Professor Ann Skelton has been elected as Chairperson of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child.

The Global Summit, which took place from 12-16 January 2021, is an initiative by Richard Albert, the William Stamps Farish Professor in Law, Professor of Government, Director of Constitutional Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, and Founder & Director of the International Forum on the Future…

A research team from Leiden University, in cooperation with Bureau Boekhoorn Sociaal-Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek en Advies (BBSO), is to evaluate Dutch counterterrorism legislation.

The Board of Governors of Leiden University is pleased to announce that the outgoing Minister of Education, Culture and Science, Robbert Dijkgraaf, has appointed Professor F.B.J. (Ferd) Grapperhaus as the new Chair of the Board of Governors.

The Executive Board has appointed Judi Mesman as third Leiden University professor.

It took a while, but the new cabinet has now finally been appointed. Four members of Schoof I studied in Leiden. Who are they?

Researchers from Leiden and Indonesia work together on a range of projects on topics such as disappearing languages and cultures, the role of Islam, circular economy, biodiversity and medicine. They also work on projects to improve legal education and make Dutch sources and Indonesian heritage accessible…

The government spends millions regulating companies that work with large quantities of hazardous substances. But we don’t know whether this is making the industry safer. The number of violations and incidents remains constant. This is the conclusion of external PhD candidate Rob in ’t Veld in his dissertation.…

Mums posting photos and videos of their child on Instagram and TikTok and also earning loads of money doing so. Kidfluencers, momvloggers and familyvlogs are very popular, in the Netherlands too. But the lack of legislation regulating these activities means that these children are barely protected.…

Prof. dr. Joanne van der Leun is tot september 2025 door het College van Bestuur van de Universiteit Leiden herbenoemd als decaan van de faculteit Rechtsgeleerdheid.

Researchers from Leiden University have developed a method to predict which sellers will be successful in illegal online marketplaces. This could help the police track down big players on the dark web, the hidden part of the internet.

Two Leiden researchers have been awarded a Consolidator Grant by the European Research Council (ERC). This grant of up to 2 million euros will enable them to continue and develop their research.

Editors: Irene Hadiprayitno and Rizal Shidiq (Leiden Institute for Area Studies, Leiden University, the Netherlands)

A 5 million euros grant from the Dutch Research Agenda allows Anouk de Koning and co-applicants Femke Kaulingfreks and Maartje van der Woude to study social interventions in eight Dutch cities in an innovative and interdisciplinary way.

Ultimate beneficial owners (UBOs) of companies should have registered their information in the Dutch UBO register before 27 March 2022. The Dutch Minister of Finance saw no reason to postpone the deadline for registration, according to answers to parliamentary questions. In an article on the legal platform…

On 24 May 2023, Professor Wannes VandenBussche of Ghent University delivered his inaugural lecture to accept the TPR rotating professorship in the Leiden Academy Building. The title of his inaugural lecture was: ‘De EU-dimensie van het burgerlijk bewijsrecht: een mozaïek van opportuniteiten en valkuilen’…

Organisation

Mayor Peter Heijkoop is busy getting to know his city better. On Monday 7 July, he visited the Faculty of Humanities. ‘A few hours and you can see how important this is.’

Four promising young researchers will be able to conduct two years of research at a university abroad thanks to a Rubicon grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO). The Leiden laureates are Renske Janssen, Girija Josh, Anne van der Meij and Yana van der Weegen.

Five questions about PREPARE, the new research project funded by the EU and led by Joana Cook. Cook is Assistant Professor of Terrorism and Political Violence at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs and lead investigator on PREPARE.

Gianclaudio Malgieri, Associate Professor of Law & Technology at eLaw, is co-author of the article 'Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) 2.0: A Manifesto of Open Challenges and Interdisciplinary Research Directions' which has been awarded the 2025 Best Paper Award by Information Fusion.

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.

Although fighting the culture of top-down education and stimulating lecturers’ confidence to adapt courses to local context priorities is no easy job to complete in three years, the “SLEEI inheritance” already has three main components.

Despite a lack of specific legislation on this issue, Dutch Minister of Justice and Security Dilan Yeşilgöz is allowing the national police force to experiment with facial recognition technology.

Het National Ocean Decade Committee heeft twee nieuwe leden benoemd van de Universiteit Leiden. Hilde Woker en Renate Reitsma zullen zich als leden van dit comité inzetten om het het belang van oceaanwetenschappen te promoten.

Het Leids onderzoek naar gedwongen uithuisplaatsingen van kinderen heeft veel stof doen opwaaien. Op een congres bespraken meer dan 250 mensen het onderzoek verder om zo de situatie voor ouders en kinderen in de toekomst te verbeteren.

2023 was another year full of highlights and special moments for the faculty of Governance and Global Affairs. Find out what the year was like in this year overview: we take you through the most important moments and news items month of each month.

Yousef Yousef is a 'self-made man'. But he first obtained his bachelor's degree in tax law in Leiden. 'A CEO needs to have a basic understanding of the principles of law', he says.

World Heritage status comes at a cost to the local population’s human rights. PhD Candidate Sophie Starrenburg explains the drawbacks of poetic terms such as ‘the cultural heritage of mankind’.

With its ‘Quality Agreements’, Leiden University is working to improve the quality of its teaching. Much has been done since they began at the end of 2018. At a meeting for delegates from all the faculties and the University Council on 11 June, it became clear just how much has already been achieved…

The freedom to be who you are – woman, man, homosexual, heterosexual, transgender, religious, atheist, and so on – is perhaps the Netherlands’ greatest attribute. The principle of equality and the right not to be discriminated against are in the very first article of our constitution. Yet there is a…

The Master of Laws: Advanced Studies in International Children’s Rights (LL.M.) was launched in 2015 to equip a generation of professionals to protect the rights of children worldwide. As the programme celebrates its 10th anniversary, we reflect on its impact.

Most people talk about truck drivers rather than to them. That’s an error of judgement, says PhD candidate Anke van der Hoeven, who explains why we should be making their lives easier. ‘People just don’t realise it, but they’re an invisible group that keeps the European economy running.’

Lecture

Children and young people feel the government is not listening to them during the coronavirus pandemic and this is a cause for concern in light of international children’s rights. This is the conclusion of a recent report by a research team from Leiden University on how children and youngsters have…

In a packed Stadsgehoorzaal, philosopher and Member of the Senate Daan Roovers delivered the 54th Huizinga Lecture. It was a passionate plea for a form of politics thatt is not only about winning, but also about talking and playing.

Mirjam Twigt recently joined the Institute for History as a Research Officer ⁠/ Postdoctoral Researcher for the Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Centre for Governance of Migration and Diversity (LDE GMD)⁠. Below she introduces herself.

Graduation Ceremony of the LL.M. Advanced Studies in International Children’s Rights 2024–2025

Hybrid Workshop: In person and online on 26 – 27 January 2023.

‘Wonder is the beginning of insight. Don’t let that academic curiosity erode.’ This was Jan Anthonie Bruijn’s call to administrators and funding bodies in his valedictory lecture.

After twenty weeks of hard work, third-year students of International Studies wrapped up the ‘Practising International Studies’ (PRINS) consultancy course by pitching their major research findings and advice to organisational partners. We were invited to attend the presentations on behalf of the International…

Young Academy Leiden wants to bring together young academics. After all, it is not that easy in practice to meet peers outside your field. With inspiring and fun Faculty lunches, the organisation strives to connect young researchers. The most recent, hosted at the Faculty of Social and Behaviourial…

eLaw reflects on a very successful turnout at this year's 17th edition of the annual CPDP Conference in Brussels. This year, the conference was rebranded as CPDP.ai in order to draw attention to AI regulation and governance beyond privacy.

Besides the launch of our new degree programmes in The Hague, at the start of this academic year we are also fully committed to the renewed curricula of our existing bachelor’s programmes. Here, you can read about the most important developments within the programmes.

What is the current state of democracy and how do we understand the effects of public support on democracy? The two-day symposium Support for Democracy: Measurement, Explanation, and Effect

The Academy for Professionals project started in November. The project will focus on further developing existing and new educational programmes for professionals. ‘This is part of taking valorisation seriously.’

In een goedgevuld Teldersauditorium vond op maandag 24 juni het symposium ‘Het Erfgoed van Meijers: 70 jaar waardering en inspiratie’ plaats. Vanuit verschillende perspectieven werd gereflecteerd op de omvangrijke nalatenschap van de Leidse hoogleraar Eduard Maurits Meijers, die precies zeventig jaar…

In mid-March 2020, the global coronavirus outbreak changed everything in the Netherlands. Staying at home as much as possible and the 1.5 metre rule became the standard. One year on, we reflect on the past year with four Leiden Law School ‘insiders’. What kind of year did they have? And what are their…