Leiden University offers one full Leiden University Excellence Scholarship (LExS) to an African candidate interested in the two-year Research Master African Studies programme (ResMA AS); thus non-EEA/non-EFTA* applicants. LExS is a prestigious scholarship and includes a fee waiver up until the statutory…

Organisation

Everything is peaceful again in and around the Wijnhaven building at Campus The Hague. Earlier today, the location was the scene of a large pro-Palestinian protest. Lectures were cancelled. In the end, everyone left the building voluntarily.

We hebben 6 van de 9 grenzen overschreden die bepalen of menselijk leven in de komende generaties nog mogelijk is op aarde. Kunnen we het tij nog keren?

Around 1:00 p.m., a group of more than one hundred pro-Palestinian protesters gathered at the The Hague campus. Participants chanted slogans and put up banners. The vast majority of those taking part left the building after a short time. However, a small group refused to leave. Follow updates in this…

The call for the ’26-’27 Kiem grant opens on Monday 30 March. Leiden University staff can apply for 10,000 euros for an interdisciplinary research or teaching initiative. This is the last Kiem round.

Research

Applications for Leiden University’s interdisciplinary Kiem grant have opened. Academic and support staff can apply for a 10,000-euro grant for an interdisciplinary, interfaculty research, teaching or organisational initiative.

Twenty-five passionate lecturers earned their Senior Teaching Qualification (SKO) on Monday 12 January. Five of these lecturers talk about how the SKO has benefitted them and what they think ‘good teaching’ is.

Here you can find questions and answers about the employee experience survey.

The University believes it is important that you are happy in your work. This is why we gauge your opinion with the personnel monitor. We use the results to make improvements that enhance job satisfaction.

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…

Alternative demonstrations were held in Leiden and The Hague on Thursday 14 November after the national protest in Utrecht was cancelled. Leiden University supports these protests, which were organised by WOinActie. Read our live blog of the demonstrations.

Leiden University has had a turbulent week. There have been protests inside and outside our buildings that have evoked reactions, and students and staff have felt unsafe. We want with this message to look back at the past week and look forward to the future. What happened and how do we now want to move…

International collaboration is essential to research and teaching but it also brings risks. Such as sharing sensitive knowledge and technology or foreign interference in research. Rector Hester Bijl explains what staff can do to prevent this.

Revelations about unacceptable behaviour and sexual misconduct in the TV and sporting world have rekindled the public debate about a safe environment. At Leiden University we are coming together to prevent unacceptable behaviour and provide proper care and support for victims. According to President…

How to innovate education? In this series, the Honours Academy highlights examples from their educational testing ground that aim to inspire. Today: the liberating effect of pass/fail and ‘unessays’ at Honours College Law.

Commercial MRI systems cost millions of euros to purchase and require highly trained technicians to operate. Prof. Andrew Webb works on accessible MRI techniques that offer new opportunities in both developed and developing countries. Webb is a professor at the Radiology Department of the LUMC and,…

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Education, Research

Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC), Leiden University and Philips are jointly receiving over 2 million euros from NWO to set up an artificial intelligence (AI) lab. The aim of this lab is to accelerate and improve MRI scans with AI. This is great for patients, and it helps make MRI more accessi…

A bloody civil war has raged for years in the Central African Republic. PhD candidate Crépin Mouguia points out a tragic pattern: young people have been recruited as fighters or soldiers for generations and thus fuel the conflicts.

Dutch politics is becoming increasingly polarised, and forming stable governments seems more difficult than ever. In the heat of the election race, a psychologist and a historian offer cool-headed advice.

Grondstoffen werden vroeger over duizenden kilometers afstand vervoerd. Waarvoor werden ze geruild en waarom sloten mensen in West-Azië zich aan bij deze handelsnetwerken?

How do students start asking more questions on a museum visit? Let them free an Egyptian princess from a sarcophagus! In the minor Living Education Lab, students from TU Delft, Leiden University and Erasmus University Rotterdam designed an escaperoom.

A professor from Leiden University has subjected various colleagues to intimidating and unacceptable behaviour for a longer period. These are the findings of an investigation carried out by the University’s independent Complaints Committee for Unacceptable Behaviour at the request of the Executive Board…

The 50th Top 450 entry has now been published. In the run-up to the university’s 450th anniversary, we are compiling our Top 450. What is your favourite?

This week we can vote in the University elections. The University Council and faculty councils are incredibly important. During the fantastic seminar on 50 years of participation that the University Council recently held, our former Rector Carel Stolker aptly said: ‘Without participation, there would…

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.

The Schoof cabinet has presented its budget. As expected, higher education is facing severe cuts. In the coming period, the Executive Board will regularly look at the consequences of what it deems an irresponsible policy.

Leiden University is a fantastic example of a network university: we create an impact with the city, stakeholders and regional and international partners. The lines of communication are really short and there is a great sense of togetherness. Our good relations with the city have also informed how we…

Human resources

Minister Dijkgraaf (Education, Culture and Science) has appointed Ionica Smeets and Alex Verkade as coordinators of a new national centre for science communication. The centre will foster a dialogue between researches and society and will gather and share expertise to make science communication more…

A memorial stone honouring professor and resistance hero Ben Telders was unveiled on 12 September at the site of the former concentration camp Bergen-Belsen.

By looking at what is different, researchers often discover the special, the unusual. And that has already brought a wealth of highlights – also in Leiden.

Suddenly there they were, the Russian soldiers near the border of Ukraine. Since then, reports of tensions between Russia on the one hand and the United States and Europe on the other have dominated the news. What is going on? An interview with Russia expert André Gerrits.

Organisation, Research

Climate and human rights will again become major issues on the world stage by the end of 2023. The new series of lunch seminars by the interdisciplinary research programme Global Transformations and Governance Challenges (GTGC) seamlessly tie into these events. All Leiden researchers and students are…

Jan Aart Scholte is the first professor on the new Leiden interdisciplinary programme, Global Transformations and Governance Challenges. He researches how to tackle global challenges such as climate change and inequality. Inaugural lecture on 4 February.

Nicky Boer is enrolled in the Educational Master’s Programme in Social Studies/Social Sciences at ICLON, the Leiden University Graduate School of Teaching.

The University's CO2 footprint has once again decreased. This is the conclusion of the 2022 Sustainability Report. The report also concludes that steps have been taken to integrate sustainability into Leiden University education and research.

Teachers have to find a balance between routine and renewal of their teaching repertoire. Eveline de Boer (PhD student at ICLON) investigated how didactic building blocks can help them with this. Defence on June 15.

Portraits that gaze at you and have moving stories to tell: HEAR ME NOW says what usually remains unsaid.

Sleep disorders have a significant influence on our physical and emotional health. Sleep should therefore receive more attention within lifestyle medicine, says Professor Gert Jan Lammers. He will give his inaugural lecture on Friday 20 May entitled: ‘Getting to sleep’.

The University urgently needs IT talent. The ISSC has therefore started a pilot refer-a-friend scheme: if you recommend someone you know for a hard-to-fill IT job and they are hired, you will receive a 1,500-euro (gross) bonus. ‘So hit us with your golden tips,’ says ISSC director Joop van der Born.

As from April 2023 all students at Leiden University, Delft University of Technology and Erasmus University Rotterdam will start using the eduXchange portal to register for a minor.

Leiden University and the LUMC will introduce a new ‘Sustainable Health and Care’ interdisciplinary minor in September. The organisers received support in the form of a Kiem grant. Lead applicant Martijn Sijbom advises new Kiem projects: ‘Work to a deadline.’