How many children are waiting for help from youth services in the Netherlands at any given time? And exactly how long do they have to wait?

In certain circumstances, you may be entitled to short or long-term special leave. Emergency leave is leave that you may take if you need to take immediate time off from work to deal with sudden emergencies or exceptional personal circumstances.

From 16 to 20 June 2025, the Institute of Security and Global Affairs of Leiden University hosted the annual Summer School The European Union, the United Nations and Global Governance in The Hague. The programme brought together recent graduates, PhD students, and young professionals from a variety…

Your toddler refuses to eat vegetables, your child is being bullied at school, or you’re simply overwhelmed by everything on your plate. How can parents manage these situations effectively? During this Week of Parenting, our researchers and lecturers share practical advice for parents.

Rick Lawson, Professor of European Law and former Dean of Leiden Law School, was appointed as the new president of the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights on 30 June.

On 30 April, Prime Minister Mark Rutte was presented with the manifesto of the NWO Youth Challenge, which contains advice for policymakers, scientists and administrators on the empowerment of youth in the time of coronavirus. The manifesto is based on research questions submitted to the science community…

Hoogleraar Jeugdrecht Mariëlle Bruning vertelde in Met het Oog op Morgen over schadelijke patronen in de pleegzorg.

Prijsuitreiking

Simone van der Hof, professor of Law and Digital Technology at eLaw, has joined the EU Special Group on Code of Conduct for age-appropriate design as an expert.

On 16 April 2021 the webinar ‘Children and young adults in contact with the law: Systemic vulnerabilities and institutional responses’ took place. In total 17 speakers and discussants engaged with the topic of vulnerability.

Drug use during pregnancy seems like a choice without any consequences. However, the Dutch Public Prosecution Service (OM) has decided to prosecute a mother for using alcohol and drugs during her pregnancy. Mariëlle Bruning, Professor of Child Law, tells current affairs programme ‘Nieuwsuur’ that she…

Debate

Is aggression always bad? PhD research by psychologist Simone Dobbelaar shows that it is not. In fact, children who occasionally fiercely defend themselves and stand up for their peers often feel better mentally.

VVI Research Meetings 2022-2023

Award ceremony

Study information

If an echo (or ultrasound) shows that a foetus has a heart or other defect, parents face difficult decisions. Then an idea of their child’s shorter and longer-term future is literally a matter of life and death. Haak will argue in her inaugural lecture that the cohort studies of rare diseases that are…

Lecture, VVIK lecture

PhD defence

On Saturday 25 June, the Europa Institute of Leiden University hosted the 61st Leiden-London Meeting, an annual event organized jointly by the Europa Institute and the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL). This year’s meeting had “Interdependence, cooperation and strategic…

In families where more than two people assume the role of parent, not all of these parents have legal status. This causes problems, particularly with inheritance law, says PhD candidate Michelle Michels.

Lecture

Alumna Nadia Kadhim started in 2017 as a corporate lawyer implementing the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) at one of the companies where she volunteered. By late 2022 she had received both a Most Inspiring Women in Cyber Award and was on the Forbes 30 under 30 list with her legal start-up…

Debate, Academic Roundtable

People suffer from anxiety wait on average twelve years before seeking professional help. That’s a pity and it’s unnecessary, says development psychologist Leonie Vreeke. She is therefore developing prevention programmes where parents learn to react in a helpful way to anxious behaviour on the part…

The Leiden interdisciplinary research programme Global Transformations and Governance Challenges (GTGC) and the Embassy of Ireland are jointly organising a special book launch in The Hague. On 13 November, Gerry Finnegan, author and a former director of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), will…

To truly understand Dutch literature, we have to look beyond borders. At least, that is the view of Sander Bax. From 1 August, he will be Professor of Contemporary Dutch Literature and Culture in a Transnational Dynamic.

Leiden University co-hosts Council of Europe expert exchange on accountability for crimes against children in Ukraine

Poland votes for a new president in a first round of elections on Sunday. Lecturer Jan Meijer points out: ‘The result will have a lot of impact on Donald Tusk's liberal government and its plans for reforms.’

Het onderzoeksproject heeft als doel ouders te helpen hun kleuters gezonde eetgewoonten aan te leren door het bevorderen van sensitieve voeding tijdens de fase wanneer peuters kieskeurig met eten worden.

Every year the National Centre for Study Choice asks students to evaluate their degree programme via the NSE. Data from the survey helps improve programmes and prospective students can make a well-considered choice of which programme to follow. 2,892 students (38.4%) from the Faculty of Humanities took…

Is the child benefits scandal an omen for the future and will people’s lives soon be fully dominated by algorithms? Assistant Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law Reijer Passchier warns that the encroaching digitalisation is giving the executive branch even more power, leaving parliament…

...What does seem clear, though, is that there is a great deal of room for improvement in the process of out-of-home placement. The FSW's social and behavioural scientists give their views.

On Thursday 22 September 2022, the posthumous PhD ceremony will be held of Thijmen Nuninga who passed away February this year. His doctoral thesis had already been approved at that time.

National Meat Free Week (Nationale Week Zonder Vlees, 7–13 March) is an initiative to reduce meat consumption. Assistant professor Paul Behrens is studying what impact a change in our food consumption would have on the world. What, according to him, are the main reasons to switch to a (mainly) plant-based…

PhD defence

Research into depression in children, Leiden alumni in the Dutch House of Representatives and an exceptional achievement by one of our students: what do this topics have in common? They are among our most read stories of 2021.

Universiteit Leiden en Unicef werken al 10 jaar samen om kennis over kinderrechten uit te breiden en te verspreiden. Ze verlengen deze samenwerking.