Science thrives on freedom, safety, and stability. But what if these prerequisites are lacking? What if colleagues beyond our borders are threatened, persecuted or forced to flee?

Protest is a human right and an important way to hold the authorities to account. But how does the right to protest relate to academic freedom and the right to education?

From street harassment to coercive control: gender-based violence has many faces. University Lecturer Mischa Dekker has studied street harassment in the Netherlands and France, and supports institutions and organisations in embedding structural change.

Simone van der Hof is a member of the Comparison Committee set up as part of the Online Content Moderation Project (PrOCoM).

Lecture, LUCIS What's New?! Series

The Aernout van Lynden Global Citizenship Award award is a recognition given by the LUC community. Each year a student who has demonstrated the qualities of active engagement, responsive and responsible participation in civic and/or community building, within and/or beyond LUC is presented with the…

From malaria parasites as a vaccine to how top-level bureaucrats reach their decisions: seven researchers from Leiden University have received a Vidi grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO). This 800,000-euro grant will enable them to develop their own innovative line of research over the next five…

Ever since its foundation, Leiden University has turned its gaze outwards to other cultures, languages and forms of academic practice. It is only natural, therefore, that we as a university have four institutes abroad: the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV-KNAW)…

As of 12 Januari 2026, the FSW faculty building is called Agora. This name was chosen by the FSW community. In ancient Greece, the agora was the heart of the city: a place for meeting, dialogue and the exchange of ideas. This is exactly how we see our faculty building: an open space where knowledge,…

Ramsey Albers wins Political Science Master’s Thesis Prize 2022

Leiden University is publishing a list giving an overview of its research collaborations with the fossil fuel industry.

A new treatment for atherosclerosis showed promising results in isolated cells but proved to be less effective in initial animal tests. Bachelor student Biopharmaceutical Sciences Willemijn van der Heijden aimed to understand why. She investigated whether the formation of a protein layer around the…

Women confined to the kitchen? Not in Scheveningen around 1900. There, some women ran entire shipping companies. This is according to new research by history student Sjors Stuurman. He compiled the results in a book he wrote for Muzee Scheveningen.

Sense Jan van der Molen is vanaf 1 maart de nieuwe wetenschappelijk directeur van het Leiden Instituut voor Onderzoek in de Natuurkunde.

Pandemics, terrorist attacks, environmental disasters... These are real threats, which we cannot ignore. In fact: we need to prepare better for the large-scale crises of the future. Preferably in a way that suits our lifestyle and respects our social values. Over the next ten years, an interdisciplinary…

It is a full classroom: more than 30 pupils from 5 and 6 vwo are present to listen to political scientist Leila Demarest's lecture. She gives a brief introduction on the topic she is about to discuss: democracy in the global North and South. At first, the group seems a bit quiet, but when she asks questions…

From documentaries, zines and exhibitions to a video installation. Students of the Visual Ethnography master's programme pulled out all the stops to finish their studies in a fantastic way. For one year, the 23 students worked on their own multimedia projects. The screening of the projects took place…

PhD candidate Ludwig Hoffmann will spend two years at Harvard University in the US thanks to a Rubicon grant he won on April 11. Using theoretical models he studies biological tissues, for example during morphogenesis. This is the process that causes tissue or organisms to develop their shape. ‘This…

What is the state of democracy in developing and transition countries in 2024? Terrible, according to the BTI Transformation Index.

Universitair docent Klinische Psychologie Laura Steenbergen ontvangt een donatie van Stichting Klei & Zand om onderzoek te doen naar de microbiota-darm-brein-as: hoe de werking van de darmflora samenhangt met emotioneel welzijn. Zo’n persoonlijke donatie biedt, in tegenstelling tot aangevraagde subsidies,…

Islamic banking, freedom of religion, LGBTQ+ acceptance and education are topics that European Muslims find important for their future. These are the results of a survey by Professor of Islam and the West, Maurits Berger. The survey is the starting point of a citizen project in which Berger wants to…

Who doesn't love to turn on a horror film on a rainy evening? Fortunately, it is only fiction - or is it? According to university lecturer Evert Jan van Leeuwen, modern horror says more about our society than we think. He has been nominated for the Klokhuis Science Prize for his research into addiction…

Climate action is often framed as urgent and necessary. But on the ground, it can also unsettle lives in unexpected ways. LUC researcher Bernardo Almeida explores in his VENI research, sponsored by NWO, what happens on land rights of vulnerable groups when climate responses meet fragile governance s…

A wind turbine near your home? The energy transition is not seen as just by all parties concerned. It’s essential to involve local residents, argues Emma ter Mors, social psychologist. As a researcher, she focuses on identifying factors that influence public acceptance of energy technologies. Isn't…

Leiden University College The Hague (LUC) has received a bronze medal in Elsevier’s Beste Studies 2022 (Best Study Programmes 2022). This means that both the student satisfaction regarding the quality of the programme and the programme’s performance have scored above average. Each year, Dutch news magazine…

eLaw - Center for Law and Digital Technologies, is well represented at a number of activities in Leiden this week concerning Technology and Society!

To what extent can Parliament limit freedom with the so-called 2G policy? Associate Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law Ingrid Leijten of Leiden University discussed this topic on NOS Nieuws en Co.

AI can help in the online detection of hate speech, but whether the technology would always make the right choices is debatable. Students Tofigh Hasen Nezhad Nisi (Tax Law) and Terra Rolfe (Governance, Economics and Development, LUC) published an article on this topic in Leiden Science Magazine. In…

Human resources

Australia wants to introduce a law that makes it possible to demand the identity of anonymous internet trolls. Is this be conceivable in the Netherlands?

On Wednesday 6 March, eLaw - Center for Law and Digital Technologies will be hosting Professor Margot Kaminski, an eminent scholar from Colorado Law School, for a research morning on her new paper on Participatory Data Governance, co-authored with Dr Gianclaudio Malgieri, Associate Professor at eL…

Dimiter Toshkov, Associate Professor at Leiden University, told CGTN Europe that the Dutch election outcome reflects growing support for pragmatic and pro-European politics. He highlights D66’s focus on education, climate policy and European cooperation as key to its strong performance.

Climate change affects our well-being in many ways. On the science platform The Conversation, Inge Schrijver, Paul Behrens and Rutger Hoekstra of the CML describe how this is hardly taken into account in the climate models on which global policy is based.

2025 was a year full of impact and milestones for FGGA: From a record number of graduates and new programmes to international collaborations, prestigious awards and research that pushes boundaries and provides insight into current challenges.

Panel discussion

From one year to the next, face masks have started to appear in the environment. As the masks are discarded, they end up in the top soil, in sediment layers, and in refuse heaps. In a couple of generations archaeologists will study the layer that has already been labeled the Face Mask Horizon. Current…

Three years on, and interest in Ukraine certainly hasn't waned. The auditorium at the Wijnhaven location was fully booked on Monday. Hundreds of people, including top military brass, listened to Defence Minister Brekelmans' speech. He pointed out to them: 'Here in the Netherlands, we're now living in…

Leiden University is announcing its approach for sensitive collaboration with external partners. This has been prompted by the ongoing, troubling situation in the Middle East and the recent advice from the Committee on Human Rights and Conflict Areas regarding current collaboration with Israeli part…

Bullying, abuse or a difficult divorce: many young people struggle with mental health problems after traumatic experiences. But why do some suffer much more than others? This is the question that Hannah Dorsman is exploring within the THRIVE project.

‘Een goed gesprek begint met iemand écht zien.’ (A good conversation starts with truly seeing someone). That text is written on a plaque that was screwed onto a IK Z1E J3 (I see you) bench on the Wijnhaven Rooftop Garden on Monday morning. The bench acts as a symbol to create room for discussions about…

In Spring 2023, Leiden University’s Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs (FGGA) launched a new Honours Class ‘Model European Union Simulation: Policies, Negotiations and Transatlantic Experiential Learning’.

Het asielbeleid blijft een hoofdpijndossier voor het kabinet. Een akkoord zou bereikt zijn waarin iedere partij een kleine concessie zou doen. De VVD gaat uiteindelijk toch niet akkoord met deze nieuwe asielwet die gemeentes kan dwingen om asielzoekers op te vangen. De VVD fractie heeft moeite met ‘dwang’…

JUSTREMIT and the Institute of Security and Global Affairs at Leiden University will host a conference on 12 and 13 October on Global Regulatory Regimes and Remittances. invite paper and panel proposals for consideration for the third JUSTREMIT Conference. Academics, practitioners from the regulatory…

Cristina Del Real, Assistant Professor in Cyber Crisis at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, participated in the presentation of the Office of Science and Technology (OficinaC) of the Spanish Congress of Deputies (the Spanish Parliament). She is an expert on cyber security, one of the four…

‘Wadden Sea Sounds’ is the name of a new project launched by the Waddenvereniging in collaboration with researchers from Leiden University and the University of Groningen. The aim is to find out how underwater noise affects marine life in the Wadden Sea.

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.