Members of the collective are actively involved in various forms of public engagement, including blog posts, podcasts, media interviews, documentaries, museum activities, collaborations with schools, and citizen science.

NestWatch uses smart birdhouses to research how the city affects the development of young birds.

Global problem solving, interdisciplinary, critical thinking, and active citizenship- all words you hear when we speak about Liberal Arts and Sciences. But what actually is Liberal Arts & Sciences?

What does it mean for a citizen to be ‘literate’ in astronomy? Astronomers who participate in outreach to the general public experience various degrees of astronomical knowledge among people. But so far, there had not been a systematic evaluation and definition of what astronomical literacy actually…

Do you want your research to have meaning beyond your academic peers? Whether you work in the natural sciences, social sciences or humanities, communicating your work to a broader audience can lead to new insights, unexpected collaborations and opportunities to contribute to societal challenges and…

The Astronomy & Society Group provides the focus for Leiden Observatory’s aim to engage the public with the wonders of the universe and share the scientific, technological, cultural and educational aspects of astronomy with society.

Legal frameworks are often a pitfall when it comes to citizens’ initiatives. Esmee Driessen, a guest lecturer at the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law and an expert in citizen participation, conducted research on the support and facilitation of citizens' initiatives. In a Dutch journal…

Leiden BuurtKennis is a new citizen science project that gathers local research questions from Leiden's neighbourhoods, and connects these with local initiatives, students, researchers and the city to jointly develop knowledge and actions for a healthy and resilient city.

Leiden University linguist Lisa Cheng speaks two Chinese languages, as well as English and Dutch. She is a strong supporter of the European Commission's wish that every European citizen learns to speak several languages. ‘Speaking three languages is not that difficult.’

Government impartiality is considered a core feature of quality of government, and one that leads to favorable macro‐level outcomes. We have limited knowledge, however, of how impartiality affects citizens' perceptions of public service quality. In particular, we do not know how the impacts of impartiality…

It is often claimed that social media can contribute to democratic decision-making by bringing politicians and citizens into dialogue with one another. But is this potential always realised, and how? Most researchers look at politicians and their online communication strategies. In this New Media &…

Data science offers exciting new instruments for governments to reach out to citizens, for example by using data-driven information channels, providing real-time simulations, or personalizing services based on citizen data. At the same time, the possibilities and use of data science methods can have…

Moritz Jesse, Associate Professor of EU Law at the Europa Institute, has published his book, “The Civic Citizens of Europe: The Legal Potential for Immigrant Integration in the EU, Belgium, Germany, and the United Kingdom”.

Nothing lasts forever. On the left you will find all of the Citizen Science Lab's completed projects.

In the summer of 2023, interested parties set out to map air quality in Leiden. Using a technique by British artist Robin Price, they made the invisible visible to start the conversation about the importance of good air quality.

This project introduces primary school children (8-12 years) to science and archaeology.

At the project closure on February 29, 2024.

The Netherlands aims to have open and responsive government. As part of the ‘Actieplan Open Overheid’, Ymre Schuurmans, Annemarie Drahmann and Louis Honée from the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law are researching how citizens' information position in administrative law proceedings…

The programme of the International Conference “City, Citizen & Citizenship. New Perspectives on the Middle Ages, AD 400-1600”, to be held on a digital platform on 16-18 June, 2021, is now available.

The Food Citizens? team has contributed in the special issue of the ICA journal. The semi-scientific journal of the study association Itiwana of Leiden University's Institute of Cultural Anthropology.

Psychology Lab on Wheels is possible thanks to the support of our partners.

Advisory Board member Colin Sage shares insights about the Food Citizens? project.

The first photo of a black hole and measuring anxiety in the brain... From 13 until 22 May we're serving a free slice of science with your pizza.

Fieldwork is an essential part of this research and of course this part of the project is also a joint effort by citizen scientists and professional archaeologists. Discover when fieldwork will take place and how you can participate.

How humans and rats cohabit the cityscape and what consequences this has for both sides of the conflict?

Principles of Environmental Sciences provides a comprehensive picture of the principles, concepts and methods that are applicable to problems originating from the interaction between the living and non-living environment and mankind. Both the analysis of such problems and the way solutions to environmental…

The team consists of

To get an idea of the science communication products and research that is possible, a few examples of student projects of recent years are shown below.

Horizon Magazine published about urban food systems.

In January 2020, the team took a break from their respective field sites and travelled back to Leiden to take stock of their research progress and to host its third Advisory Board meeting at their home institution, the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology of Leiden Universit…

In late May 2019, the Food citizens? team traveled to Poland for a project meeting and team outing. This was made possible by the European Research Council’s support and facilitated networks and knowledge-generation.

Is it possible to formulate a new conceptual foundation for attributing an evaluative role to historiography of science, without relinquishing the historiographic sensitivity of recent work in the discipline?

Heritage Quest citizen scientists conduct research in two ways: online and in the field. Online, from their own home, they inspect elevation maps for traces of archaeological heritage.

How can we bridge the gap between experts and the general public?

The Heritage Quest project is a citizen science project in which volunteers participate in archaeological research. Discover the aims and methodology of the project, the sub-projects and how to participate yourself.

It’s often said that citizens have lost trust in their governments. But who exactly are these ‘citizens’? And which aspects of people’s contact with government agencies work better than others? These questions will be discussed at the Crafting Resilience conference (working language is English) on…

The mission of the Plant Science research programme is to contribute to the sustainable production of high quality crops, flowers and high-value bio-based products. This is realised by generating fundamental knowledge of basic biological processes related to development of plants and their interaction…

A political science perspective on our project’s comparative ethnography. I truly enjoyed the one-day conference on February 4th where the research results have been shared with the members of the Advisory Board. The work conducted so far is impressive, and the case studies are very useful in understanding…

The field of science communication is very broad. Below is a list of organisations where SCS students can fulfill internships or where alumni have found jobs.

We asked our Winter School students to evaluate the effect and significance of this learning experience on their current research trajectories and future plans. Here are some reflections.

On 13 December 2022, Jan Aart Scholte and Soetkin Verhaegen presented to the German Institute of Global and Area Studies on 'Citizens, Elites, and the Legitimacy of Global Governance'. Click here to find out more about the event.

The Winter School of the Food Citizens? project has been a success! Running from Monday 24th January to Friday 4th February 2022, with this milestone we handed down the project’s methodological toolkit as a team. Nine participants attended in Leiden, coming from Belgium, Ghana, Italy, Lithuania, the…

Image from ESOF Forum programme page.

Mr. Ade Jaya Suryani defended his thesis on 28 January 2021

Children are little scientists by nature. The best way to introduce them to science is to put them to work and let them do actual scientific research.

Dutch knowledge institutions are taking steps to recognise and reward open science. On 13 December, the Open Science NL Steering Board approved a total of 1.2 million euros in grants to 23 institutions. The Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) leads the national coordination of the local…

We perform multidisciplinary research at molecular, cellular, and organismal levels of animal biology to increase fundamental understanding of health and disease.