De Volkskrant has a guest columnist every month who writes a column for the website on Sundays. eLaw PhD student Danny Mekić was asked by de Volkskrant to be guest columnist for the month of January.

PhD defence

Leiden University is introducing 15 interfaculty themes to improve its visibility and strategic positioning. These themes can now be found on our website.

Tijdens Leiden Revisited kregen alumni van de Rechtenfaculteit de mogelijkheid om zich weer even echt student te voelen. Dit jaar vond het evenement namelijk plaats in de (oude) vertrouwde collegebanken van het Kamerlingh Onnes Gebouw.

Organisation, Human resources

Ingrid van Engelshoven, outgoing Minister of Education, Culture and Science (OCW), has appointed Robine de Lange-Tegelaar to the Board of Governors of Leiden University.

Community Meet-up & Networking

Professor Sarah de Rijcke will become the new Rector Magnificus on the Executive Board of Leiden University on 15 January 2026. She will succeed Professor Hester Bijl, who will become Rector Magnificus at Delft University of Technology.

Tycho de Graaf has been appointed Professor of Technology and Private Law at Leiden University as of 1 June 2022.

Inaugural lecture

Community Meet-up & Networking

On 4 May, Leiden University remembered the victims of the Second World War from our university community. Alumni, students and present and former staff of the University came together for this Hour of Remembrance.

Wat kun je als burger doen wanneer de overheid je persoonsgegevens gebruikt en daarmee besluiten neemt waar je het niet mee eens bent? Fatma Çapkurt promoveerde op een onderzoek hiernaar. Burgers moeten verwerking van hun gegevens beter kunnen beoordelen.

Can politicians say whatever they want? What is the limit and when can the Public Prosecution Service act? PhD candidate Jip Stam examined the limits of free speech in criminal law. 'Intervening too soon can threaten democracy and the rule of law,' he warns.

Conference

For the first time, a court has ordered a company to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions. Lawyers see it as a landmark ruling that will have far-reaching consequences for Shell and possibly also other similar companies.

The exhibition Leiden celebrates – 450 years of parades at Museum De Lakenhal shows how parades and society have changed through the centuries. Alumnus and historian Danielle van Goethem worked on the exhibition. She gives a preview.

All partnerships between Leiden and international partner universities are managed in a central database.

Lecture

Course

The Dutch asylum application centre in Ter Apel is overburdened, an issue that is currently a prominent feature in the Dutch media. In podcast De Verbranders, PhD students Neske Baerwaldt and Wiebe Ruijtenberg engage in dialogue, and use different angles to examine themes related to migration, borders…

Voormalig demissionair staatssecretaris van Fiscaliteit en Belastingdienst Marnix van Rij gaf op 17 juni in samenwerking met universitair docent Esther Huiskers-Stoop een gastcollege over belastingrecht en duurzaamheid. Deze lezing werd op initiatief van student Darya de Wilt georganiseerd.

The Pre-PhD Programme offers master’s students the chance to gain research experience. ‘The programme helps you discover if doing research is something for you’, says Bastiaan Ganzen, the programme’s Academic Coordinator.

Het National Ocean Decade Committee heeft twee nieuwe leden benoemd van de Universiteit Leiden. Hilde Woker en Renate Reitsma zullen zich als leden van dit comité inzetten om het het belang van oceaanwetenschappen te promoten.

Gaan vaders minder werken als andere vaders dat ook doen? Helpt betaald ouderschapsverlof hen om meer op te pakken in het huishouden? Hoe bepalend zijn sociale normen voor verschillen op de arbeidsmarkt? Onderzoeker Max van Lent gaat het uitzoeken.

At the halfway mark, how should we adjust our strategy to a rapidly changing world? Faculty administrators, academic directors, directors of expertise centres, staff from Administration and Central Services, members of the representative bodies and students assessors met on 6 June to discuss this qu…

Dutch artist and visionary David Humbert de Superville (1770-1849) was the founder and first director of the Print Room at Leiden University. An exhibition and symposium are now being organised in his honour. What makes him so remarkable?

De coalitie houdt woensdag en donderdag topoverleg over de koopkrachtdaling van 6,8%. Het kabinet wil deze ongekende koopkrachtval compenseren, maar hoe kan dat effectief en enigszins betaalbaar?

On Monday 28 June 2021, a text based on an interview with Christa Tobler appeared in the Hofvijver (Montesquieu Instituut) on the relationship between the European Union and Switzerland, in particular after the decision of the Swiss Federal Government to refrain from signing an agreement on institutional…

PhD defence

Interest organisations are increasingly taking legal action and that’s a good thing for democracy, says PhD candidate Rowie Stolk. ‘It means that the most vulnerable social groups – including children and refugees, who tend to have a weaker political position – are protected.’

Grotius Dialogue

Our university recently joined the European university alliance Una Europa. Staff from the 11 affiliated universities met in Leiden last week to discuss our collaboration.

On 2 April, the final of the Legal Tech Challenge 2026 took place in the Academy Building of Leiden University. During the final, teams of students pitched their technological solutions to societal challenges.