students learn what else is involved in software development besides programming.’ Interested? You can now submit new projects…

Leiden University is currently working on the new Gorlaeus Building, a sustainable modern building for the Faculty of Science. To make room for the phase 2A construction work, a plane tree of over 20 metres in height was moved on 17 December. The tree has been conserved. Its new home will be on the…

Work on the buildings for the Faculty of Humanities is continuing. Planning has begun for a modern, future-proof education building on the site of the current Reuvens building. The new education building is scheduled for completion in mid-2031.

The university has been shaping the city of Leiden for 450 years. A brief history of the university buildings that have helped define the city.

A small group of Students for Palestine demonstrators occupied the Academy Building on Rapenburg in the afternoon of Wednesday 26 November. The Cleveringa Lecture by political scientist Hélène Landemore had to be moved to Leiden Law School’s Kamerlingh Onnes Building.

No joke: on 1 April, the antique Van de Wall telescope was relocated to the atrium of the Gorlaeus Building. Have you spotted it yet?

How can computers help design optimal buildings? PhD student Koen van der Blom makes algorithms that take into account all kinds of different architectural requirements, in order to reach the best compromise. And that is quite difficult: 'Algorithms do not automatically understand that a building that…

SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research is moving. The headquarters of the institute will relocate to the Science Campus of Leiden University. In October 2019, the first pile was officially put into the ground; in 2021, the building will be ready for use. A first glimpse at the building that will…

Future users of the Aleida Nijland building were recently the first to have the opportunity to admire the design plan for the new building. During a user meeting, architectural firm De Zwarte Hond presented the design, and future users of the building were able to share their wishes and ideas for further…

If you look closely, you may recognise the metal beams from the skeleton of the Circular Pavilion near Leiden Central Station: they come from the demolished Gorlaeus Highrise. The same beams have also been used for the circular construction of BioPartner 5 at the Leiden Bio Science Park, which will…

Today’s protest at the University’s Academy Building and the Hortus botanicus ended at around 16.30. The dozens of demonstrators left the grounds voluntarily after the university summoned them to leave.

Teachers have to find a balance between routine and renewal of their teaching repertoire. Eveline de Boer (PhD student at ICLON) investigated how didactic building blocks can help them with this. Defence on June 15.

In her book Rap 73, Dorrit van Dalen shares intimate anecdotes and what for many are previously unknown stories about the Academy Building and its users. Stories such as who held heated debates in the beautiful vaulted Gewelfkamer, and why the singer of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot was given pride…

Just a stone’s throw from Binnenhof, the heart of Dutch politics, Spui Campus will open its doors in early 2026. Join us for a sneak preview.

Leiden has one of the most petrified inner-cities of The Netherlands. This is not beneficial for the biodiversity crisis and Leiden University, with a significant number of buildings within the Singels. The priority should be to make a positive impact on the matter.

The KNMI has issued a code red weather warning because of slippery conditions. This applies from 03.00 on Monday 15 February. All university buildings, both in Leiden and The Hague, will therefore remain closed until at least 12.00. Update: the buildings will reopen after 12.00.

Doctorates, scholarships, or a trip around the world during a sabbatical: when it comes to our careers, we often talk about what went well. The CV of Failures exhibition at the Herta Mohr Building shows the other side of the coin. On large boards, university staff talk about rejections, setbacks, and…

As from Wednesday 13 May, the Faculty Office has moved to the Herta Mohr Building.

On Monday 25 September, Marion Collewet, Matthew di Giuseppe, Jarek Kantorowicz, and Hendrik Vrijburg presented their reseach on 'Building Northern Public Support to Finance Climate Policies in the Global South' during a GTGC lunch seminar.

How geographical and institutional openness in Dutch Guiana fostered a unique colonial economy. This publication is part of the Early American Places Series.

Petr Steindl works on quantum dots in microcavities for his PhD research. He manipulates single-photons to create complex structures of light. Applications could include quantum communication and gates for quantum computers.

Researchers at FOM-institute AMOLF and the Leiden Institute of Physics (LION) have developed a rubber rod with strange bending behaviours. Beyond a certain point, it bends more under decreasing pressure. This behaviour doesn’t fit our expectations and does not conform to secular laws that predict the…

How do stars and galaxies form? What is dark matter? To answer these and other questions, we need increasingly large telescopes. And to build these, we need international partnerships. A series on the impact of collaboration.

Eliminate violence against women. That is the message of the Orange the World campaign. Leiden University is joining in this year, hence the ‘oranged’ Academy Building and Oude UB.

Gigantic photos of 25 Leideners who have meant a lot for the city and the world have recently been hung on the Achmea building by Leiden Centraal station. These include several Leiden researchers.

The design process of new buildings is extremely complex due to strict requirements. Computer models are used to create the designs. Scientists from LIACS developed advanced algorithms that help their colleagues at Eindhoven University of Technology to optimise these models.

The number of insect species is plummeting, which is why the University is creating a more biodiverse environment around its buildings. Annetje Ottow, President of the Executive Board, planted the first bee-friendly plants in the front garden of Oude UB on 20 September.

Rich countries are getting richer because of environmentally polluting (construction) investments from the past, largely at the expense of poor countries. This was shown by long-term economic and environmental data. 'The gap between poor and rich countries is widening.' Scientists from the Leiden Institute…

The race to build the first quantum computer is still ongoing, but Morten Bakker has made big step forward in that process with qubits. A qubit is a unit of quantum information that can be produced in large numbers on chips. Qubits capable of exchanging photons (light particles) could be used in the…

Cultural anthropology students study how architecture influences student behavior, safety, and community at MBORijnland through fieldwork research.

Seven large reproductions of works by Rembrandt on seven Leiden University buildings reveal the relationship between the painter and the University. Rembrandt van Rijn enrolled in the University in 1620 and painted the portraits of various alumni of the University. In addition, the University Library…

Amino acids are the building blocks for life on earth. They may originate in space and reach the Earth via comets and meteorites. Daniël Paardekooper examined part of this hypothesis. PhD defence on 5 July.

To check whether the classroom scanners are secure, a ‘pen test’ was performed in the Lipsius building on Monday 28 March. This involved switching on the person counters for a day so that ethical hackers could try to gain access to the system.

The Dutch Research Council (NWO) is investing 197 million euros in 11 infrastructure projects that will be of great value to science and society. Leiden University and the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) are participating in eight of the eleven proposals.

Many children experience trauma and if they are unable to deal with it properly, it can have a huge personal and societal effect. Building resilience in vulnerable children and young people should therefore have the highest priority. This is the message of Anne-Laura van Harmelen, Professor of Brain,…

Only one out of six professors in the Netherlands is female. At the Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL) female professors are in minority as well. However, we are proud to have three female professors at the IBL. Amongst others, their photo portraits are currently on display in the Senat Room of the academy…

ALMA has observed stars like the Sun at a very early stage in their formation and found traces of methyl isocyanate - a chemical building block of life. This is the first ever detection of this prebiotic molecule towards solar-type protostars, the sort from which our Solar System evolved. The discovery…

An unprecedented space telescope, an astrolab that makes space ice and molecules that may lead to the origin of life… The Ice Age project has all the prerequisites to become a very fascinating research project – if it is not one already. Leiden astronomers Melissa McClure, Harold Linnartz and Will Rocha…

If you could convert CO2 into building blocks for other molecules with the help of electricity, you could make the chemical industry considerably more sustainable. Leiden chemists have unravelled a fundamental part of this process and applied this knowledge in a real device, as they write in Nature…

Nine students dove into a challenging iGEM project this summer. With their idea, they aim to make antibodies more efficient - and in the meantime learn at least as much about collaboration, creativity and their own future.

Lecturers should take something of a back-seat role so that there is more opportunity for discussion among students. That is what cell biologist Roland Dirks believes. This inspiring lecturer has won the LUS Teaching Prize.

Leiden University is seeking bids from developers for housing in Nieuw Rhijngeest-Zuid, the Oegstgeest part of the Leiden Bio Science Park.

The new mission of the Netherlands Institute in Morocco, NIMAR, is a broad one, in which the focus is on strengthening knowledge of each other's societies, languages and cultures. Leiden University will be responsible for research and education within the NIMAR.

The Hague Threat Intelligence Exchange (Hague TIX) is happening on 12 June 2023. Monica Kaminska, Assistant Professor of International Security and Technology at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, is one of the organisers of this unique conference ‘which brings together cyber threat intelligence…

The Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) will start construction this year of the largest non-profit stem cell and gene therapy facility in the Netherlands, and one of the largest facilities in Europe. NECSTGEN – the Netherlands Center for the Clinical Advancement of Stem Cell and Gene Therapies…

Five projects with researchers from Leiden University have received a grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO) to build or upgrade existing research facilities.

In the honours course Sustainability & Health, students examine the causes and effects of climate change – but also how they can relate to these themselves. How do you build resilience in turbulent times? An excursion focused on silence and compassion helps students with this challenge.

In the Digital Humanities Lab, students and staff can make use of various technical facilities. PhD student Caeso tells us more about his experiences with the printer in the Maker Space.

Two directors. Both professors of mathematics, but one of them is a biologist. One comes, and the other goes. Roeland Merks will succeed Arjen Doelman as director of the Lorentz Center in September. What has been accomplished and what are the plans? And above all, what makes the Lorentz Center so un…