In September 2022, Ruben Ros started working at the Institute for History as a PhD candidate. Below he introduces himself!

Organisation

Human resources

A memorable farewell symposium and a royal distinction: Professor Joke Bouwstra could not have completed her career at Leiden with more pleasure. On Friday, 14 June, she received a Royal Honor from Leiden Mayor Peter van der Velden, who appointed Bouwstra as a Knight in the Order of the Dutch Lion for…

How do you count the nanoplastics in your body? Leiden researchers published a method in Nature Protocols today that should make this easier. Important for both environmental and medicine research.

By making use of artificial tax arrangements via the Netherlands and other countries, corporations and wealthy individuals worldwide together manage to avoid paying $472 billion in tax.

Philosophy alumna Naomi Rebekka Boekwijt returns to Leiden University on 20 June to present her latest novel Stemmen (Voices) in Plexus. ‘I wanted to show that things could be done differently in psychiatric care.’

Angry politicians, angry journalists: the initiative of Forum for Democracy politician Gideon van Meijeren during which he secretly filmed a reporter portraying them as a ‘sewer rat’, caused a lot of anger. Where does all this commotion come from? Wouter Hins: ‘Calling a journalist a "sewer rat" is…

What role did inequality play in the past? On Friday 5 December, Master's students in history presented their answers at a conference they organised themselves.

The war between Russia and Ukraine plays out not only physically but also digitally. Van Den Berg, Professor of Cybersecurity Governance at the FGGA, talked about it at several news outlets.

Professor of Machine learning Holger Hoos together with Frank Hutter, Lin Xu and Kevin Leyton-Brown won the prestigious Artificial Intelligence Journal (AIJ) Prominent Paper Award of this year.

In Dutch magazine De Psycholoog, Anne-Laura van Harmelen talks about the use of the term resilience and argues that resilience is concept that needs further explanation.

The Villa Son Sard archaeological project aims to determine the boundaries of the Roman and post-Roman villa at Son Sard on Mallorca. While the team was excavating in the summer of 2023, several news outlets covered the findings.

In Dutch magazine De Psycholoog, Anne-Laura van Harmelen talks about the impact traumatic experiences, especially for those who are growing up.

As South Korean president Moon Jae-in prepares to leave office, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has thanked him for trying to improve relations. Assistant Professor Christopher Green explains in the Calgary Sun what impact North Korea's gesture of goodwill might have.

Economic Anthropologist Erik Bähre talks on the Dutch News Radio Channel BNR about the effects of the Russia-Ukraine grain agreement for African countries.

Roderick Geerts, a PhD candidate of the Faculty of Archaeology in Leiden, takes us on a short journey through the rich history of the Red Sea port of Berenike in Egypt.

In the scientific television programme Atlas, social psychologist and former Cultural Anthropology PhD student Stacey MacDonald talks about her research on Bonaire. She shows how to align different parties to make conservation projects succeed.

Assistant Professor Christopher Green was interviewed on ABC Australia about the recent COVID-19 outbreak in North Korea. Green says that the statistics the isolated country has given are ‘essentially nonsense’.

External PhD Candidate Liselore Tissen was interviewed by Leiden Global about her work, in which she uses 3D printing. Recently she made a copy of a decorative human skill this way.

Erik de Maaker discusses stereotypical narratives of 'isolated communities' like the North Sentinels in De Telegraaf. He calls for a nuanced view by addressing the cultural, ethical, geopolitical and health dimensions behind their isolation.

Nadine Akkerman's book Spycraft, which she co-wrote with historian of science Pete Langman, has garnered top publications, with reviews featured in The Telegraph, Literary Review, The Spectator, History Today, and the Times Literary Supplement.

ICT, Research

Assistant professor Looi van Kessel writes in The Conversation about the passing of drag performer The Vivienne, reflecting on their significance for LGBTQ+ advocacy in Europe.

The Hortus Talks is a podcast series as well as a botanical college tour, recorded in the greenhouse in the middle of the Hortus Amsterdam. The theme of the podcast was plant migration. In this context Anastasia explained the importance of understanding how hunter-gatherers impacted past landscapes…

University lecturer Andrew Gawthorpe of Leiden University reflects in Global News Canada on the global implications of Donald Trump's foreign policy.

A newly opened museum in China appears to be devoted to the origins of the Austronesian-speaking peoples, who some 5000 years ago spread from East Asia across the Pacific, seeding it with a distinctive culture and some 1200 languages. But those displays are also a statement in the long-running dispute…

In an article by the New York Times, cultural heritage law specialist Evelien Campfens discusses the difficulties surrounding the ownership of looted art.

Rafał Matuszewski has been elected Fellow of the Young Academy of Europe (YAE) in recognition of his academic leadership and outstanding scientific achievements in the fields of ancient Greek history and classics.

Assistant professor Daniel Schade of Leiden University was a guest on various German-language media outlets, discussing the state of the Schengen Agreement after 30 years.

A widely publicized research article in Nature Metabolism by scientist from the University of Pittsburgh, suggests a high protein diet which is popular among for instance fitness enthusiasts, may be harmful to the cardiovascular system. National media outlets such as NRC Handelsdagblad and NPO 1 Radio…

If you’ve written a scientific manuscript, there’s a good chance you’re familiar with the app-switching two-step that happens when you copy your data from one program and paste them into another. That time-tested workflow does the job, but it isn’t always the most efficient process. In an article on…

Education

University Lecturer Andrew Gawthorpe discusses on The Conversation how Trump's Greenland proposal overlooks the historical discrimination faced by Indigenous Alaskans.

More than twenty years ago, Hurricane Katrina devastated the southern United States with nearly 1,400 deaths. Due to climate change, the lessons from this disaster are more relevant than ever, but the Trump administration seems to be ignoring them by cutting funding for disaster management. Anthropologist…

In the context of urban challenges, multidisciplinary knowledge adds value. The idea is that urban planners, sociologists, economists, and historians can collectively provide a deeper understanding of what has worked and what hasn't so far. Since 2022, scientists from the University of Indonesia and…

Organisation, Social, Security

All five episodes of the first season of 'Breingeheim' are now available to listen on Spotify. The first season of the podcastseries is about the social contexts of adolescent development and how teens become resilient individuals. In every episode, a new Leiden-based behavioural scientist and an adolescent…

In a closed room in the Van Steenis building, hundreds of boxes are waiting under fluorescent lights for someone to come and see them. The jumble of handwritten and printed labels unveils how often the collection has been reorganized, moved and rearranged. Boxes full of potsherds and pottery, human…

To better prepare our BSc and MSc students for their laboratory education, a team of LACDR education experts and students has recently created > 25 professional interactive video protocols. All videos and corresponding materials are freely available on the website labprep.video: https://www.labprep.…

Next year, Leiden and the surrounding area will be all about science. The Faculty of Science will also play an important role. Therefore, we could really use your help.

In a new blog, Simone van der Hof, Professor of Law and Digital Technology, explains why existing European regulations such as the GDPR, AVMSD, and DSA still fail to adequately protect children from the risks of social media and digital services.

Explore the captivating world of women's football in Morocco through Trouw's insightful report, examining the intersection of Islam, popularity, money, and role models, as emphasized by cultural anthropologist Jasmijn Rana.

Find out how indigenous knowledge contributes to climate solutions. Anthropologist Marja Spierenburg explains in the KlimaatHelpdesk why local insights are essential for effective climate adaptation and how equal collaboration between science and indigenous communities can be achieved.

University Lecturer Bert van Den Berg shares about the recent research by The Greek Philosophical Schools project in Italy. The research sheds new light on the life and death of Plato.

'When taking into account all finds in the Islamic world of this enigmatic vessel, it would perhaps be wise not to restrict this container to merely one function.'

‘It is OK for employees to work flexibly, as long as they spend 40 hours in the office’, said Elon Musk in June 2022. Are we back where we started now that the pandemic is over? What is needed to make flexibility prosper? Helen Pluut is researcher in Organizational Behaviour at Leiden University and…

Museum Jan Cunen in Oss presents the very first retrospective exhibition of the richest graves from the early Iron Age (800-500 BC), including the one of the iconic Lord of Oss. Leiden archaeologist Richard Jansen was guest curator and the exhibition tells the story of the funeral rituals of the local…

Brandon Valeriano (Cato Institute) and Aleydis Nissen (Leiden University) publish an article on the soft power of K-pop in The Diplomat.