Soil that is too wet, or too dry. Or with a lot or few nutrients. Due to climate change, the differences are becoming bigger, and plants must increasingly be able to adapt to survive. How do you make plants more stress-resistant? For this purpose, researchers from Leiden, along with other universities,…

By the time you read this message, it will already be February. But since this is our first newsletter of the year, I still feel compelled to wish all of you a very happy New Year!

The first professional training organised by the Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Centre for Global Heritage and Development has finished. The participants work for municipalities, provinces, universities or are independent researchers or consultants in the Heritage Sector. During three intensive days in September…

Two Humanities research masters and one master’s programme score well above average in the Keuzegids Masters: the research master History, the master and research master Classics and Ancient Civilizations.

Two Leiden researchers have been awarded ERC Proof of Concept grants. These grants, each worth EUR 150,000, will help the grantees in their efforts to bridge the gap from basic science to real-life applications

Leiden University Libraries has been elected to the Executive Committee of the IIIF Consortium. The term of office is two years starting from January 2022.

The Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres (AIBL), one of the five academies that make up the Institut de France, has elected professor Petra Sijpesteijn as foreign corresponding member (correspondant étranger), to fill the seat of the renowned Egyptologist Edda Bresciani.

The Air and Space Law (Advanced LL.M.) master’s programme at Leiden University is among ten ‘excellent master’s programmes’ at Dutch universities. This is according to ‘Keuzegids masters 2024’, a guide to master’s programmes in the Netherlands.

Nikki Ikani, Assistant Professor Intelligence and Security at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA), has recently published her latest monograph 'Crisis and change in European Union foreign policy' with Manchester University Press.

Leiden University has taken 14th place in the UI Green Metric, a global sustainability ranking for universities.

The Economics Department at Leiden University is pleased to announce a junior workshop focusing on The Economic, Social and Political Effects of Migration, which will be held Friday 19 April 2024, at the Gravensteen in Leiden.

Education

If universities and research institutions want to tackle unacceptable behaviour in academia, they must shift their focus from dealing with complaints to preventing such behaviour in the first place. This is what the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) has concluded. It has therefore…

Following the success of the pilot calendar that was launched earlier this year, a new D&I calendar for the academic year 2022-2023 has been developed. This calendar is an effort to build awareness and a cultural understanding of important religious holidays and other special observances of the diverse…

Finance

Social

Helma de Jong

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.

Jeanine de Roy van Zuijdewijn, PhD candidate at ISGA, explained the dilemma countries face in the aftermath of terror attacks.

Organisation, Research

Prof. Suzan Stoter will be the Dean of Leiden Law School at Leiden University as of 1 January 2024. The Leiden University Executive Board has appointed her for a period of four years. Stoter succeeds Joanne van der Leun, who, together with the other members of the Faculty Board, brought great verve…

On Saturday 15 April, we are holding the fifth edition of the Leiden Science Run! Are you a student or employee at Leiden University, do you work at the Leiden Bio Science Park or do you just want to run for charity? Everyone is welcome to register. Registration is open from now!

Heavy! This is the first word that comes to lecturer Marjo de Graauw’s mind when she looks back on the past year. But with her creativity and experience with educational innovation she was nonetheless able to provide her usual high standard of teaching.

Katharina Natter of the Institute of Political Science has been awarded the 2025 IMR Book Review Award for her book on migration politics in Morocco and Tunisia.

Research

Organisation

Prof. Dr. Marieke Adriaanse has been appointed as strategic representative and new member of the steering committee of the Healthy Society Programme. This programme is a collaboration between Leiden University, Delft University of Technology, Erasmus University, Medical Delta, and the Province of South…

Kinderen hebben wereldwijd een betere toegang gekregen tot de rechter. Hoogleraar Kinderrechten Ton Liefaard schrijft dit in het tijdschrift Sociale Vraagstukken. Hij is voorzichtig positief over de resultaten van een VN-protocol voor rechtsbescherming van kinderen, dat tien jaar bestaat.

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…

Neuroscientist Anne Urai is one of 25 early-career researchers recognised with the Rising Stars of Neuroscience Award for outstanding achievements. Known for innovative research and commitment to sustainability in academia, Dr. Urai is among the rising scientists thought to shape the field for years…

Carola Schoor, programme manager for Public Affairs at the Centre for Professional Learning (CPL), reflects on Politico on the State of the European Union speech by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen from a political strategy and messaging perspective.

When you think of humanities, you may not immediately think of a new super server. Yet one has just been commissioned. University lecturer Jelena Prokic from Leiden University Centre for Digital Humanities explains more about this development.

Identifying pathogens with a mobile testing kit, even in remote areas. Rapidemic, a student team of Leiden, are trying to make it possible. Now, they moved on to the finals of the Most innovative student of the Netherlands.

Salvador Santino Regilme, Jr. Associate Professor of International Relations and Program Chair of MA in International Relations, has been honored with the Cecil B. Currey Book Award for 2023. The accolade, presented by the Association for Global South Studies (AGSS), recognizes Regilme’s exceptional…

Professor Meta Roestenberg has been awarded the Mercator Sapiens Stimulus 2025 by the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities (KHMW). The prize of EUR 1 million will allow Roestenberg and her team to further develop an innovative malaria vaccine.

Mayke Kaag has been appointed Professor of the Anthropology of Politics and Governance in Africa at the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (CADS) on behalf of the African Studies Centre Leiden (ASCL).

One perspective, one cell, one outlook on life: what are we all prisoners of? That’s the question Vrij Nederland put to various experts, including Joni Reef, Assistant Professor and Research Fellow at the Department of Criminology.

Education, Security

Before coming to Leiden, Dr. Stökl was Reader in Hebrew Bible / Old Testament at Kings College London.

The formation of a new government is in full swing in the Netherlands. Or more accurately, it is in full deadlock. As a result, the possibility of a minority government is being discussed. Would that be a good idea?

Global warming, deforestation, nature conservation. All major environmental challenges that call for major measures. To see what the effects of these measures are, observation data from the Earth is used. Researchers at LIACS receive €90,000 from the European Space Agency (ESA). With this they are investigating…

The results of the National Student Survey (NSE) are now available. In 2024, students from the Faculty of Humanities were satisfied across the board. The expertise of lecturers was rated particularly positively.

The importance of a healthy lifestyle does not receive the attention it deserves, as the coronavirus pandemic made painfully clear. Twelve behavioural scientists, including Professor Behavioral Interventions in Population Health Management Marieke Adriaanse and Professor of Health Psychology Andrea…

Organisation

On Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, Mr. Seán Ivory (VU) presented part of his prize-winning research in a lunch talk entitled Let Sleeping Dogs Lie: The Politics of Emotion in the Pamphlets of the De Hondt Affair During the Small Brabant Revolution (1787).

On 6 and 7 December, the third edition of the Closing the Gap conference will be held in The Hague, hosted by EU Cyber Direct.

Organisation

The European Commission sees increased labour migration as a solution to the growing personnel shortages, but the Dutch Labour Inspectorate argues that this is not a tenable business model. Professor of Economics Olaf van Vliet discusses the advantages and disadvantages of labour migration for the economy…