During the annual graduation ceremony, not only were the Bachelor's students in Political Science honoured, but also those students who had written exceptional theses. The thesis prizes reward work that excels in originality, social relevance and academic quality. This year's winners are Ronny Wijling…

It often takes longer for women with heart problems to get the right diagnosis. In her Annie Romein-Verschoor Lecture, Professor Hester den Ruijter will talk about how hormones influence the heart and the importance of medical research that focuses specifically on women.

On Things That Talk, a website founded and developed by Fresco Sam-Sin, students and researchers describe objects from today and from long ago. By now, more than a hundred objects have been covered. Willemijn Waal, Emma Verweij and Frank van den Boom contributed to the content.

The ninth issue of the Journal of the LUCAS Graduate Conference has been published. This time the theme is ‘Reinventing Boundaries in Times of Crisis.’

The plan was to research the years surrounding the creation of the signature H.P. Berlage building of the Kunstmuseum Den Haag, but due to the lockdown, University Lecturer Laurie Kalb Cosmo has hardly been able to visit museums. Yet she succeeds in continuing her research for the Museums, Collections…

Jasper Knoester is the dean of the Faculty of Science. How is he doing, what exactly does he do and what does his day look like? In each newsletter, Jasper gives an insight into his life.

Turning beer waste into a useful, sustainable product. That was the mission of students from Leiden at the international BISC-E event. The biology students challenged themselves and won third place in the Dutch finals of this competition. For this, they used the simple formula: Grain + fungus = coas…

In supermarkets, consumers are drowning in a sea of sustainability labels. Confusing for them, but also farmers can't see the forest for the trees. Obtaining these labels demands an enormous amount of time and effort. Berent Baris is investigating ways to simplify this process, benefiting both farmers…

With ongoing protests across Iran, many are asking whether the regime is on the brink of collapse. Three Leiden experts share their perspectives.

You may have noticed this happening more often: your municipality sends you an online questionnaire to find out your opinion on the renovation of a certain area or the design plans for a new district. But how inclusive are these online platforms where citizens can participate in decisions on government…

Lecture, China Seminar

Conference, Interdisciplinary Workshop

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…

What if you get excluded? Are apps against fear and stress effective? How do you keep your brain in shape? The first season of the new podcastseries ‘BreinGeheim’ is about the social contexts of adolescent development and how teens become resilient individuals. Leiden-based behavioural scientist sit…

Have you considered including the Leiden University Fund in your will?

Leiden archaeologists have been conducting research with students and local archaeologists in Oss (in the province of Brabant) for 50 years. An exhibition at Leiden University shows how these finds tell the region’s story.

A live online New Year’s event on Tuesday 12 January marked the start of the New Year. Dean Joanne van der Leun toasted 2021 and as usual at this event, the annual Meijers prizes and thesis prizes were awarded.

Working for a social client during your studies: this is what happens at Urban Studies. For the course Urban Studies in Practice, third-year students carry out projects for public clients, such as the municipality of The Hague.

On 20 March, the final of the Legal Tech Challenge 2025 took place at Leiden University. After weeks of collaboration, brainstorming sessions and workshops on legal accessibility, five student teams presented their innovative legal apps to a jury.

Leiden University, together with the Open University and Universities of the Netherlands, will take up residence in the Spui building at Grote Marktstraat 48-50/Spui 3 in downtown The Hague from 2025. The partners signed the leases on 7 November.

Give Nikki IJzerman a football and she’s happy. The midfielder was named Player of the Year by ADO Den Haag last season, as well as obtaining her master’s degree in Journalism and New Media.

Rogier Hartendorp is professor by special appointment of social effectiveness of justice at Leiden University and a judge at The Hague District Court. So, the perfect person to liaise between our faculty and the Court. We asked him some questions about this role.

Una Europa, an alliance of 11 top European universities, provides annual seed funding for new research and teaching projects. Assistant Professor Carmen van den Bergh applied for funding with her Flemish and Italian counterparts. Thanks to this funding and the support of Erasmus+, students can now take…

In a new FSW Honours College course students from various academic disciplines dive into the world of artificial intelligence (AI). The course, 'Artificial Intelligence: Understand and Create' was designed by Marc Cleiren and Pieter Pierrot to be accessible to all students, regardless of their prior…

Recently, our respected and talented former colleague Bente Hilde Bakker passed away after a long and brave fight with illness. She received her mathematical training at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam and also obtained her PhD there under the supervision of Jan Bouwe van den Berg and Robert van…

Twenty-one dedicated teachers were awarded their Senior Teaching Qualification (SKO) on 21 January. Rector Magnificus Hester Bijl congratulated them in a ceremony in the Academy Building with an extra celebratory touch as the milestone of the 100th SKO certificate was reached.

Discover insights and advice from Leiden scientists on bullying, how to stop and prevent it. Learn why people bully, how bullied children can get help and what it takes to create a safe environment. Find out how anti-bullying programmes work in schools and why bullying is a serious problem that needs…

Anthropologist Anouk de Koning about the tottering welfare state and the dilemmas of a government operating as a nearby, friendly partner.

Associate professor Rens Tacoma has won the 2021 Research Prize for Historical Sciences. The prize is awarded annually by the Italy Studies Working Group for the best scholarly publication in the field of Italy Studies in Dutch or Flemish academia.

Anne-Laura van Harmelen has received a Vidi grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO). This talent programme will enable Van Harmelen to research the social and neurobiological mechanisms of resilience in young people with childhood trauma.

How did the mythical kings of ancient Persia live? In this podcast, we delve into the Shahnameh, also known as the Book of Kings.

Can Russia be prosecuted for war crimes against Ukraine? The International Criminal Court does not have this jurisdiction. To fill this void in jurisdiction, a new commission has been created: an International Centre for the Prosecution of Crimes of Aggression, the ICPA.

It was great to welcome so many colleagues at the LACDR Spring Symposium! After an inspiring lecture by Dr. Avinash Patel from Dewpoint Therapeutics, nine PhD speakers from LACDR, LIC, CHDR and LUMC-KFT gave presentations on a wide range of pharma-related topics. These speakers competed for first place.…

In November, 2023, we organized our annual PhD-Postdoc event with the topic ‘future career opportunities’. After an interactive presentation ‘be prepared for you career after your PhD/postdoc’ by Harry Linders, there was ample opportunity to meet LACDR alumni and career coaches.

On Friday 24 June 2022, the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law of Leiden University welcomed more than forty administrative law scholars to the first Young Administrative Law Researchers Day.

The House of Representatives in the Netherlands has requested advice from the Council of State about combining membership of the House of Representatives with holding a post in the cabinet. Geerten Boogaard sees this as a sign that the Netherlands is moving towards a constitutional court.

As of 1 September 2021 Andrea Evers has been appointed Scientific Director and will represent the institute at faculty and university level as chair of the Board of the Institute of Psychology. Eric van Dijk will take on the personnel and finance domains and Sander Nieuwenhuis will take on the research…

Organisation

On Tuesday 7 September 2021, the new Faculty year was opened with the Leiden Law Op 1 Talkshow. Various guests shared their thoughts and expectations for the new academic year. Lotte Kremers and Bastiaan Rijpkema presented the show.

Leiden students of cultural anthropology investigated the motivations and experiences of Tiny House residents in the Netherlands. Their findings highlight sustainability, minimalism and community building as core values in this alternative form of living.

Rob van Wijk (LACDR, Leiden University) and Robin van den Biggelaar (LUCID, LUMC) have been awarded a €10,000 euro KIEM grant from Leiden University to start an interdisciplinary collaboration to investigate the potential of AMPK activation as an adjunctive therapy to enhance tuberculosis treatment.

Rik Rozendaal has won one of the three annual dissertation awards of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (EAERE). The economist received the award for his dissertation on climate policy.

The faculty Happy Holidays Drinks for all staff and student assistants was held on Tuesday 19 December. There was a great turn out and fun was had by all.

This March, Jara Bouma, Cas van der Horst and Laura Heitman from the Division of Drug Discovery and Safety and Laura de Paus, Richard van den Berg, Anthe Janssen and Mario van der Stelt from the LIC joined forces to determine how some drugs can specifically target the cannabinoid CB2 receptor (CB2R)…

Organisation, Social

After a semester of brainstorming, writing, rewriting and editing, the time has come: the fifth edition of Leiden Elective Academic Periodical (LEAP) has been launched!

It was great to welcome so many people at the LACDR Spring symposium on the 4th of April 2023. The meeting started with an inspiring lecture of Dr. Mustafa Diken (Bioentech) on the evolution of mRNA vaccines. Afterwards, PhD speakers from LACDR, LIC and CHDR gave presentations on a wide range of pharma-related…

PhD defence

Connecting worlds, enhancing research and teaching, and providing innovative solutions to complex social issues: that is the idea behind interdisciplinary research. In that respect, a huge amount happened at Leiden University in 2023.