Organisation

As of 1 April 2025, Professor E.A.L.M.G (Elke) Moons has been appointed professor by special appointment of the chair ‘Crime Statistics’ at Leiden University’s Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology at Leiden Law School.

Facility

One of the largest roofs at Leiden University, that of the Snellius building, has recently been equipped with 590 solar panels and 57,000 sedum plants, making it the largest combined roof in the Benelux. The roof was officially opened on Monday 10 October by Annetje Ottow and Martijn Ridderbos, President…

Wednesday 23 of February the NESA Netherlands School of Anthropology) has been officially launched with the first Masterclass by Prof. Dr. Marja Spierenburg (Leiden University) and Dr. Anke Tonnaer (Radboud University). The NESA is a graduate program for PhD candidates of the five Dutch universities…

When is the last time you made a fire? Not light a candle with a match, but an actual fire from scratch. Thousands of years ago, humans already made fire. Archaeologist Andrew Sorensen (Leiden University) explains when and how they did this.

Minister Robbert Dijkgraaf (Education, Culture and Science) spoke with lecturers and students from Leiden University at Campus The Hague on 27 October about the impact of the Israel-Hamas war. He wanted to know how the conflict was affecting the academic community. Lecturers and students shared their…

With the new Euclid satellite, scientists are going to map a large part of the sky. The satellite ofthe European Space Agency (ESA) will soon give them a better view of the galaxies and matter in the universe. Professor of Galactic Astronomy Koen Kuijken and a team of Dutch scientists are receiving…

A professor from Leiden University, together with a former employee (who is also the professor’s partner), has been guilty of long-term unacceptable and often transgressive behaviour in the form of abuse of power and manipulation. This behaviour led to a culture of fear among staff who were largely…

Leiden University Libraries (UBL) in partnership with Elsevier hosted a series of online seminars on the challenges involved in achieving reproducibility in research. The seminars aimed to identify best practices that can help to overcome central challenges around reproducibility, and to convey several…

A week after the kick-off of the Healthy University Let's Walk Week 2021, colleagues together already have made 7276 'ommetjes'. The Let's Walk Week was entirely devoted to getting and staying active for our personal, physical and mental health.

Carlotta Rigotti, Postdoc researcher at eLaw, and Eduard Fosch-Villaronga, Associate Professor at eLaw, delivered a lecture on AI and non-discrimination, engaging students with the Debiaser demo.

From telescopes to science fiction: in just one semester, students with no background in physics or astronomy get to explore the universe. The first group of students started last month in the new minor Our Universe.

Leiden Law School takes great pride in announcing that the University of Strathclyde has bestowed an honorary doctorate on Professor Ann Skelton, Professor of Children's Rights in a Sustainable World at Leiden Law School and Chair of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. This prestigious…

Human Rights organisation Amnesty International recently set up a walk that passes by important locations in Leiden in relation to human rights. The Kamerlingh Onnes Building, home to Leiden Law School, has been included in the route.

The pre-university course organized by eLaw, with the support of the Honours Academy concluded on Monday, March 18, 2024. Led by Carlotta Rigotti, the program provided students from various Dutch high schools with a rich tapestry of insights at the intersections of law, technology, and society.

Finance

Social

A new university-wide survey is now open to all involved in conducting, teaching, advising on, or supporting research related activities at Leiden University, aiming to better understand the current state of Open Science awareness and practice. Initiated by Archaeology’s then PhD candidate, now guest…

With a recently published major research project and an exhibition at the Rijksmuseum, the struggle for independence in Indonesia has been thrusted back into the spotlight. Leiden University is devoting attention to this topic as well. History students Sander van der Horst and Melle van Maanen joined…

The Leiden University team representing the International Institute of Air and Space Law (IIASL) won the World Finals of the Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition that took place in Paris on 20 September 2022.

Francien Dechesne, Associate Professor of Ethics and Digital Technologies, has been appointed by the Tilburg School of Humanities and Digital Sciences of Tilburg University as Professor to the endowed chair of ‘Data and AI for the Rule of Law’, effective 1 November 2025.

Did you know that each year 18 billion animals die without making it to someone’s plate? Governance of Sustainability alumna Juliane Klaura has won the second prize for her thesis about the environmental impact of global food production. She won the prize at the university-wide master thesis award event,…

As of 1 September 2024, the cum laude honour will no longer be awarded for the Master’s in Medicine. The Executive Board recently decided to grant an exemption to the Leiden University/LUMC Faculty of Medicine. This decision is in line with other medicine programmes in the Netherlands.

We are living in turbulent times. Various conflicts in other parts of the world at times give rise to feelings of anxiety, unrest and anger in our country too. We also see this happening in our academic community.

We always need to find a new way to tell the story of 3 October, believes Ariadne Schmidt. The professor by special appointment of History of Urban Culture will be working with students to involve more people in the history of that day. ‘I’m too much of a historian to say: we can just let it be a “fun…

The author Manon Uphoff from Utrecht will be Leiden University’s new ‘writer in residence’ from autumn 2025. As the writer in residence, Uphoff will contribute to several courses on writing offered by the BA Dutch Language and Culture programme.

This year, Leiden University College (LUC) celebrates its 15th anniversary with the theme ‘Global challenges, local impact’. This theme highlights how LUC tackles global issues through education and research while making tangible contributions to Dutch society

Library, Research

Talking about suicide is important, but anything but comfortable. To make this difficult subject easier for students and staff to discuss, the university is organising a campaign week in line with the national campaign ‘1K Z1E J3’ (I see you) being run by Stichting 113 Zelfmoordpreventie (113 is the…

Research

The Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition is the world’s largest moot court competition. The Competition is a simulation of a fictional dispute between countries before the International Court of Justice. This year more than 570 law schools from across the world participated.

Facility

Researchers from Leiden University, together with SEO Amsterdam Economics, have been chosen to evaluate the Dutch Telecommunications Sector (Undesirable Control) Act and the Investments, Mergers and Acquisitions (Security Screening) Act.

In December 2020, the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs and Helmut Schmidt University of the German Armed Forces in Hamburg signed a cooperation agreement to cooperate in the education realm on a variety of topics related to the Civilian and Military dimensions of European and Global Security…

This year, in a three-part symposium series, we are exploring how interdisciplinary collaboration can be promoted at the university. In the second session in March, the attendees discovered that understanding your rhythm and perspective is essential when embarking on an interdisciplinary project.

After almost 18 months of following lectures alone in their rooms, many students are going back to face-to-face classes for the first time. And the same is true for the lecturers. How do people feel about it? We went to Leiden Law School to find out. ‘For a whole year, I’ve been watching lectures in…

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is under intense scrutiny when it comes to prosecuting international crimes. This due to increasing conflicts worldwide. During her visit to Leiden, the President of the Court, Judge Tomoko Akane, said that the Criminal Court will not yield to threats.

Not all students spend the holidays with family and friends. The Leiden University Winter Weeks gives these students the opportunity to take part in a range of fun and free activities. The student well-being team worked again with student organisations from Leiden and The Hague to organise this year’s…

Americans are electing a new president in November but they also have other choices to make in the polling booth. Alumnus Sanne Rijkhoff works at a Texas university and is trying to help make students more aware of the elections.