Using 2D materials, physics student Romme van der Kemp developed a nanochip that is extremely small ánd scalable. This is needed to make all kinds of technologies better, faster and smaller. He has been nominated for the FWN Young Talent Award 2023 for his research.

A perfect world, who doesn't want that? But what is perfect is debatable. What is great for one person is disastrous for another. PhD student Zeynep Anli took a closer look at dreams for the future by looking at gender-separated utopias.

Salt crystals, a nano-sized golf stick and molten glass. The LION Image Award competition of 2023 yielded a lot of beautiful images once again. But in the end, only one can be the winner.

Poama and Theuns co-wrote an opinion piece on why voting in prison should be mandatory worldwide. It appeared on National Interest's website on February 12.

Professor Sarah de Rijcke became the new Rector Magnificus of Leiden University on 15 January 2026. She introduces herself and shares what motivates her to take on this role.

How can humans and computers learn from data? To research this, scientists often use so-called Bayesian methods. Although these methods are widely used, they also have limitations and are not always easy to interpret. In her dissertation Rianne de Heide describes some of these problems and introduces…

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…

Proving a quantum computer to be quicker than a normal one is one step closer. After a breakthrough in speeding up classical algorithms, researchers Vedran Dunjko and Casper Gyurik showed that only one quantum algorithm could beat its classical counterpart. They discuss their discovery in Quanta Mag…

The Dutch Research Council (NWO) has awarded a grant of €2,858,000 from the Dutch National Research Agenda (NWA) for tackling sexually transgressive behaviour and sexual violence (SGOG). Mischa Dekker, assistant professor and member of the Violence and Violence Prevention research group, is a co-applicant…

Human resources

On Wednesday 6 July 2022 Leiden University College The Hague (LUC) celebrated the graduation of the Class of 2022. The 170 students received their Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree’s in LUC’s interdisciplinary honours programme Liberal Arts & Sciences: Global Challenges.

Today, 13 May 2024, Leiden University’s Executive Board is publishing the advice of the committee that investigated reports of unacceptable behaviour and breaches of academic integrity. These reports were about a professor from the university and their partner (a former member of the university staf…

The Choose a Language Day was created to make high school students enthusiastic about choosing a linguistic profile and further education. Third-years were able to learn about different language studies at the Faculty of Humanities.

Dr. Vanessa Newby (ISGA) and Dr. Catherine Jones from St Andrews won a grant worth over €23.000 from the RSE Saltire Facilitation Network Award entitled: ‘Worse Things Happen at Sea’: The Governance & Security of the Ocean. The grant will comprise three workshops in 2022: one in Leiden, one in Edinburgh…

Seksueel grensoverschrijdend gedrag op de werkvloer moet strenger worden aangepakt. Zo stelde regeringscommissaris seksueel grensoverschrijdend gedrag Mariëtte Hamer na haar benoeming begin 2022. Een jaar later verschijnt haar ‘Handreiking meldingen van seksueel grensoverschrijdend gedrag op de werkvloer’.…

Baleseng Maeneche (University of the Western Cape) has won the Africa Thesis Award 2024 with a master's thesis on media representation of male perpetrators of violence against women and children in South Africa. Her research challenges dominant narratives and emphasises the need for fair media representation…

Sinds Februari, werkt Angus Mol als UD bij het Centre for Digital Humanities (LUCDH). Zijn aanstelling wordt gedeeld door het Instituut voor Geschiedenis en het Centre for the Arts in Society (LUCAS). Hiervoor werkte hij voor het Prins Claus Fonds voor Cultuur en Ontwikkeling, deed NWO-Rubicon onderzoek…

Everything biobased: Plastic, medicine and fuel. It seems like a futuristic utopia. But for how long? A collaboration of researchers now proposes an idea to accelerate the development process. By combining machine learning and laboratory automation, this biobased ideal may become a reality rather sooner…

As the end of the year approaches, the new University Sports Centre (USC) building is nearing completion. Vice-President of the Executive Board Timo Kos visited the USC, which celebrates its 55th anniversary this year, to see how work is progressing.

Our own Dr. Martin Berger has been accepted as a member of the Young Academy Leiden! He is thrilled with his appointment. ‘I am honored to be accepted as a member of the Young Academy Leiden and am looking forward to working together with other scholars from across the University.’

Biotechnological developments are moving fast. From genetically modified plant varieties we are now moving to cultured meat. These developments require moral interpretation - and they get it in the form of art. Lotte Pet wrote a dissertation about it.

On Tuesday 8 April, the CV of Failures exhibition was officially opened by Hester Bijl. Members of the university community share their personal stories during the exhibition. They offer an honest insight into the rejections, setbacks, and unexpected turns that have shaped their journeys.

Dutch knowledge institutions are taking steps to recognise and reward open science. On 13 December, the Open Science NL Steering Board approved a total of 1.2 million euros in grants to 23 institutions. The Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) will lead the national coordination of the local…

The Yemen Amsterdam Library, or Maktabat al-Yaman al-Amstirdāmīyah, of eminent Yemen specialist Dr C.G. Brouwer has now been fully integrated in the collections of Leiden University Libraries (UBL). Books and other documents from the collection are now available for loan via the UBL Catalogue.

The South Cluster - the former Van Wijkplaats/Van Eyckhof on Witte Singel - is currently undergoing an impressive transformation. On 25 October, more than 100 enthusiastic colleagues witnessed the progress of the renovation during a series of tours of the building.

On World DNA Day 25 April, Leiden University is pleased to focus the spotlight on Rosalind Franklin, whose name was given earlier this month to the Campus Square on the Leiden Bio Science Park. This square will now be known officially as the Rosalind Franklin Square.

Three Humanities lecturers received the Senior Teaching Qualification (SKO) this year. University lecturer Markus Davidsen is one of them. What does he think makes for good teaching?

There has been good progress with the new South Cluster construction through the summer months. All the door and window frames are now in place, the building will soon be wind and watertight and the interior finishing has already begun. The work will be completed in the months ahead, with the building…

After seven months of hard work, the participants in the Research Traineeship Programme concluded their research on Friday 2 September with a pitch and a poster presentation.

Sebastian Pomplun receives an ERC starting grant of 1.85 million Euros in five years. He wants to develop synthetic transcription factors that can enter cells and activate or deactivate specific genes. For example to disrupt cancer-related processes or to trigger the production of an important missing…

Education

Resistance to antibiotics is a major problem in health care. Thanks to a grant from the Elise Mathilde Fund and the LUF, pharmacologist dr. Coen van Hasselt can look for new dosing schedules to reduce the development of antibiotic resistance.

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.

It is with great sadness that we have learned that Jan Vranken passed away on Tuesday 17 June. In 2005, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Leiden University in recognition of his work.

Because of the pandemic, we hardly saw him walking through the corridors. Yet Joost Barendse chooses a second term as assessor. ‘Last year was so much fun and educational. So being an assessor for another year is something I can't refuse.’

The new Japanese Ambassador, Michii Rokuichiro, visited Leiden University on 2 March.

Dr Mark Leiser, Assistant Professor at eLaw, and Wen-Ting Yang, former Law And Digital technologies student, won the Best Paper award at BILETA, the United Kingdom’s largest tech and legal education conference.

Organisation

Rick Lawson, Professor of European Law and former Dean of Leiden Law School, was appointed as the new president of the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights on 30 June.

Lowlands Science is looking for researchers who want to conduct their research on site.

The Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL) has a new professor: as of 1 March, Frederic Lens has been appointed Professor of Biodiversity and Anatomy of Plants. For Lens, the appointment feels like a wonderful recognition. ‘I am pleased with Leiden University’s appreciation of my contributions to research…

The Winter Week of Digital Skills will take place in the PJ Veth building from 29 January to 2 February. There will be different workshops where you can improve your digital skills, from dealing with AI and ChatGPT to setting up your own podcast. University lecturer Jelena Prokic explains more.

The Summer School will take place from 14-25 June 2021 and welcomes Master-level and PhD-level students who are interested in learning more about the interactions between the EU and the UN and the EU’s role within current patterns in global governance.

Three Leiden students will be sharing their knowledge of history while playing video games. The livestreams are part of the ‘Streaming the Past’ project and will be available on the popular streaming platform Twitch. The first livestream will be on Thursday 20 May.

In 2021, Assistant Professor Tax Law Rens Pieterse published a biography about former professor in tax law H.J. Hofstra. Dutch magazine ‘Het Register’ did an extensive spread on Pieterse, his writing and other activities.

Leiden researchers, Professor Remko Offringa and co-applicants Salma Balazadeh and Frederic Lens received an NWO-XL grant (2.5 million euros). Together with researchers in Wageningen and Groningen, they will study the genetic and environmental drivers of woodiness. From plant to molecule, the groups…

The bachelor programmes German Language and Culture, Classics, Dutch Language and Culture, Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Religious studies and Linguistics have received the predicate top rated programme from the Keuzegids.

Sustainable biotechnology, new insights into genome evolution and combining forces in mathematics. The NWO has awarded grants to these three innovative Leiden research projects in the ENW-M Open Competition.

De Faculteit Governance and Global Affairs (FGGA) heeft een facultair team opgesteld om invulling te geven aan Academia in Motion (AiM).