Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030, an effort to reduce the country’s reliance on oil, may open up new opportunities for Korea. Spearheading the way is Hallyu — the Korean wave, led by K-pop and dramas as a soft power to open new business opportunities in the Middle East, especially…

Advancing Child-Friendly Justice Through Dialogue and Exchange in Santiago, Chile

Five questions for James Shires, assistant professor at ISGA, about his new book, The Politics of Cybersecurity in the Middle East. The book is available to order now.

An education grant may be available for collaboration with institutions outside The Netherlands. There are different types of grants available, all with different application procedures. A dedicated Education Grant Team can help you find the right grant and give you advice about the relevant procedures.…

The Netherlands has gained a third commentary on the Constitution – with Leiden as its home base. The first copy of Een nieuw commentaar op de Grondwet (A new commentary on the Constitution) (published by Boom Amsterdam) was presented to Prime Minister Mark Rutte in the Torentje last week.

On Thursday 29 February, the European Data Protection Supervisor, Wojciech Wiewiórowski, visited the eLaw Center for Law and Digital Technologies at Leiden Law School to give a lecture entitled 'Fundamental rights and/or market surveillance: The current and future role of Data Protection Authorities…

The Rutte IV cabinet is more or less complete. It includes more women than ever. For the first time ever, the Netherlands will have two ethnic minority ministers, and ministers without political experience but with plenty of professional expertise will also be making their debut. However, political…

Dennis Janssen has been appointed as Director of Operations for the Leiden Observatory. He succeeds Dominique de Vet who temporarily held the position. Janssen currently works as a program manager Leiden Research Support within Administration and Central Services and will start his new role on 18 No…

The Faculty Board awarded 16 starter grants to young assistant professors for their research proposals.

Between November 2022 and December 2023, 45 one-off and 14 structural security measures were taken for academics or university staff. This is what it says in the External Intimidation, Hatred and Threats against Academics Monitor published by the Universities of the Netherlands (UNL), the Dutch Research…

Organisation

We asked a lot of everyone last year. The Personnel Monitor showed that the workload was high in 2022 and Covid took its toll. I therefore think everyone deserves some downtime. Time away from the daily grind.

All doctoral dissertations are checked for plagiarism before they are submitted to the doctorate committee.

Education, Research

Lots of employees celebrated special successes in 2023. Here’s a list of all those scholarships, awards and honours.

Education

Marc Koper, Professor of Catalysis and surface chemistry, has been awarded the EuChemS Gold Medal 2026. The prize is awarded every two years and recognises outstanding achievements in the field of chemistry in Europe.

Western civil servants openly struggle with their government’s policies on the war in Gaza. During a meeting at Campus The Hague, three former civil servants told their stories.

Would you like to share your academic research with a diverse international audience? On the not-for-profit news platform The Conversation, academics and journalists team up to write research-based articles. Leiden University recently partnered with this platform, and two of our colleagues share their…

2025 was a year to remember at our faculty. We celebrated our 450th anniversary, launched new degree programmes and welcomed many inspiring speakers, yet we also felt the weight of budget constraints. Our year in a nutshell:

Lecture, Research Seminar

As of 1 May 2025, Professor Kartica van der Zon has been appointed professor by special appointment of Family Law, Law of Persons and Juvenile Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Groningen.

On the International Day of Women and Girls in Science (11 February) RISE puts the spotlight on four women in our faculty. The Researchers in Science for Equality (RISE) network is launching a junior board on this special day. Their main task? Optimise the information provision between RISE and the…

The number of international organisations has increased over the last decades. As has the number of cities interested in housing these organisations. International organisations bring wealth to cities and help improve their reputation. They often act as a magnet for other international corporations.…

If you’re unsure where to refer students to for well-being support, this page should help. It provides an overview of the support available at Leiden University.

Are you doing research on migration policy in a country that is facing democratic backsliding or breakdown, or that is deepening its already-autocratic character? Are you struggling with how to best do your research so that it is meaningful and scientifically sound yet safe for you and research participants?…

Frans de Haas started his work at the MI with a clear mandate. Listening and talking are what he will mainly be doing ‘My role is to make sure that everyone feels comfortable in the new situation.’

The Faculty Board and the Institute of Private Law have agreed to combine the disciplines of child law, international children’s rights and health law into one Department of Child Law and Health Law.

Before coming to Leiden, Dr. Grossmann worked at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She first did her PhD and then she joined the Franz Rosenzweig Minerva Research Center for German-Jewish Literature and Cultural History and the Jacob Robinson Institute for the History of Individual and Collective…

As of January 2024, the LACDR has a PhD Association (PAL), currently comprised of 9 members! PAL represents the interests of all LACDR PhDs (employed, contract, and external). We do this by 1) representing the interests and concerns of PhDs, 2) advocating the rights and welfare of PhDs, 3) communicating…

Leiden University’s Committee on External Collaborations – Human Rights and Conflict Zones advises the Executive Board to suspend student exchange programmes with Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University until further notice.

What is the financial position of the University? The budget is where you can read about the University’s financial results and forecasts. It is adopted by the Executive Board and approved by the Board of Governors.

In some cases, PhD candidates are permitted to follow a PhD track that involves conducting research and receiving supervision at two institutions: Leiden University and another university. On this page, you can read what forms of agreement there are.

Patients with skin diseases such as eczema and psoriasis, sometimes spend a lifetime searching for the right medication. To help these patients faster and better, scientists across the country are joining forces. The Next Generation ImmunoDermatology (NGID) project, with LACDR professor Robert Rissmann…

Jasper Knoester is the dean of the Faculty of Science. How is he doing, what exactly does he do and what does his day look like? In each newsletter, Jasper gives an insight into his life. Jasper first wrote his column from Kuala Lumpur, and it was ready to share. Then a crisis arose this week that demanded…

The PhD Association of the LACDR (PAL) is here to support YOU! Our team of 8 dedicated members represents every division at LACDR, ensuring that all PhDs—whether employed, contract, or external—have a voice.

Good news for Linguistics alumna Anne-Mieke Thieme, who has won the thesis prize awarded by the European Federation of National Institutions for Language (EFNIL). ‘I emailed my thesis supervisor right away.’

In a recent EUobserver opinion article, Salvador Santino Regilme, warns that Europe faces a crisis of legitimacy if it continues to ignore the structural influence of billionaires and oligarchic interests within its institutions.

If a researcher has appeared on the TV or radio or in a newspaper, for example, you can create an ‘In the media’ page referring to this. How do you write a good ‘In the media’ page? Below are some guidelines.

Persecution, conflicts and crises threaten academic facilities and researchers worldwide. This has major implications for science. Leiden University's Scholars for Scholars programme helps scientists in need through crowdfunding.

After the KHMW Brouwer Thesis Prize for History, Vicente Fischer de Miranda Rodrigues has also won the Cornelis Thiele Prize of the Dutch Society for Religious Studies.

I was disgusted by the recent Ongehoord Nederland broadcast on 15 September. The racist and hateful comments made by alumna Raisa Blommesteijn were, as far as I am concerned, way over the line and in my opinion also violate Article 1 of the Constitution of the Netherlands.

Over the past year, twelve articles by Leiden humanities scholars have been published on The Conversation, an English-language platform that translates science-related news for a broad audience. Read their articles here!

Salvador Regilme recently joined the Institute for History as a lecturer in International Relations.

Flitsinterview met alumnus Kees van der Staaij: ik ben en blijf een jurist in hart en nieren

Student Session

Leiden Child Law Department at Leiden University in the Netherlands formally entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the African Child Policy Forum (ACPF)

Book presentation

LUCRIS GSM is a registration and monitoring system for PhD candidates. GSM stands for "Graduate School Management", and LUCRIS GSM should not be confused with LUCRIS PM (Publication Module). With the LUCRIS GSM module, all information concerning PhD candidates is stored in a uniform way and made accessible…

New Report Launched by ACPF with the support of the Department of Child Law and Health Law