Intelligence and security services often operate in the shadows. Michael Kowalski calls for a clear, applied ethical framework as the foundation of intelligence work in a democracy.

Inhibiting specific protein production in the human body can serve as a crucial weapon in the fight against Alzheimer's, Eline van Maanen believes. PhD defence 23 November.

Promotor: F.J. van Lunteren, E. Jorin

In the current global context, there is a pressing need to address sustainable energy supplies to safeguard our Planet and its ecosystems. The choices made by human society have a significant impact on genetic evolution and climate.

Foute taal? Bestaat niet!

For a long time it has been thought that habitation and landscape organisation only changed significantly from the Roman Period onwards. However, many developments were already started long before Julius Caesar's Roman armies arrived in the southern Netherlands.

On 19 February 2019, Mirjam Sombroek-van Doorm defended her thesis 'Medisch beroepsgeheim en de zorgplicht van de arts bij kindermishandeling in de rechtsverhouding tussen arts, kind en ouders'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. dr. A.G. Castermans en Prof. mr. C.J.J.M. Stolker.

Cette étude montre que le développement phonético-phonologique en fulfulde et bambara est à la foiscomparable au développement langagier dans d’autres langues du monde et influencé par les caractéristiques phonétiques et phonologiques de ces deux langues notamment au niveau de la phonotaxe.

Does suffering suffice? Andrei Poama, Assistant Professor at Leiden University, and Paul C. Bauer, research fellow at the Mannheim Centre for European Social Research, did an experimental assessment of desert retributivism. Their resulsts were published on April 20 on PLOS ONE.

The ‘Committee for Assessing Ethical Aspects of Partnerships’ is being launched this month. This committee, created by Rector Magnificus Hester Bijl and consisting of former and present Leiden University researchers, has been tasked with assessing Leiden University’s institutional ties with organisations…

On 9 April 2020, Mohamed Azizi defended his thesis 'Reflecties op Wereldburgerschap: In de spiegel van Afghanistan en Nederland'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. P.B. Cliteur en Prof. W. Veugelers (Universiteit voor Humanistiek).

El Chorro de Maita, Cuba

Paisaje, cerámicas e interacciones

On 1 October 2020, Arianne de Leeuw defended her thesis 'Scheiding van zeggenschap en belang in de familiesfeer'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. F. Sonneveldt and Prof. A.O. Lubbers.

This research aims to address the relationship between cinema and political thought in Latin America, in order to question a limited understanding of cinema politics, which has dominated the field of study since the middle of the last century, and to propose a different one that we will call politics…

This book is a result of the collective research project Urban Societies in the Port Towns of Atlantic Europe in the Late Middle Ages. It studies the connections between diplomacy and trade from a comparative and transnational perspective throughout medieval Atlantic Europe.

On 7 March 2019, Maria de Jong-de Kruijf defended her thesis 'Legitimiteit en rechtswaarborgen bij gesloten plaatsing van kinderen'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. mr. M.R. Bruning en Prof. mr. T. Liefaard.

Corporeality, intimately bound to the notion of space, to the diffuse border that connects, entangles, and fuses an inside and an outside, is understood in this book as a space which puts the individual at stake as a war machine that, in its fight for a form of life, redefines political territories.

Iconografía, epigrafía e historia en los monumentos arqueológicos

The German hand-reader Julius Spier (1887-1942) played an important role in the life of the Dutch Jewish diarist Etty Hillesum (1914-1943). This thesis argues that instead of being a charlatan - as he has become viewed through Hillesum's writings -, Spier was a talented hand-reader who 'psychologized'…

Study information

This work describes the use of click-to-release chemistry to get spatiotemporal control over immunocytokine activity. Until now, immunocytokines (cytokines coupled to a tumor-targeting-moiety) remained active throughout the body, being able to bind their respective receptors, causing mild to severe…

The research described in this thesis focused on the preparation of S/N functionalized carbene ligands and their transition metal complexes, and the exploration of their application as electrocatalysts for proton reduction.

A common assumption in chemistry is that the coordination number of a catalyst's surface determines the reactivity of the reaction it catalyses. Strikingly, Leiden chemists have now proven that this is not true for nature’s most simple chemical reaction: the dissociation of hydrogen. The researchers…

In a newly published book chapter, Transparency and information: Factors needed to promote ethical investments, ELS lab member Sarah Vandenbroucke discusses why information and transparency are needed to promote ethical investments.

This thesis has described novel synthetic methods to produce a variety of (glyco)peptides and their application in the study of various immunological processes.

A dense region of a gaseous and dusty cloud collapses to form a protostar surrounded by a disk and an envelope. This thesis uses both observations and models to study physical and chemical conditions of these protostellar systems which are likely where planets start to form.

Carbohydrates, or sugars, are the most diverse and most abundant biomolecules known. However, the isolation of carbohydrate samples in sufficient amounts and purity is often impractical or even impossible, so the chemical synthesis of glycosides becomes relevant. The glycosylation reaction, in which…

The aim of this research was to develop an effective, generative, and practical approach to enhance students’ structure-property reasoning (SPR).

How can we understand the material instability of photographic (mixed media) artworks (1960s - present) from an integrated approach of Art History, Conservation Science and Chemistry in order to preserve these works for the future?

The inverse electron demand Diels-Alder (IEDDA) pyridazine elimination emerged in 2013 as a new bioorthogonal reaction and constitutes a prime example of what is now known as dissociative bioorthogonal chemistry. The research described in this Thesis aims to develop synthetic strategies which enable…

Two excellent young chemists, Jeroen Codée and Sander van Kasteren, have received an ECHO grant for €260,000 from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). This funding will allow them to begin their research projects.

For many years, human rights have mostly been a theme where states constituted the most important actors. Influenced by globalisation and the worldwide integration of the economy, multinational corporations have grown to feel more responsible for compliance to human rights.

With defending his thesis ‘Applications of topology to Weyl semimetals and quantum computing’, the Leiden theoretical physicist Tom O'Brien has gained the rare 'cum laude' qualification. The freshly minted PhD has started a five year research programme on quantum algorithms for quantum chemistry, funded…

Point of departure of this meditation on the ethical role of sounds and silences within Christian rites and other religious practices is the documentary Into Great Silence. It is an intimate portrayal of the everyday lives of Carthusian monks of the Grande Chartreuse, a monastery high in the French…

Missiles that travel at approximately six thousand kilometres per hour, up to 5 or 6 times the speed of sound. Has Russia used those against Ukraine and how is that possible? In Leiden University’s Dutch video series ‘De Werkplaats’, Danny Pronk, political scientist, security expert, and researcher…

An international team of laboratory astrophysicists and astrochemical modellers has shown that glycine, the simplest amino acid and an important building block of life, can form under the harsh conditions that govern chemistry in space. The results have been published this week in Nature Astronomy and…

Op vrijdag 4 april 2025 organiseert de werkgroep Stedengeschiedenis een bijeenkomst bij de Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed onder de titel ‘Archeologie en de stad’. De studiedag is gratis en voor iedereen toegankelijk.