Digitalisation can make a huge contribution to a greener future, but it must also be as sustainable as possible. To make significant progress, more collaboration and national leadership will be needed. Leiden University has therefore signed the Digital Sustainability Manifesto, which was presented on…

A new biophysical technique enables scientists to study the behavior of Aβ-peptide. This protein is known to play a role in Alzheimer’s, but for effective medication we need to know exactly what it does. Publication in Journal of Biological Physics on March 16th.

Humour, science and creativity. During the Humanities Lab Film Festival this came all together in the short films that the students of the Honours College Humanities have made in the last few weeks. “Working together with people of different studies is inspiring.”

If we need funding for a project, equipment or research at the university, we automatically think of the Dutch Research Council or other grant providers. But more and more researchers are managing to connect with people who care about the university.

For decades, scholars have wondered about the development and dissemination of languages around the world. What are the odds that peoples living thousands of miles apart speak varieties of Indo-European languages that are closely related? This riddle has now partly been solved thanks to an international…

A virtual hand that feels as if it is your own. Feeling happier because a virtual face is smiling with you. Cognitive Psychologist Ke Ma discovered using virtual reality that the way we experience our body is more flexible than we thought. Ma: ‘We can think up some fantastic applications.' PhD defence…

In the coming years, Asghar Seyed Gohrab receives an advanced European Research Council grant of two and a half million euros to spend on his research into non-conformism in Islam. ‘Hopefully I can use this to contribute something to society, to pass something on to future generations.’

In the past 30 years, over 5,000 planets have been discovered outside our solar system. One common exoplanet is the lava world, a hot super-Earth with oceans of liquid lava. Mantas Zilinskas developed models to simulate possible atmospheres of these. Those simulations provide guidance for astronomers…

Science communication is a lot more than writing a column or giving a lecture now and then. The communication itself also has to be firmly based in sound scientific research, is the message of Professor Ionica Smeets in her inaugural lecture.

Scientists have discovered that starlings and parrots can imitate the complex sounds of Star Wars droid R2-D2 remarkably well. Their study reveals how the structure of a bird’s vocal organ determines its vocal abilities – and how citizen science helps uncover it.

Dive into the CJEU’s recent judgment in Case C-356/21 on non-discrimination from three unique perspectives on the 16 February at 17.00 hrs. Abogada Rosa Oyarzabal, Professor Christa Tobler, and Dr Olga Ceran will give you an insider’s view of the case in its legal and national context.

Korea specialist Koen De Ceuster has combined 1200 posters from North Korea in one database. He believes the posters are extremely valuable for researchers who want to make a more in-depth study of this closed country. The database will be launched on 15 June in Leiden.

Alumnus Dennis Jansen was recently elected as Youth Delegate at the United Nations. For the next two years, he is committed to the area of Sustainable Development and will discuss this topic with young people.

From the Republic of Moldova to Italy and from Indonesia to Greece, students from all over the world participated in the Bio-Pharmaceutical Science Summer School 2017. The students got a comprehensive overview of the education and research performed within the LACDR. ‘I am very happy to be here,’ says…

North Korean detention camps are no different from Nazi prison camps. But as long as the country remains economically isolated, international criticism will be ineffective, writes North Korea expert Remco Breuker in the opinion section of Dutch newspaper NRC on 21 February. Breuker advocates using the…

Rogier Hartendorp is professor by special appointment of social effectiveness of justice at Leiden University and a judge at The Hague District Court. So, the perfect person to liaise between our faculty and the Court. We asked him some questions about this role.

Almost a hundred students and researchers can study in Leiden or go from Leiden to another university abroad as part of an exchange programme. Fourteen exchange projects have been awarded a subsidy from the EU's Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility programme.

The Hague Journal of Diplomacy marks its 15th anniversary in 2020 with an award for the best article in the journal. The HJD Article Award is a biennial prize, like the Book Award that the ISGA-based journal will launch in 2021.

‘A woman with a mission’. In this honourable way, Dean Geert de Snoo described computer scientist Felienne Hermans at the official opening of her new research group Programming Education Research Lab (PERL). He is right: Felienne has a very important mission. With her new research group, she will do…

Artificial intelligence systems are smart. They can recognize patterns better than humans, for example. Yet humans are still very much needed. How can you better steer those AI systems? LIACS lecturer Jan van Rijn wrote a book about this together with a number of colleagues. We asked him a few quest…

For many years, he was active in various management positions at the LION and even after his retirement he is still very involved. Professor Jan Aarts leads the Leiden hub of the Quantum Delta NL growth fund and is now temporarily responsible for national educational activities. In this way, he is helping…

On 11 and 19 April, the International Leiden Leadership Programme students got together to participate in a Business Game: a simulation game where the participants get a business case-study they have to solve. The goal? An agreement between all stakeholders – but most importantly: to employ the different…

The Leiden University Academy of Creative and Performing Arts will be proudly awarding an Honorary Doctorate within the upcoming 440th Dies Natalis.

A month’s break from your studies, ten days of intensive rehearsals and then a concert tour: the Netherlands Student Orchestra is based on a simple formula. Leiden student Daphne Biron tells us about the orchestra and the concert in Leiden on 20 February.

Several Dutch universities have said they do not want foreign student numbers to grow any more in some of their degree programmes. They are reaching maximum capacity. We are also alert to this in Leiden, but I see many positive aspects to the intake of international students.

But how do you do it? At the annual Education Showcase, lecturers at the Faculty of Humanities could talk to their colleagues about teaching methods and teaching. Plenty of tips were exchanged during the information fair, workshops and drinks. Five participants talk about they learned.

What do people wonder about on social media? University lecturer Matthijs Westera is the recipient of an NWO grant to investigate what people are curious about online.

Theoretical physicists research a special class of particles; Weyl fermions. They have found them to exhibit paradoxical behavior, in contradiction to a thirty-year old fundamental theory in electromagnetism. A possible application is a new kind of electronics—spintronics. Publication in Physical Review…

Medewerkers van de Universiteit Leiden trappen maandag 10 maart de estafettestaking af van de Nederlandse universiteiten tegen de kabinetsbezuinigingen.

Language research generates a wealth of information about people: from our history and cultural differences to the way we learn. Leiden University shares its knowledge and passion for this topic via de MOOC on ‘Miracles of Human Languages’ and the web dossier on Language Diversity.

Tuesday 7 September sees the release of the book ‘Plots stond het Leidse leven stil’ by Charlotte Boin, a freelance writer from Leiden. This book of interviews gives an impression of the turbulent effect of coronavirus on the lives of students, researchers and partners of Leiden University.

Rie Schild-de Groen watched over ‘her’ Gentlemen, the residents of the ‘t Heerenhoeckje (Gentlemen’s Corner) Minerva house at Rapenburg 110, like a mother hen for 70 years. She was moved by the stories of residents who had lost loved ones to cancer. Jaap Koster and a few other former housemates helped…

A new mathematical model may explain how body cells get their shapes and what makes them move within a tissue. The model provides fundamental knowledge for applications in tissue engineering, amongst other things. Publication in open-access journal iScience.

It's never too early for students to be smart about preparing for the job market. This year Leiden University is launching new initiatives to improve the transition from university to work. The new awareness campaign - CareerTime - is starting on 29 September with career stands at the faculties.

The Klokhuis dedicates a special episode to Leiden alumnus and famous scientist Christiaan Huygens. Part of the episode was recorded at the Leiden Observatory. Leiden researchers also helped shape the episode, which debuts on Tuesday 2 November.

Every year the newly arriving Archaeology students are invited to join an introduction day during which they get to know the Faculty and each other. This year, however, for the first time, the students were invited to join in on introductory activities of a less static and more fun nature, organised…

People with intermittent arterial claudication often experience severe pain when walking. Psychologist Anne Cuperus used virtual reality to trick 20 patients, and discovered that they could suddenly walk much further. PhD defence on 10 December.

The supermassive black hole at the center of the Circinus galaxy is being fed with gas by two spiral arms. This is what PhD candidate Wout Goesaert discovered. But only a small percentage disappears into the black hole, the rest is ejected.

Following the fall of the fourth Rutte cabinet, Dutch Minister of Justice and Security Dilan Yesilgöz addressed the Dutch media about the ‘influx’ of family reunification applications by asylum permit holders. In her view, it would put enormous pressure on Dutch society and could jeopardise security.…

An online course offered by Leiden University on the European Union is among the top 50 MOOCs in the world. This was announced recently by MOOC platform Class Central.

Since 2023 the newly arriving Archaeology students are invited to join an active introduction day during which they get to know the Faculty and each other in a playful and fun way. The activities are organised by Study Adviser Cleody van der Eijk. ‘It helps people to loosen up and get to know each o…

The life of a researcher is not easy, as many a scientist will confirm; but doing fieldwork in an environment of conflict and violence is extremely compex, attests the account of Dr Roland Ziébé, veterinarian in Cameroon and researcher at both the Leiden Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML) and…

‘In recent publications about the slave trade the same rhetorical weapons are used as two centuries ago in the battle for the abolition of the British slave trade. It is a topic fraught with emotions, but that should not prevent historians from being as careful and impartial as possible in their research,’…

PhD candidate Karen van den Akker has written a children’s book to get young girls excited about technology. The picture book ‘Met mama naar Mars’ tells the story of Luna, who wants to travel to Mars.

‘Microscopy is by far the least understood, most inefficiently operated, and the most abused of all laboratory instruments,’ reads the quote on the office wall of microscopy unit supporters Joost Willemse en Gerda Lamers. It describes exactly why the two developed the microscopy course for starting…

Leiden artist Jos Agasi gets to create the artwork for the atrium of the new Gorlaeus Building. His work was chosen from several entries and will be a real eye-catcher in the building. The artist has a fascination for light and uses it to create works of art with all kinds of materials, objects and…

The student navigator 'Find your way' helps students find their way around the university. Student advisers can also be found on the roadmap. JanPieter, student advisor at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA), explains what a student advisor does.

The moving boxes are unpacked, the floors are gleaming, and the workshop rooms look fresh and inviting. On Monday 16 June, the renovated Lorentz Center will be officially reopened by dean Jasper Knoester and rector Hester Bijl. Director Roeland Merks: ‘There’s a new energy running through our centre…

Starting four years ago, the same privacy laws apply throughout the European Union: the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The law also affects our work at the university. As a refresher, we spoke with Privacy Officer Max van Arnhem about privacy in the workplace and what to do if something…

Is it possible to measure subtle oscillations caused by dark matter moving through the earth? A Dutch-American physicist team have discovered a new route toward what could be the first-ever measurement of ultralight dark matter. They suspended a microscopic magnet inside a superconducting enclosure,…