Is the right to choose your healthcare provider protected in the Dutch Constitution? What are the consequences then for the Dutch healthcare system? PhD defence on 5 July 2022.

Legal protection. What do those involved in youth care and child protection understand by this concept? And what needs to change to improve legal protection? This question was explored by researchers from Leiden University’s Department of Child Law. Their research fits with the government’s ambition…

A new LUMC study has changed our understanding of how cells work. Researchers have discovered that the CFAP20 protein acts as a kind of ‘traffic controller’ on DNA. Without this protein, chaos ensues, potentially causing cancer. Their findings have been published in the prestigious journal Nature.

Jeroen Zwemmer’s student days in Leiden ended in 2023, after completing two bachelor’s degrees, a master’s, a student board year, and an exchange semester. Now, he’s a legal policy advisor at a Dutch government ministry.

During the New Year’s reception of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences (FSW) on 12 January 2026, Sarah de Rijcke said farewell as our dean. She will become the new Rector Magnificus of Leiden University. It was not the only change of leadership announced that afternoon.

Nominated as best Master thesis by the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs (FGGA), Robin Neumann has received the second prize in the Leiden University best thesis competition.

Who can pitch a book so well that everyone wants to read it? These are the winners of the 2025 Alternative Reading List Awards.

Tuesday 27 January - A crisp winter morning and a busy Tuesday. Board matters, research safety, leadership and faculty profiling alternate throughout the day, with a focus on collaboration both inside and outside the faculty. A full day that ends with a game of darts.

On 24 January 2026, the Advanced MSc International Relations and Diplomacy (MIRD) hosted its Annual Reconnect & Gala, bringing together alumni from across the world, current students, and faculty. The event celebrated shared values, connection, and purpose, focusing on ‘The great shifts in international…

This February, Leiden University honors two scholars who have responded to the challenges of modern society in important, innovative and exemplary ways. Catherine Malabou and Safiya Umoja Noble will receive honorary doctorates for their ground breaking research in philosophy and internet/media studies…

From the First World War until the height of the Cold War, actors from the decolonizing world sought to build connections with international peace movements. These efforts produced new networks and practices of solidarity while also exposing tensions over the centrality of decolonization in global struggles…

Timothy Metz studied Law and Tax Law in Leiden. Now he’s part of Andri AI, working on the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in the legal sector.

De minister van BZK heeft op 17 oktober het onderzoeksrapport ”Openbaarmaking van overheidsinformatie. Een rechtsvergelijkend onderzoek naar wetgeving in Zweden, het Verenigd Koninkrijk, Duitsland, Frankrijk, Slovenië en Estland” aangeboden aan de Tweede en Eerste Kamer. Het rapport is geschreven door…

Monique Tekstra-van Lochem decided to develop a book of her own that all children can recognize themselves in. In May "Hey, who are you?" will be released, a children's book in which twenty fictional children from all over the world take you with them into their daily lives.

The Countering Syndemic Vulnerability project supports communities by identifying and tackling clusters of social factors and health problems. The project works with residents and professionals in the Moerwijk district in The Hague and the Stevenshof district in Leiden.

Exploring logging's real impact: Insights from Anthropologist Tessa Minter in the Solomon Islands.

On the university’s birthday, professors teach a class of 10 and 11-year-olds during Meet the Professor. The professors were bombarded with questions.

How do you bring education and practice closer together? In the revised Master MPS (Management of the Public Sector) it is done, for example, through the new profile course Leadership & Behaviour inside and between organisations. The Leiden Leadership Centre (LLC) is involved in organising the course.…

In mid-March 2020, the global coronavirus outbreak changed everything in the Netherlands. Staying at home as much as possible and the 1.5 metre rule became the standard. One year on, we reflect on the past year with four Leiden Law School ‘insiders’. What kind of year did they have? And what are their…

‘Jelena Prokic, university lecturer and researcher at the Leiden University Centre for Digital Humanities, will be preparing students for the challenges and opportunities of the digital world. In September, six modules will start on subjects such as statistics and digitally searching through texts.…

She started her career in the police force, walking the beat as an officer. Now she has been appointed Extraordinary Professor of Diversity, Inclusion and Policing at Leiden University. Things have come full circle for Saniye Çelik. ‘It's very special.’

Cutting down global emissions of greenhouse gases to combat global warming won’t do the trick alone: we also need negative-emissions technology that can capture carbon dioxide directly out of the air. In the prestigious journal Global Environmental Change, PhD candidate Oscar Rueda and colleagues shed…

The rise of extremism in Europe has increased polarisation. The EU-funded DRIVE project, led by Tahir Abbas, Professor of Radicalisation Studies from Leiden University’s Institute of Security and Global Affairs, explores how social, structural, and individual factors contribute to radicalisation, offering…

Making justice accessible to all residents in Libya. This week, a new website is launched which should contribute to this. Leiden University and the University of Benghazi have been working together on several projects since 2012. Project leader Suliman Ibrahim explains why this project is unique.

Patients with skin diseases such as eczema and psoriasis, sometimes spend a lifetime searching for the right medication. To help these patients faster and better, scientists across the country are joining forces. The Next Generation ImmunoDermatology (NGID) project, with LACDR professor Robert Rissmann…

Three enormous maps of China, created during the reign of three different emperors of the Qing dynasty, have now been made available in open access and are downloadable via Leiden University Libraries’ (UBL) Digital Collections. The rich maps are an early example of academic collaboration between the…

Towards the end of February, three Leiden University buildings will be assessed for their accessibility to people with a disability. The assessment will be carried out by Ongehinderd, a social enterprise committed to making the Netherlands more accessible. Its founder and director, Gerard de Nooij,…

As a student, university lecturer Berthe Jansen fell under the spell of the Van Manen collection: a collection full of Tibetan writings and objects. A €1.5 million grant now makes it possible to take a really close look at it. 'There is still so much to do and discover.'

In this ‘Educatips’ column, Psychology lecturers share their most important lessons about teaching. This month: Sepideh Saadat guides a support group for students who struggle with the Israel-Hamas war. ‘Some of them feel guilty about enjoying life while their family is suffering.’

When we think of unethical medical experiments, we tend to think first of Nazi Germany. What is less well known is that experiments were also carried out in colonised areas without the explicit consent of the test subject. University lecturer Fenneke Sysling has received a European grant to research…

Fradinta Laksmita came to Leiden in 2023 for the Advanced Master Law & Finance during her sabbatical. She has since returned to Jakarta and now works as an associate lawyer at Dentons. ‘My best memory was actually going to class.’

When you think of migration, you probably won’t immediately think of dating apps. Yet such apps are important to many migrants, such as those who identify as lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer or questioning (LGBT+). Researcher Andrew DJ Shield studied the role that dating apps play in the migration process,…

When hobby divers revisited a nearly 400-year-old shipwreck off the coast of Texel, they discovered more than 1,000 objects in wooden boxes. Eight years later, postdoc Janet Dickinson used recovered books to compile a profile of the mysterious owner.

What started with an old Soviet camera and a darkroom in London grew into a lifelong passion. Developmental biologist Michael Richardson has been capturing nature - from wild coastal plants to microscopic details in the lab - since his childhood.

On Monday, 13 October, Jasper will travel to Brussels with a delegation from Key Region Leiden. Why is this collaboration important? And who will he be having dinner with that same evening in Voorschoten? Jasper shares his account of a long and interesting Monday.

Ruim twintig nieuwsgierige medewerkers en studenten kregen een rondleiding in het nieuwe universiteitsgebouw van de Universiteit Leiden aan de Grote Marktstraat en het Spui in Den Haag dat in september 2025 de nieuwste locatie van de Campus Den Haag gaat worden. Nu is het vooral een kwestie van door…

A place where people enjoy working and studying—that’s at the core of the strategic plan of our faculty, and a lot of effort is being put into achieving this goal. Elice Schöne, Head of HR, is involved in the Leadership, Recognition and Rewards programme. What does it entail, and how does it affect…

Luc Amkreutz, curator of prehistory at the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden and professor of Public Archaeology at Leiden University, has a mission: to make the past accessible and relevant to a broad audience. He is the new Eugène Dubois Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Science and Engineering…

On 11 November Professor of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Monique van Leerdam will deliver her inaugural lecture entitled, ‘Aiming for Prevention’. Van Leerdam, who specialises in hereditary tumours, was appointed professor in July 2020. In her inaugural lecture she will discuss the importance of…

In a paper, researchers suggest how the next European Commission can develop an alternative policy model that centres people’s well-being.

In the nationalist nineteenth century, people developed an interest in medieval language and literature. The study of medieval material in one’s own vernacular was thought to reveal a great national past. But why, then, was Old English studied by Germans, Danes, Italians and many other nationalities…

From closed government systems in the Middle East to an exceptionally open Dutch government. Public administration lecturer Alex Ingrams is an expert on transparency: ‘Why are some countries secretive? And what role does technology play?’

How does loneliness work? What sometimes makes friendships complicated for autistic people? And why can the school building be such an unpleasant place for some pupils? Pupils explored this during their pre-university classes. 'I now have a good idea of what studying psychology entails.'

A collaboration between linguists, geographers and anthropologists aims to uncover how languages spread across South America over thousands of years. Associate Professor Rik van Gijn is responsible for the linguistic side of this NWO project.

People who have negative expectations about a treatment actually experience more pain. Merve Karacaoglu discovered in her PhD research that anxious and pessimistic individuals are particularly susceptible to this nocebo effect. However, this sensitivity comes with a silver lining.

Crucial information about research, funding or how university rankings are created is often not freely accessible. The Barcelona Declaration on Open Research Information calls for such information to be made open. Professor Ludo Waltman is one of its initiators. What needs to change?

That Tessa Schiethart finished her bachelor's degree in International Studies with a thesis on Indonesian women's reasons for veiling was a coincidence. Or so she thought. Six years later, her book Seeing and Being Seen, in which she writes about her life with a wine stain and vision loss, is in the…

Starting with the ‘why’, putting herself in her students’ shoes and providing structure. These are three ways in which environmental scientist Ranran Wang tries to make her course as interesting and manageable as possible. With success: she has been nominated for Science Teacher of the Year 2022.

Using an innovative method, psychologist Loes Janssen and colleagues measure how long and how often parent and child are close in daily life, and how they experience that togetherness. The researchers combine ‘Bluetooth low energy beacons’ with the smartphone app Ethica to track participants' physical…

A lot of municipalities work with a points system to encourage construction projects to take biodiversity and creating green areas into account. But this way of working also benefits local neighbourhoods and residents, master's student Marije Sesink discovered. She based her study on The Hague.