If you study law, you won’t necessarily end up striding round a law firm in tailor-made suits. Alumnus Harrie Schoffelen certainly hasn’t: he made the conscious decision to follow another path in life. Together with his fiancée he runs a successful food truck on the tropical island of Bonaire. ‘Return…

Public Administration has been around for 40 years, and that deserves to be celebrated. Before the festivities begin, four figures from the Institute of Public Administration reflect on the past years, with one even looking back over the last 25 years. Speaking are: Bernard Steunenberg, Caelesta Braun,…

Annetje Ottow is the first female president of the Executive Board of Leiden University, which means a return to her Alma mater.

Lecture, Food for Thought

From the workload to sustainability: the University Council helps decide on important topics. In the University elections – from 9 to 13 May – you can vote for who will represent you on the Council. Three questions to the three lead candidates of the staff parties: PhDoc, Universitair Belang and Leidse…

The new online diversity and inclusion dossier combines all faculty initiatives on this topic. But what is the situation on diversity and inclusion at Humanities? An interview with Aurelie van ‘t Slot, policy advisor Internationalisation, Diversity and Inclusion.

Leiden University contributed to colonialism and slavery through its research and teaching. And governors and residents of Leiden had an active role in colonial networks. These are the findings of two explorative studies presented on 3 April.

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

In traditional style, 2025 was ushered in at our faculty with the Meijers Lecture followed by the New Year's Reception. On Thursday 16 January 2025, the Meijers Lecture took place in the Lorentz Lecture Hall where the Meijers Prizes and the Van Wersch Springplank Prize were also awarded. At the New…

Student dean Romke Biagioni is committed to help students have an easygoing and pleasant time during their studies. She assists students with disabilities, looks for solutions to problems such as housing issues and counsels students with social or financial problems. For MSc student Computer Science…

On 16 May, three researchers from Leiden University will present their findings on the democratic consequences of decentralisation at a workshop in Leiden. Their research project, Downsize My Democracy?, shows that decentralisation does not automatically lead to a stronger democracy. On the contrary,…

Historians recently started preliminary research on Leiden University’s role in colonialism and historical slavery. Our knowledge about this is too limited and fragmented. They are looking with fresh eyes at Leiden’s archives and collections. An interview with historians Alicia Schrikker and Ligia G…

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.

Guus Heerma van Voss, professor emeritus of labour law, delivered his farewell lecture on 18 October and held a mirror up to his colleagues and himself. Had they done enough to ensure the welfare state keeps up with the times? ‘Did we just stand by and watch?’

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.

On Friday 5 September, to mark our 450th anniversary we celebrated the opening of the faculty year together with the Leiden Revisited alumni event. Combining both annual events was a huge success, especially as staff brought along their family, partner or friends.

Lecture, LUCL Colloquium - Series '24/'25

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.

Amsterdam-based bicycle company VanMoof was declared bankrupt in court this week. The company had been struggling with financial problems for some time and recently closed its doors, causing great concern among customers. Several affected customers whose newly bought or repaired bikes were still being…

Two Leiden legal scholars have been awarded funding from the KNAW pilot fund 'Science communication by scientists: Appreciated!'. The fund supports scientists who have demonstrated a continued commitment to science communication.

Nu belastingsystemen over grenzen gaan, speelt de politiek een steeds grotere rol. Irma Mosquera Valderrama pleit voor een wereldwijd, inclusief systeem.

Organisation

Huiselijk geweld is een ingrijpend probleem in Nederland, met jaarlijkse fatale gevolgen. De impact gaat verder dan alleen de slachtoffers zelf en raakt ook nabestaanden en de samenleving als geheel. Tot nu toe/Momenteel ontbreekt het echter aan een gestructureerde manier om fatale gevallen systematisch…

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…

ICT, Security

Have you considered including the Leiden University Fund in your will?

This academic year, we are welcoming several international students who have started studying at FGGA with a prestigious scholarship. We asked them about their background, their reasons for applying, and the application process. Congratulations to all students who have been awarded a scholarship!

On January 1st Jasper Knoester started as our new dean. How is he finding it? 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.

Medewerkers van de Universiteit Leiden trappen maandag 10 maart de estafettestaking af van de Nederlandse universiteiten tegen de kabinetsbezuinigingen.

The Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC), the Danstem Institute from the University of Copenhagen and the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne have received 300m euros from the Novo Nordisk foundation. The aim of this new international consortium is to bring stem-cell based therapies…

The mission in Uruzgan Province in Afghanistan was a formative experience for Dutch soldiers in which many lessons were learned. But most of those lessons have already been forgotten.

Many children experience trauma and if they are unable to deal with it properly, it can have a huge personal and societal effect. Building resilience in vulnerable children and young people should therefore have the highest priority. This is the message of Anne-Laura van Harmelen, Professor of Brain,…

The inaugural Society for the Study of French History First Book Prize has been awarded to Lewis Wade’s monograph 'Privilege, Economy and State in Old Regime France: Marine Insurance, War and the Atlantic Empire under Louis XIV (Boydell Press, 2023)'.

bachelorstudent Serafine Beugelink ontwikkelt kaartspel over elementaire deeltjes en deeltjesfysica. Ze zet succescol haar eigen bedrijf op.

The Leiden Institute for Area Studies (LIAS) has a new Director of Education. Rint Sybesma was appointed with effect from 1 September. ‘I am looking forward to getting to know the institute even better.’

Innovations only achieve true success when people actually use them. PhD researcher Max van Haastrecht developed a cybersecurity app for small businesses and learned how essential it is to align technology with real-world practice.

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…

This academic year 49 promising international students will start their master’s degree here thanks to a Leiden University Excellence Scholarship (LExS). The students, all from outside the EU, were welcomed in a special ceremony on 5 September. Who are they?

María Gabriela Palacio recently joined the Latin American Studies programme at the Institute for History as University Lecturer in Modern Latin American History. Below, she introduces herself.

A 1K Z1E j3 bench has been in the Huygens building since Thursday. The bench symbolises making suicide, depression and despair negotiable. 'We hope this bench invites people to start the conversation about how they are really doing,' says student wellbeing officer Elly van Laar. 'But it all starts with…

Leiden Mayor Peter Heijkoop visited the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences and the Faculty of Science on Monday,

The city of Leiden is enriched by a dense infrastructure of knowledge institutes, with a uniquely strong focus on health and well-being. This gives Leiden "an extremely good starting position to become the healthiest city in the Netherlands," according to Fleur Spijker (Alderman for Economy, Knowledge,…

The Faculty of Archaeology used to be involved in several excavations in Syria, before the outbreak of civil war made travel to the region impossible. One of these excavations is the one of tell Hammam al-Turkman, which started in 1981. Student Ruben Hartman, together with archaeologist Dr Diederik…

Three students in Elpine de Boer’s class “Practicing Religious Studies” have been working together on a “Leren met de Stad” (“Learning with the City”) project with community centre Morschwijck, located in Leiden. The students were asked by the organization Incluzio to investigate to which extent cultural…

On Tuesday, September 17th, the Dutch king, Willem-Alexander, will present the plans of the new government of the Netherlands. This government’s aspirations, led by the party (PVV) of right-wing nationalist Geert Wilders, are mostly defined by budget cuts. One of the sectors receiving such budget cuts…

Starting 1 January 2023, Matthias Haentjens has been appointed as Professor of Civil Law at Leiden University. His expertise lies in the field of property law, insolvency law, and private international law.

No less than 33 project received a Leiden Kiem grant in 2023. How did they fare? Olga Bogolyubova shares experiences from her project ‘Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Study of Safety and Danger in the Digital World’.