Staff from Leiden University are starting the Dutch universities’ staggered strike against the government cuts on 10 March. Follow the strike in this liveblog.

It is said that robots replace human interaction, but not always. This spring, the robots were the reason why the eLaw Center for Law and Digital Technologies at Leiden University in the Netherlands and Mykolas Romeris University (MRU) Law School in Lithuania got together.

NWO (the Dutch Research Council) has granted more than 10 million euros for five human-centered AI research projects (2.1M€ each). Leiden University participates in two of these five research proposals, which are called ELSA labs.

Associate professor Salvador Santino Regilme spoke in various media outlets about the tensions between the United States and Venezuela.

Associate professor Eric Storm’s book on nationalism has been reviewed in two Spanish newspapers. Three newspaper published interviews with Storm.

In an article for The Conversation, university lecturer Andrew Gawthorpe explains how the shooting of nurse Alex Pretti has affected the pro-gun lobby, the National Rifle Association (NRA).

On Europe Day (9 May), we celebrate the creation of the European Union. How well do you know the EU? Take part in our quiz on unexpected and interesting facts about Europe, compiled by our experts. Have fun!

University lecturer Andrew Gawthorpe wrote two articles for the Conversation about Trump’s politics.

The university bid farewell to its Rector Magnificus, Hester Bijl, on 13 January during the ‘Hester’s Highlights’ symposium.

Pre-University College The Hague is celebrating its fifth anniversary in 2024-2025. Three alumni look back on their experience. PRE broadened their academic horizons and taught them a lot about themselves. ‘PRE made me feel more comfortable at university'.

From cities that sometimes deviate from national foreign policy to the direct influence of geopolitics on local developments, PhD candidate Pieter Jeroense, director of VNG International, examined seventy years of the internationalisation of Dutch municipalities and observed notable trends.

In a topping out ceremony on Thursday 30 January, the new sports centre celebrated reaching its highest point and looked ahead to the future. The university will have a spacious and sustainable sports building by the start of 2026.

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…

Collaborating in drug discovery and health research was the goal of a visit to the Leiden Bio Science Park on 14 May by a Swedish delegation including His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustav of Sweden. The delegation visited Leiden University’s Faculty of Science.

The teams that will lead the themes guiding Leiden University’s strategic positioning in the coming years have been formed.

Carlotta Rigotti, Postdoc researcher at eLaw, was invited by Conventry University to join a roundtable on policy approaches to address online and technology-facilitated violence.

Leiden University Libraries (UBL) recently issued a new collection policy plan, containing priorities for the coming years regarding the formation, management, availability, and use of the UBL collection.

Eighteen of the 150 newly elected Dutch MPs studied at Leiden University or did their PhD research there. Who are they and what did they study?

Facility

The annual commemoration of the nation’s war dead on Dam Square and at Waalsdorpervlakte, the Dutch apologies for historical slavery and the Cleveringa Lecture itself: our relationship with history is often ritualistic, Cleveringa Professor Frank van Vree will say in his inaugural lecture on 27 Nove…

Generative AI presents journalists with new options for image use but also raises ethical questions.

Sometimes fascination can lead to in-depth research. Such is the case with Wahyu Widodo, who came across the Islamic Walikutuban ritual in Java in 2019, on which he subsequently wrote his PhD dissertation. Widodo: ‘Besides community, it also breeds political loyalty’

The lecture halls in the Lipsius were full of curious secondary school students in January. During a special profile selection afternoon, they were introduced to the faculty and language studies. ‘I had no idea that Hebrew and Arabic were similar.’

Lecture, China Seminar

Professor Sjef Barbiers is leaving his job as scientific director of LUCL for the position of scientific director of the Institute for the Dutch Language (INT) from 1 September.

Eduard Fosch-Villaronga from Leiden University has been awarded a Starting Grant by the European Research Council (ERC). This grant of 1.5m euros enables talented early-career scholars to start their own pioneer project, lead a research team, and implement their best ideas at the frontiers of their…

Seven interdisciplinary projects involving Leiden University academics have been awarded up to €27,000 in seed funding. They will work with Una Europa alliance partners to advance topics including academic freedom, AI in the humanities, sustainable mining and maternal health care.

How many children are born with the help of a surrogate mother in the Netherlands, and which legal obstacles can arise? Through a new interdisciplinary study, researchers at Leiden University are attempting to provide clarity about surrogacy processes.

For the eleventh time in a row, Leiden University’s unique liberal arts and sciences programme has been awarded the ‘Top Rated Programme’ quality seal by Keuzegids universiteiten 2024.

Professor Ian Lilley, the Faculty of Archaeology’s Willem Willems Chair in Archaeological Heritage, was invited by Her Excellency Mrs. Marion Derckx, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Australia, to present the 2022 commemoration speech for Netherlands Memorial Day on May 4th at the Netherlands-Australia…

Giles Scott-Smith is the new dean of LUC (Leiden University College) in The Hague. He succeeds Judi Mesman and starts on 1 July. Scott-Smith: ‘Joining LUC as Dean is a serious honour, and I follow in the footsteps of three Deans who I respect and admire.’

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

In the Digital Humanities Lab, students and staff can make use of various technical facilities. PhD student Caeso tells us more about his experiences with the printer in the Maker Space.

In May 2022 Lennart Kruijer succesfully defended his PhD, which he wrote as a member of the VICI Project ‘Innovating Objects’, led by prof. Miguel John Versluys. So succesfully, in fact, that he was awarded the Cum Laude honors. Just a short time later he was awarded a grant and a fellowship to further…

On 29 September 2023, Carlotta Rigotti and Eduard Fosch-Villaronga participated in the Lawtomation Days at the IE University. They presented the preliminary findings of desk and empirical research on fairness of AI applications in the labour market that had been conducted for the Horizon Europe BIAS…

PhD defence

Lecture

Amid the many traditions of Leiden’s 3 October Festival, a relative newcomer is beginning to take hold: the Science Market. At market stalls, the people of Leiden could explore or even participate in Leiden’s research – performing an ‘operation’ in the street, for example.

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

As of this academic year, all our faculties will be using the same platform for digital assessment: Ans. While this platform is already familiar in many faculties, it will be new for the staff and students of Social & Behavioural Sciences (from 1 September) and Humanities (from 1 February), as they…

An impressive 22 research projects by Leiden researchers have been awarded Veni funding from the Dutch Research Council (NWO).