Martina Vijver talks about the impact of pesticides on nature in many Dutch media outlets. This news is now also covered internationally. In Chemical & Engineering News, Vijver argues periodical reassessments of pesticides are crucial to prevent unexpected harm to nature.

Organisation

Professor Nivja de Jong has been included in the list of most influential scientists by Elsevier Data Repository. This list of scientists with the highest impact is compiled annually based on citations. De Jong appears on the annual list for the third consecutive time.

In 2011, the University of Hussein Bin Talal in Maan and Leiden University initiated the joint Udhruh Archaeological Project, led by Professors Fawzi Abudanah and Mark Driessen.

Leiderschap in een publieke organisatie is niet langer voorbehouden aan managers alleen. Daarnaast vereist modern leiderschap toepassing van een divers gedragsrepertoire. De manager van nu put daarvoor uit een gereedschapskist vol tools, betoogt Marieke van der Hoek, promovenda bij het Instituut Bestuurskunde…

Bart Schuurman sheds light on the alarming trend in both the frequence and geographical spread of these incidents with The Parliament Magazine.

Lars Brummel explains in The Conversation that Rutte is a good candidate to counter threats to NATO's cohesion.

In 2011, the Udhruh Archaeological Project was launched, bringing together teams of Jordanian and Dutch archaeologists to investigate the region and reconstruct ancient water harvesting techniques in the extremely arid landscape of Udhruh. Access to fresh water remains one of the most pressing global…

Space is becoming increasingly busier due to the launching of satellites and tourists. But no binding international agreements have been made since 1979. This is problematic, warns space lawyer Tanja Masson-Zwaan. ‘Everyone’s putting their own interests first.’

Sander Hölsgens is Assistant Professor, anthropologist and the editor of Gamer.nl. In NRC he talks about his favourite moments in the online game The Elder Scrolls Online. Despite a mediocre start in 2014, the computer game based on the Elder Scrolls series now has an active community of millions of…

LiDAR, a laser-based remote sensing technology, is transforming archaeology by uncovering hidden landscapes beneath forests, vegetation, and shallow waters. Though initially designed for land management, its applications in archaeology have grown rapidly.

Eduard Fosch Villaronga, Assistant Professor at eLaw, co-organised together with Aurelia Tamò-Larrieux, Christoph Lutz, Anton Fedesov, and Anto Čartolovni the GoodBrother International Conference on Privacy-friendly and Trustworthy Technology for Society on 28 June 2022 in Zagreb, Croatia.

Nature News reported on the use of bow-and-arrow for hunting based on the research made on small points found in a 54,000-year-old cave site in southern France.

The Belgian elections are over. Now it is up to the formateur to form a cabinet, but that is difficult. Fauke Deceuninck, program leader of Politics and Governance at the Center for Professional Learning, explains to Speechmakers why that is.

Dimiter Toshkov, Associate Professor at Leiden University, told CGTN Europe that the Dutch election outcome reflects growing support for pragmatic and pro-European politics. He highlights D66’s focus on education, climate policy and European cooperation as key to its strong performance.

Anthropologist Sander Hölsgens explores how skateboarding philosophy can revolutionise education by embracing failure, fostering creativity, and building supportive learning communities. Read his research on The Conversation.

An article about our Mathematical Institute (MI) appeared on 23 June in the University newspaper Mare.

The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) has accused Finland of violating the rights of Finnish children by leaving them in life-threatening conditions in Syrian camps. Ann Skelton, member of the committee, calls the situation 'inhuman'.

Puck Rouffaer has won the Volkskrant-IISG thesis prize with her master's thesis on psychiatrist Coen van Emde Boas. Leiden University student Nina Witteman made it into the top 3 with her thesis on the history of malaria.

Climate change affects our well-being in many ways. On the science platform The Conversation, Inge Schrijver, Paul Behrens and Rutger Hoekstra of the CML describe how this is hardly taken into account in the climate models on which global policy is based.

Both Child Law (LL.M.) and Public International Law (Advanced LL.M.) score above average across the board in the 2026 ‘Keuzegids Masters’. The assessment is based on the National Student Survey, in which students evaluate their own study programme.

As a bachelor’s student at Leiden University, you will be issued with binding study advice (BSA). This means you must obtain sufficient study credits in the first year of your bachelor’s programme to be permitted to continue studying. Some programmes also have additional requirements.

Safe use of IT

Van studenten verwachten we dat ze kritisch lezen. ‘Maar hoe dan’, zeggen ze. ‘Je leest een artikel en het klinkt allemaal logisch en overtuigend, waarom zou het niet waar zijn.’ Psycholoog Anouk van der Weiden wil studenten leren om artikelen kritisch te lezen. En meer, daarvoor ontvangt ze een Co…

Mojan Samadi obtained her PhD in 2020 in Leiden and has since remained at the university as an assistant professor. Her research currently focuses on gender and criminal law, with a key question being how criminal law should address femicide.

Due to the absence of a finalised ‘corona act’, the Dutch Government will only be able to make use of emergency regulations should there be a new coronavirus wave. In May 2020, the Dutch Council of State wrote that, strictly speaking, the emergency regulations did not meet the constitutional requirements…

Exploitation of smaller game is rarely documented before the latest phases of the Pleistocene, which is often taken to imply narrow diets for earlier hominins. In a study now published in Scientific Reports, a team of German and Dutch archaeologists present new data that contradict this view of Lower…

The Leiden archaeologist Harold Berghuis was closely involved in archaeological discoveries off the coast of Java. Skull fragments and other fossil remains provide new insights into the world of Homo erectus. The discovery was the subject of numerous news reports.

How did a fifteen year old paper receive an award? It happened to LIACS professor Todor Stefanov and his colleagues. Their paper was awarded with the Test of Time Award, an international award for papers that had the highest impact over time. This paper in particular is about Daedalus, a framework used…

The 'deepest and sharpest' image of the Universe to date: the first photos from the new James Webb space telescope yesterday mesmerised astronomers and the public alike. Leiden Professor of Molecular Astrophysics, Ewine van Dishoeck, spoke to various media outlets about the first images, which include…

Personality is genetic in zebrafish: risk-taking parents have risk-taking children. These are the findings of research by Christian Tudorache and his team published in BMC Neuroscience.

The editorial board of the Leiden Elective Academic Periodical (LEAP) is proud to announce the release of the third edition , titled “Sense(s)”!

‘Quantum technology is going to change the world, but most people don’t feel connected to it. I want to change that,’ says Julia Cramer, assistant professor at Leiden University. Known for her passion for science communication, Cramer actively seeks opportunities to share the wonders of quantum technology…

Dutch election signals a return to the political centre, with voters seeking practical solutions both at home and across Europe. Bernard Steunenberg, Professor of Public Administration, cautions that losses for the PVV, the party of Geert Wilders, do not mean the far right has been defeated.

Je onderdompelen in de wereld van de lobby. Dat kan op donderdag 10 november tijdens de Nacht van de Lobbyist, een publiek event dat de Universiteit Leiden en de Public Affairs Academie voor de 2de keer organiseren. Vijf vragen aan initiatiefnemer Bert Fraussen, universitair docent bij het Instituut…

Professor Amir Zadpoor is developing biomaterials, and engaging in 3D, 4D, and bioprinting. 'Collaboration and regular contact with clinicians serve as a sanity check for all our ideas.'

In 2023, a number of students from the bachelor’s, master’s and advanced master’s degree programmes won prizes for their outstanding achievements. Congratulations to the award winners and their supervisors who contributed to these successes.

On Tuesday 11 January 2022, the new year at the faculty was ushered in with an online event. Dean Joanne van der Leun toasted the new year and of course the annual Meijers prizes and thesis awarded were presented.

Insurance companies are registering more and more people for having committed fraud. In principle, it is a good idea to tackle cases of fraud. However, research shows that an increasing number of people are being wrongly included on the fraud list. According to Bart Custers, Professor of Law & Data…

In what circumstances can EU competition law impose on a dominant firm a duty to supply a competitor? On 19 May 2021, the Europa Institute organised a virtual Leiden Law Exchange (LLX) Roundtable to discuss the European Court of Justice’s recent clarifications on the matter.

As a result of the decentralisation of responsibilities in the public domain, most Dutch municipalities have created community teams. These community teams are tasked with providing easy access to care and support for citizens and with providing solutions to fit their individual needs. This requires…

The first fine for space debris has been issued. An American company that had failed to clean up its space junk has been fined $150.000.

LEAP is a peer-reviewed journal founded in 2021 by a team of junior and senior scholars of Leiden University as part of a Faculty-broad Master course. Each year the journal has a new editorial board and a new theme. Series editors Astrid van Weyenberg and Nanne Timmer guide this process and are assisted…

Markus Davidsen, assistant professor of Religious Studies, is the winner of the 2021 Impact Prize. He is receiving the prize of 1,000 euros for the material he has developed for religious education in secondary schools.

Marieke Liem, professor at ISGA, discusses how the number of drug-related murders has not decreased in the last years

Have you ever seen your friend smiling, and suddenly you started grinning too? PhD student Chris Riddell is researching how and why we copy body language. As a new Face of Science, he will take us along on his research journey for the coming year.

Do people actually understand the constitution? This is what Jelle But, PhD candidate at Constitutional and administrative law, wondered. To find out, he conducted a survey among 1333 respondents. His research shows that lawyers and other legal professionals actually do not have a better understanding…

PhD candidate Agnes van Steen researched the history of the Leiden women’s rights movement (1860-1990) and found that the university produced many feminists.

The past year was once again a year of outstanding achievements and strong engagement for the Faculty of Social Sciences. In this hall of fame, we proudly highlight a selection of awards, grants and appointments as part of the many valuable contributions — visible and behind the scenes — that together…

A paper during her master's degree put student Luca Andrea on the trail of Roman coins. While on an internship at the Teylers Museum, she organised the coin collection and came across some fascinating stories. 'Coins have had all kinds of functions.'