Lecture, Conversation

On Tuesday 30 September 2025, PhD candidate Kathleen Brown will defend her dissertation 'Deception, Risk, and Evasion: The Politics of Sovereign Debt in Emerging Markets' in Leiden’s Academy Building. Her research sheds light on the hidden world of sovereign debt politics, revealing how governments…

The LUCAS Dissertation Prize has been awarded to Dr. Renske Janssen for her PhD thesis Religio Illicita? Roman Legal Interactions with Early Christianity in Context.

It is crucial that Leiden University reflects on its colonial history. These were the words of Cleveringa Professor Gert Oostindie in his inaugural lecture on 24 November. ‘As a university community, we must dare to hold up a mirror to ourselves and, where possible and necessary, also take concrete…

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…

On 8 March, International Women’s Day, equal opportunities for women worldwide, empowerment, and gender equality take centre stage. For years, the role of women in the past has been nearly invisible. Four archaeologists reflect on this inequality of focus, from hunter-gatherers in the palaeolithic to…

From assistance in the event of natural disasters to peace-keeping missions. As a communication adviser, Leonoor van Poelgeest goes to all those destinations where the Royal Navy are active. Why did she choose this work and how has her Public Administration study helped her?

The outbreak of coronavirus has radically changed our life and work. We have had to work, teach and conduct research from home. How has coronavirus changed your work? What do you miss most? And what is keeping you going? We asked a few colleagues.

As I cycle to work in the morning, along Rapenburg to the Huizinga Building, I sometimes stop and dismount. The early morning silence and the rising sun that casts a spotlight on the Academy Building can be enchanting. On those days, I use the moment to take a photograph. I already have quite a collection.…

From the energy transition in Namibia to sustainable jobs for young Nigerians, from African cookbooks to vodcasts on vintage Swahili booklets: during a recent visit by the Executive Board, staff from the African Studies Centre Leiden and the African Library presented their research, teaching and acquisition…

It’s not healthy but we often do it anyway: sit hunched at our computer for hours on end. But exercising and relaxing at work doesn’t have to be complicated. These staff members have come up with fun and easy ways to help their colleagues stay fit and healthy. ‘You don’t need sportswear and won’t end…

On Tuesday 12 April Angus Mol and Aris Politopoulos have been awarded the fourth LUCAS Publieksprijs.

During Leiden City of Science 2022, Janet Grijzenhout and Hannah De Mulder will put multilingualism in the spotlight by organising multilingual storytelling afternoons. They hope to show parents that raising children multilingually is achievable as well as beneficial.

After two years of corona restrictions, it was ‘back to normal’ in 2022. Migration, elections, the history of slavery, Russia, and Ukraine were much-discussed topics. We compiled an overview of the most-read news items and other events of the past year.

Dutch greenhouse horticulture is a world leader when it comes to innovative capacity and sustainability, but ‘the challenges are great in terms of energy, water, environment and biodiversity,’ says Peter van Bodegom, coordinator of AgriFood at the Centre for Sustainability of the Leiden, Delft, Erasmus…

How do you co-create with researchers in other parts of the world? LDE wants to gather and share knowledge on the grand challenges and to do so across national borders. A delegation of 27 researchers will therefore travel to Indonesia at the end of October to take part in the LDE-BRIN Academy.

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.

Rector Magnificus Carel Stolker will retire on 8 February. If there’s one theme running through his career, it’s the links between the University and society. In this series of pre-retirement discussions, Stolker will talk one last time to people from within and without the University. This edition…

What do you derive your self-esteem from? Not a question you would quickly expect in a course on leadership. Lecturer Michel Don Michaloliákos opted for a unique approach to 'A Taste of Leadership', an Honours course with introspection as its core theme.

Meijerslezing, Meijersprijzen en Van Wersch springplankprijs en Nieuwjaarsreceptie 2024

In the ‘Educatips’ column, psychology lecturers share their most important insights on teaching. This month: Anouk van der Weiden, together with a team of colleagues and students, developed a module on critical reading, application, and writing. 'Students often think: who am I to criticise a published…

The fall of the Schoof cabinet comes as no surprise to Arco Timmermans, an expert in public affairs. Over a year ago, he advised informateur Kim Putters and already pointed out that a workable cabinet would only be possible if the parties took responsibility.

What can you do about sustainability in your immediate living environment? On Thursday afternoon, April 14, the Museum Volkenkunde in Leiden was filled with policymakers, researchers, entrepreneurs, citizens, students, and even the mayor of Leiden. Leiden University and the Association of Dutch Municipalities…

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.

For some it will sound like music to their ears, but for others is may sound less appealing: now the advice on working from home has changed, we can once again go to the office. After a period of working from home, which for some lasted almost two years (with maybe a short break), it can be a big transition.…

Sinéad Mulcahy recently started the Europaeum Scholars Programme, a two-year policy and leadership course for a group of thirty talented and committed PhD candidates from universities across Europe. She is already enthusiastic – both about the programme and her fellow scholars. ‘I would like to bring…

What can opera tell us about societies in the past and present? Leiden honours students went looking for an answer, together with students from the Dutch National Opera Academy. A final concert was, of course, part of the repertoire.

It poured down when Alexander Gallo received his diploma from West Point Military Academy. A bad sign, people said back then. It was June 2001, three months before 9/11. The now 46-year-old American fought in Iraq, did research in Afghanistan and stands in Leiden today, defending his dissertation on…

Dear colleagues and students,

‘The climate crisis is the greatest threat we face,’ says Leiden University environmental scientist Paul Behrens. ‘And yet, there is hope. In the near future, I think we will wonder why we didn’t make these changes earlier.’

AI is already widely being used in HR processes, but it’s unclear whether these applications contribute to fair and inclusive decision making. Leiden researcher Carlotta Rigotti is involved in BIAS, a big consortium research project that aims to provide answers and develop a new, trustworthy AI app…

Dr Amanda Henry has secured a prestigious Vici grant for her groundbreaking research project, Hominin FoodWays: Changing Diet and Food Processing Across Climate Frontiers. This five-year study, set to begin in September, aims to unravel the dietary adaptations of Eurasian hominins between 1.8 and 0.9…

At the Faculty of Science, forty per cent of the employees are of a non-Dutch nationality. Amongst PhDs that is even sixty per cent. How are they doing in a time of working at home in a different culture, when travelling is not possible? Clinical pharmacologist Lu Chen is the third in this series to…

Organisations like the UN and the EU should be given more powers to combat transboundary problems. This is the message of a report published by the Swedish SNS Democracy Council, whose authors include Prof. Jan Aart Scholte of Leiden University. The researchers also wrote the following article.

‘Teaching is not merely a profession; it’s a calling.’ These were the words of Ayo Adedokun on winning the LUS Teaching Prize at the opening of the academic year on 6 September. The prize is for the best lecturer of the year.

Should we ban snack bars from neighbourhoods where residents are overweight or have diabetes? At the Common Sense about Health knowledge festival, scientists, civil servants and other professionals discussed how South Holland can become healthier. The Healthy Society Map makes it clear where there are…

Young Academy Leiden (YAL) will change its board this month and welcome six new members. Outgoing chair Rachel Plak and incoming chair Ahmed Mahfouz talk about what the platform has achieved for young academics over the past year and what the plans are for the future.

Did you also read a lot this summer? We made some real headway on our bookshelves. After all, nothing beats reading a beautiful or thrilling book outside. In this reading list, you'll find our favourite books for the summer of 2022. If you have any suggestions, let us know via Twitter, Facebook or I…

The LUCAS Impact Committee, consisting of Jan van Dijkhuizen, Rick Honings, Casper de Jonge, Angus Mol, Thijs Porck and Aafje de Roest, has offered this year’s LUCAS Public Engagement Award to Dorine Schellens and Peter Verstraten.

Jyothi Thrivikraman set up a Virtual International Collaboration project with a university in Myanmar.

What does a student member of the Faculty Council do? What is it like to be a member of this representative body and how useful is it to be a member? Students Rassoul Coelen (FC 2020-2021 and presently member of the University Council) and Max Garcia Hoogland (FR 2021-2022) talk to us about their experiences.…

From a queer art exhibition to a podcast about people with disabilities, the JEDI Fund this year again honored several projects that contribute to diversity and inclusion.

Lotte van Dillen has every confidence in the Executive Board of new-style Institute Psychology. ‘If we work on the basis of everyone’s good intentions, we’re going to do great.’ If you lack confidence, you’re not the kind of person to jump on your bike and go off to Sicily. Want to find out more about…

Photographer and Visual Ethnography alumna Wilke Geurds captured special encounters during her travels. As an anthropologist, Wilke is always curious about other countries, people and cultural customs. That curiosity forms the core of her new photo exhibition, which can be seen during the Kunstroute…

On a sunny Lammermarkt, thousands of new students gathered to kick off their student life in Leiden at the 56th edition of EL CID.

Ustadh Mau Digital Archive project (UMADA) is among the UCLA Library 29 international cultural preservation projects supported by the Modern Endagered Archive Program (Cohort 3). From the 3rd up to the 5th of October, a digitization training workshop took place on Lamu island, on the so-called northern…

How do you set up a successful collaboration between science and practice? That was the main theme of the final meeting of a triptych of symposia on how Leiden University can improve inter- and transdisciplinary collaboration.

In hun klinische stage leren Psychologiestudenten mentale steun bieden aan anderen, maar hoe zorgen zij als toekomstige therapeut ook voor zichzelf? Met video’s, podcasts en een panel wil Kelly Ziemer haar studenten de nodige zelfzorg-skills bijbrengen.

For people who are seriously ill, an empathetic doctor can make a world of difference. Psychologist Janine Westendorp examined helpful and harmful communication in the consulting room. ‘It’s very important to stress that you are always there supporting the person, even if there’s no cure.’