In October 2021 the Volkskrant published the article 'Rond de bloedgoudmijnen van Burkina Faso heerst de angst voor terreur' (Around the blood-gold mines of Burkina Faso, the fear of terror rules). In this report Carlijne Vos describes how Burkina Faso is rapidly destabilising. The lucrative gold mines…

Social media are playing a key role in calling for resistance to the corona measures. Online, agreements are made about where and when people will gather to protest. The authorities are not always fully aware of what is happening and cannot just infiltrate, whereas civilians can often easily participate…

In the aftermath of the childcare benefits affair in the Netherlands, the treatment of citizens by public authorities is more often a subject of discussion. This also applies to the period within which citizens can lodge an objection to a government decision.

On 15 November in Brussels, the Brussels Privacy Hub and the Future of Privacy Forum held the 6th edition of the 'Brussels Privacy Symposium'. The topic of this year was 'Vulnerable People, Marginalisation and Data Protection'.

Education

Instant messaging app Telegram is not faring well in the news – the reason being the illicit activities occurring on the platform. Professor Bart Custers helped Dutch current affairs programme ‘EenVandaag’ respond to questions about the platform.

When it comes to wealth distribution in the Netherlands, you often hear that there is a huge gap. Is that true? And is this gap also widening, as is often claimed?

In this article in The Irish Times, Pádraig Corrigan talks about his experience studying abroad at Leiden University College in The Hague.

Organisation

Carlotta Rigotti, post-doc researcher at eLaw - Center for Law and Digital Technologies, and Alexandre Puttick (Bern University of Applied Science) presented some research outputs of the Horizon Europe BIAS project during the European Workshop on Algorithmic Fairness '23.

On Friday 15 January, the Dutch ‘Rutte III’ government resigned following the scathing report on the childcare benefits scandal. What are the political consequences?

More and more countries have decided to introduce compulsory vaccination. According to various experts, compulsory vaccination, under certain conditions, could help the situation in the Netherlands.

Education

The Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies is pleased to invite you to the round-table discussion 'International Law in Motion: Some New Insights - A Tribute to Late Professor François Rigaux'. The round-table will feature presentations from Professors Pierre d’Argent and Mohsen Mohebi, and…

During her search for a subject for the literature study of the Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences master programme, Linde Schoenmaker read a press release about the ultra-low storage temperatures of the COVID-19 vaccines. She wondered why these vaccines must be stored at such cold conditions. Her question…

Commercial parties offering space travel, space waste, claiming the moon, potentially exploiting resources ... It’s going to get busy in space in the coming years. But there are no clear agreements about this. Tanja Masson-Zwaan, Assistant Professor of Space Law, talked about the topic in Spraakmakers…

As of 16 August Ignas Snellen is the new Scientific Director of the astronomical institute of the Faculty of Science. He will succeed Huub Rottgering, who led the institute since 2012. Snellen has been appointed for a period of four years.

Erik de Maaker and Radhika Gupta received a Seed Grant to initiate research on how heritage has been and can be mobilised to address climate change governance in Himalayan Asia. This project will address a significant knowledge gap on the potentials and pitfalls of climate governance, with an initial…

Research, Social

The Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management is refusing to release documents on the safety of Schiphol Airport, despite a court ruling that they must be made public. The case has been running for four years and was brought by current affairs programme EenVandaag.

On 25 May 2024, our much-loved former colleague prof.dr.dr.h.c.mult Hans E. Junginger passed away.

Space is of enormous strategic value. Having rules in space therefore is to everyone’s advantage.

On 6 January 2025, Leiden Law School celebrated a special milestone: our 450th birthday! Our special anniversary year got underway with a panel discussion with Bonnie Honig, as well as a celebratory toast.

Eurostat, the European statistical office, reports that inflation in the Eurozone has increased to 4.1 per cent. What are the implications for your wallet and your savings? And how can consumers respond?

Every year in the Netherlands, thousands of children are placed in out-of-home care because their parents are unable to look after them properly or because the children are at risk.

On Thursday 26 June 2025, the Pavilion of the Wereldmuseum Leiden featured the first joint meeting of Leiden University and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam around the shared research theme Collecting Global Heritage. Some 50 researchers, students and collection managers came together to share knowledge,…

In the end, the weather gods were on our side so that all outdoor activities at the faculty beach party could go ahead as planned.

Dennis Janssen has been appointed as Director of Operations for the Leiden Observatory. He succeeds Dominique de Vet who temporarily held the position. Janssen currently works as a program manager Leiden Research Support within Administration and Central Services and will start his new role on 18 No…

Hoe combineer je je passies met je onderzoek? Dat was de vraag van de laatste Psychology Connected. Fleur Bouwer en Joram van Ketel, beiden fanatiek muzikant, deelden hun ervaringen en adviezen met Niels van Doesum. Bekijk de fotoserie.

Education, Research

The Hub for Impactful and Engaged Research is a new collaboration that brings together five leading educational institutions in the province of Zuid-Holland: Leiden University, the LUMC, Delft University of Technology, Erasmus Medical Center and Erasmus University Rotterdam.

All University employees and researchers have a personal profile page on the website. This page will show where you work and how you can be reached.

Blended learning is a well-thought-out mix of online and on-campus learning, tailored to the learning objectives, the curriculum and the student. It contributes to the student’s learning experience and the quality of teaching.

Different PhD tracks are available for different PhD candidates. Information is given here about the types of tracks, the admission requirements and the administrative steps to be taken.

The information on your profile page is generated by different underlying systems. You can (request to) change or delete it. Please note that it may take some time before the adjustments are shown.

If you’re experiencing too much work pressure, talk about it to your colleagues and your manager. This is the only way we can jointly work towards a solution. How do you raise the issue of work pressure? And what can you do to prevent work pressure from getting out of hand?

Researchers in Leiden have, for the first time, observed how a specialised enzyme helps bacteria stay alinve when oxygen levels are low, and how that process can be blocked. The discovery opens up new possibilities for targeted antibiotics.

2024 was a remarkable and eventful year for the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs. In this year overview, we look back month by month at the key events and developments.

Scrap the radical cuts to research and teaching. This was researchers and students’ message to government at the opening of the new academic year. Various speakers in Leiden’s Pieterskerk highlighted the importance of science for society.

Erwin Muller, Dean of FGGA and Administrator of Campus The Hague, and Koen Caminada, Vice-Dean, share their thoughts on how ‘we’ as a faculty are doing based on three themes. A discussion about the balancing act between what is and what isn’t possible and the natural urge to continue to grow, the utility…

This February Metje Postma will stop teaching and retire. But she is not done with the discipline yet: she will finish her PhD and there are still five films on the shelf that she plans to complete.

In 2025, students, lecturers, researchers and alumni of the Faculty of Humanities were once again at the heart of society. They demonstrated the importance of the humanities through their groundbreaking research, meaningful education and strong collaborations.

Dutch troops, judges and politicians collectively condoned and concealed the systematic use of extreme violence during the Indonesian War of Independence. Historians have now shown how this could happen. ‘It was scandal management rather than prevention,’ says Leiden historian and research leader Gert…

High-quality education, research involving multiple faculties, collaboration between universities and central government funding to make all this possible: these were the topics covered in a working visit of the Standing Committee for Education, Culture and Science (OCW) to the Association of Universities…

Should we cut our ties with Israel or maintain them? The event ‘A university conversation on Israel/Palestine’ on 1 July revealed the depth of feeling about the conflict, with students and staff grappling with academic values and moral dilemmas.

At least six people are off to a good start of the summer, because they are the recipients of a Meijers grant. For the next few years, these researchers will be able to devote themselves to their PhD research. Let’s meet these new PhD candidates!