Photographing fluorescent flowers, searching for frogs and shooting tropical cucumbers out of trees: this is only a small part of the course Tropical Biodiversity and Field Methods. For this class, master’s students biology traveled to Malaysian Borneo for two weeks to gain experience in fieldwork.…

In 2017, in an ordinary field, two brothers from Brabant discovered more than 100 ancient coins. The Leiden historian who examined the coins concluded that they constituted a genuine Roman treasure. Here follows a reconstruction in three acts.

Leiden Law Practices (LLP)

A team of researchers at the Institute of Biology Leiden, in collaboration with scientists from Utrecht University, has discovered a novel approach to improve the production of antibiotics and enzymes in the soil bacteria Streptomycetes.

Astronomers led by Leiden PhD candidate Richelle van Capelleveen have, for the first time, discovered an exoplanet that has carved a bright gap in the protoplanetary disc around its star. This rare observation provides new insights into how young planets shape their surroundings.

Since 2000 the Leiden Student Council (LSR) yearly awards a prize for the best teacher of the university at the Dies Natalis.

On Friday 30 November 2018 more than 70 students became acquainted with the large range of companies that Leiden Bio Science Park has to offer. In addition to the companies with eye-catching façade names along the cycling route to the faculty, like CHDR, BaseClear and Astellas, there is much more to…

By chance, computer scientist Hans-Dieter Hiep (Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science and Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica) discovered a ‘gaping hole’ in a widely used method for evaluating software security. Hiep patched the hole, causing quite a stir in his field. 'It’s not pleasant when a PhD…

It has only recently been discovered that single-celled organisms (bacteria and archaea) also have histones—proteins that structure DNA. Now, Leiden PhD candidate Samuel Schwab has found that the histones in these organisms are much more diverse than previously thought. Schwab and his colleagues describe…

Leiden researchers have discovered an enzyme that helps bacteria feed on everyday plastics. This common enzyme could play a crucial role in future research and eventually in addressing the global plastic crisis. The study was published in Nature Communications.

Our faculty has a rich history. Last year, in honour of Leiden Law School’s 450th anniversary, a timeline describing our history in 12 key moments was officially unveiled in the Faculty Room at the Academy Building

On Wednesday 22 November 2017, Professor Luuk Van Middelaar delivered the closing lecture for the EU Institutional Law and General Principles of EU Law-course of the regular LLM-programme in European Law.

The handbook is a wide-ranging survey of a crucial period in prehistory during which many social, economic, and technological changes took place. Written by specialists in the field, the book provides coverage both of the themes that characterise the period, and of the specific developments that took…

April 10 at 7 pm - April 12 at 8 pm

Moscow's Heavy Shadow tells the story of the collapse of the USSR from the perspective of the many millions of Soviet citizens who experienced it as a period of abjection and violence.

This reflection for Critical Studies on Terrorism, explores two decades of the 'War of Terror' and what it means today.

Environmental scientists Stefano Cucurachi and Paul Behrens and astronomer Jorryt Matthee have received prizes during the New Year's reception of the Faculty of Science on Tuesday 8 January. In addition, Kavli Prize winner Ewine van Dishoeck announced a new award.

It is the dream of Professor Susana Chuva de Sousa Lopes to grow fertile egg cells in the lab. But she says there is a long way to go in her discipline until that is possible. This is the message of her inaugural lecture on 29 June 2020, the first digital inaugural lecture at Leiden University.

For the first time, astronomers have detected the presence of complex organic molecules, the building blocks of life, in a protoplanetary disc surrounding a young star. The discovery reaffirms that the conditions that spawned the Earth and Sun are not unique in the Universe. The results are published…

After hard work in the lab, Chemist Tirong Guo has developed a group of materials that provide a stable and efficient foundation for artificial photosynthesis. Will this enable the large-scale production of hydrogen and other useful compounds in the most sustainable way possible? Guo will defend her…

The Neumark-Nord 2 site in central Germany, dates back to 125,000 years ago. During an interglacial period with temperatures similar to those today, Neanderthals where doing something we previously thought happened only tens of thousands of years later.

Middle Eastern Studies, African Studies or International Relations: all examples of studies that are part of Area Studies at the Faculty of Humanities in Leiden. Within Area Studies you study a region and immerse yourself in (complex) subjects of that region, such as cultural uniqueness, conflicts,…

An international team of astronomers, including Leiden PhD student Elia Pizzati, has observed several ancient quasars that, surprisingly, appear to be floating alone in the early universe (less than a billion years after the Big Bang). Until now, astronomers, based on models, assumed that quasars are…

Physicist Diego Garlaschelli co-authored an extensive review in the journal Nature Reviews Physics. Surprisingly, the subject wasn't physics at all, but the networks of banks and other financial institutions, and the way their structure relates to financial crises.

Artist Marlene Dumas gave the 48th Huizinga Lecture to a packed Pieterskerk on 6 December. She spoke about her own background, and why you can’t assume this will help you understand her work.

Researchers at Leiden University have mapped genes that cause breast cancer cells to migrate. The Leiden toxicologists Professor Bob van de Water, Dr Wies van Roosmalen, Dr Sylvia E. Le Dévédec and colleagues studied 1500 individual genes. They found eight, including the SRPK1 gene, that regulate the…

A day at the beach, games, a visit to an embassy and a pub crawl. The activities at HOPweek help new students get to know not just The Hague but each other too.

Ever since the foundation of Leiden University in 1575, philosophy in Leiden has been committed to open-mindedness, dialogue, and comparative perspectives. In line with this tradition it makes perfect sense to question the widespread self-image of philosophy as well. Is philosophy the exclusive privilege…

The faculty has been investigating hundreds of ancient stone tombs in Jordan’s Black Desert.

Archaeologist Fulco Scherjon has used computer simulations to identify where and how Neanderthals lived in West Europe. What stood out was that they probably had lots of children and lived in smaller groups than was previously thought. PhD defence on 28 May.

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers from 15 departments at Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) realised they could do more for patients if they joined forces. This is how the BEAT-COVID group has been able to rapidly gain knowledge about COVID-19, the role of the immune system and…

How does language work and how do we learn a language? The more we know about language, the better we can understand how people interpret the world in words. Roberta D'Alessandro carries out research on the architecture of language. There is now a dossier about her work online.

2017 was the Leiden Asia Year. Leiden has had connections with Asia and built up extensive knowledge of the continent over many centuries. This Leiden-Asia link has been in the spotlight for the past year.

Who is the most inspiring teacher? Who is our most outstanding bachelor student? And which PhD candidate wrote the best thesis? In other words: Who are the winners of the 2024 Faculty Awards?

The book 'The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child' is the result of the international academic conference – ’25 Years CRC’ – which was held in November 2014 in Leiden on the occasion of the 25th birthday of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

In this project the already developed parcel based historical GIS (HISGIS) for the Dutch province of Friesland (Frisia) will be extended with a series of crucial datasets and map layers.

A group of astronomers led by Leiden PhD student Sebastian Zieba has discovered using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) that the rocky exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 c has a thin atmosphere. Although the planet is nearly identical to Venus in size and temperature, and was expected to have a thick atmosphere,…

How can chimpanzees, so closely related to humans, have almost no sense of rhythm? ‘The best students ever’ and behavioural biologist Michelle Spierings demonstrated that chimps can actually drum and move rhythmically—each following their own unique beat.

Bringing young, enthusiastic and driven academics from different disciplines together, that’s the goal of the Young Academy Leiden (YAL). As a new member, Assistant professor Jan van Rijn is excited to look at AI from different perspective. ‘I want to bring my expertise together with different point…