Young people are more likely to find long texts unappealing to read, particularly with all the digital distractions. To improve young people’s reading skills, Elise Swart and Hannah De Mulder are starting an innovative study to make reading fun again.

We know more together than alone. To increase our university’s impact on the region, we have to be open to the world outside. This is how we strengthen our ties and create new opportunities for teaching and research.

Religious studies specialist and historian Tom-Eric Krijger talks about the new pope. Will he be a mediator or someone who dares to take a stand?

Terrorism is not a successful communication strategy. After an attack, the attention quickly shifts from the terrorists to authorities and citizens. This is what Jeanine de Roy van Zuijdewijn argues in her dissertation: 'The aftermath: meaning-making after terrorist attacks in Western Europe'. ‘A year…

Expert in public affairs and politics Arco Timmermans advised the informer Kim Putters.

Minister Robbert Dijkgraaf (Education, Culture and Science) spoke with lecturers and students from Leiden University at Campus The Hague on 27 October about the impact of the Israel-Hamas war. He wanted to know how the conflict was affecting the academic community. Lecturers and students shared their…

Working towards resilient communities, transparency in science and connecting with the employment market – these are the three key themes being addressed by the departments of Social and Behavioural Sciences at Dutch universities. On 11 February, they presented a joint sector plan to Marcelis Boereboom,…

Petr Steindl works on quantum dots in microcavities for his PhD research. He manipulates single-photons to create complex structures of light. Applications could include quantum communication and gates for quantum computers.

Developmental psychologist Ili Ma has been awarded an ERC grant to investigate misinformation among teenagers, aiming to bolster their resilience against its potentially severe consequences.

When I posted the post below on the LUCSoR Twitter account a few months ago, I didn’t fully realise how aspirational that final sentence would be: ‘raise a toast with us for the next 10 years!’.

Sharing his passion for sustainability with students—that’s what Thijs Bosker enjoys most about his work. As an environmental scientist, he conducts ecotoxicological research, but next to this he loves teaching. ‘Everyone can make a difference in their own way.’

Between 6 and 9 June, you’ll be able to vote in the European elections. But what can you expect from these elections? What are the most important topics on the European agenda? And why should you even vote? Students from the European Law master’s specialisation explain.

As a woman, working in Japan and Korea can be pretty tough, Yorum Beekman discovered. It prompted her to pursue a PhD on the subject: ‘I thought: hey, that’s interesting!’

The Night of Discoveries will take place on 20 September in the area around Hortus botanicus Leiden, the Old Observatory, Pieterkserk, the Academy Building, Old School, the Faculty Club and the PJ Veth Building.

Astronomers led by Leiden PhD candidate Richelle van Capelleveen have, for the first time, discovered an exoplanet that has carved a bright gap in the protoplanetary disc around its star. This rare observation provides new insights into how young planets shape their surroundings.

A consortium led by Leiden University has been awarded 6.75 million euros to research traumascapes: physical places associated with collective trauma and loss. The research team aims to make these places more visible, accessible and inclusive.

‘Let us not forget the power of genuine engagement,’ dean Sarah de Rijcke stressed at the New Year's Reception on 7 January 2025, which was also attended by Rector Magnificus Hester Bijl and addressed the Faculty of Social Sciences.

In less than a week’s time, millions of Turkish people are going to decide who will govern their country for the next five years. These elections promise to be the most closely contested in years, with the opinion polls showing very small differences and everything at stake, including for Europe. Alp…

Just a few years ago, jihadist terrorism was seen as Europe’s most pressing threat. Today, we are facing hybrid warfare and extremist groups that are undermining our safety from within. Bart Schuurman, Professor of Terrorism and Political Violence, calls for a different kind of research.

On Friday 29 August 2025, 370 students received their Bachelor's degree in International Studies. The diplomas were awarded in the historic setting of the Pieterskerk in Leiden. Family members, friends, and staff gathered to celebrate this joyous occasion with the graduates in a packed Pieterskerk.

How can the academic world best handle the new political reality in the United States? This is the question that managers, lecturers, researchers and students at Leiden University discussed on Friday afternoon at a gathering in the Kamerlingh Onnes building. ‘Don’t just give in; defend academic free…

Hanne Cuyckens, Michiel Dam, Anja van der Voort, Daan Weggemans and Paul Gobée have joined the Leiden University Teachers’ Academy. Lecturers from the academy can exchange experiences, develop themselves and share their knowledge and expertise with the rest of the university, for example through the…

Jasper Knoester is the dean of the Faculty of Science. Normally Jasper looks back on a day in his life, but in the last newsletter of the year he does it a little differently....

Organisation

When you think of physics, do you think only of complicated formulas? You’re not the only one. Therefore, every year, the Leiden Insitute of Physics organises the LION Image Award to show another side of physics: beautiful images about intriguing science. The winner of the 2022 photo competition captured…

You might take photos and selfies with your phone's camera, or scan a QR code. But there is much more you can do with it. Astronomer Olivier Burggraaff developed a phone attachment that allows you to take measurements of surface water with your smartphone. He will receive his PhD on 13 December.

For a long time, Thijs Bosker was an average student, until he discovered how exciting learning becomes when there are no ready-made answers. To his students, he passes on one key message: hope is the driving force that keeps us moving forward. They nominated him as Lecturer of the Year.

More than half of our staff took our Employee Experience Survey last spring. We shared the initial findings at the start of July, and since then we’ve taken a closer look at the results and how best to act on them. For Vice-President of the Executive Board Timo Kos, the next steps are clear.

Helping industry to spot dangerous and climate-harming gas leaks faster, cheaper, and more reliably than today’s tools: that's what Leiden University and BigCircle Ventures set out do in a new spin-off company.

Leiden Law Cast is a podcast made by Leiden Law School, Leiden University, for everyone who wants to learn more about current legal issues.

Leiden Law Cast is a podcast made by Leiden Law School, Leiden University, for everyone who wants to learn more about current legal issues.

Leiden Law Cast is a podcast made by Leiden Law School, Leiden University, for everyone who wants to learn more about current legal issues.

Inaugural lecture

Personal development

The nominees for the IRO Thesis Prize 2024 and the Prof. Dr. J.Th.J. van den Berg-prijs 2024. Who authored the best thesis in Leiden University’s bachelor’s programme in Political Science?

Ionica Smeets is planning to give the prize money that she won with the Iris Medal, a prize for excellent science communication, to student projects.

The tenth International Conference on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) and the Pacific will be a special edition with a focus on reconciliation. The fatal shooting in 1722 will be remembered, when the Dutch shot and killed ten Easter Islanders. The conference will be held in Leiden from 19 to 24 June.

A star does not just appear in the sky overnight. Its creation takes tens of thousands of years. Twenty years ago, astronomers took a picture of a star in its birth phase. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) could now capture that same star in much greater detail. This does not only provide beautiful…

Joris Larik has been appointed Director of Education at Leiden University College The Hague (LUC). The timing is perfect: this year marks his tenth anniversary at LUC. After a decade full of experiences and challenges, he now looks ahead. ‘How do we keep innovating?’

On Monday, 13 October, Jasper will travel to Brussels with a delegation from Key Region Leiden. Why is this collaboration important? And who will he be having dinner with that same evening in Voorschoten? Jasper shares his account of a long and interesting Monday.

Why is water wet? What is ADHD? In De Hoe?Zo! Show, curious 9-and-10-year-olds get answers to their questions. PhD candidates take to the stage to demonstrate just how exciting science can be while enhancing their own communication skills at the same time.

Simulations of galaxy formation provide much more information about galaxies than a telescope. Simulations have been improving significantly in recent years. Astronomer Evgenii Chaikin made such a significant contribution to this field that he graduated with honours on February 27th.

Fat is a very valuable food component, packed with calories, especially important when other resources might be scarce. Our earliest ancestors in Africa already cracked open bones to extract the fatty marrow from bone cavities. But now a new study published in Science Advances demonstrates that our…

‘I could hardly believe my ears when I heard that we had been awarded the Gravitation grant,’ says Berna Güroğlu, professor of the Neuroscience of Social Relations. This grant is awarded by the state, via NWO, to pioneering scientific top research. In terms of grants, this really is something special,…

Sacrificing yourself for the greater good: in China, martyrdom and hero worship have been strongly encouraged by the Communist Party for the past decade or so. University lecturer Vincent Chang tells us more about this far-reaching development.

If an echo (or ultrasound) shows that a foetus has a heart or other defect, parents face difficult decisions. Then an idea of their child’s shorter and longer-term future is literally a matter of life and death. Haak will argue in her inaugural lecture that the cohort studies of rare diseases that are…

Professor Joanita Vroom, together with the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome (KNIR) offered the course Byzantine Rome in September 2023. The course, co-taught by Vroom, Letty ten Harkel and various guest lecturers, investigated the transition of the city of Rome from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages,…

Jasper Knoester is the dean of the Faculty of Science. How is he doing? What kinds of things is he doing and what does his day look like? In each newsletter Jasper gives a peek into his life as dean.

When Jeanette Wagenaar read Simone van der Vlugt's De amulet (The Amulet) at the age of eleven, she decided that she too wanted to write a historical novel one day. Thirty years later, Gooilust, about Louise Blaauw-Six, has now been published.