What do you build with when trees are scarce and winters are brutal? For hunter-gatherers living in current-day Ukraine some 18,000 years ago, the answer was simple: mammoth bones.

If universities and research institutions want to tackle unacceptable behaviour in academia, they must shift their focus from dealing with complaints to preventing such behaviour in the first place. This is what the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) has concluded. It has therefore…

How does astronomy benefit you? The new single-episode podcast Cosmic Perspectives explores the impact of Dutch astronomy on society: from building positive international relationships to the transfer of life-changing technology.

A useful hands-on guide to preprints is now available for researchers. It provides anwers to some urgent questions. What are preprints? What are the advantages and disadvantages to posting preprints? What are the implications for (my) research?

This month, it came out that a subdistrict court judge used ChatGPT to formulate a ruling. The judge included some text generated by the popular AI chatbot in his decision. This resulted in a lot of media commotion, raising doubts as to whether using ChatGPT in court is permissible and responsible.

Finance, Organisation

On 7 and 8 November, we celebrated a special milestone during the graduation ceremony for the bachelor’s students in Law, Notarial Law, Tax Law and Criminology.

Organisation

On 1 August, Jelly Reinders was appointed head of the Education and Student Affairs (OSZ) department at the Faculty of Humanities. ‘It's a wonderful continuation of my career after some fantastic and interesting years at VU University Amsterdam.'

It was the Night of Discoveries on Saturday 16 September: a summer encounter between art and science. Leiden researchers from various disciplines inspired the public with their quest to understand our world.

Dr. Andrew Littlejohn has been awarded a Hunt Postdoctoral Fellowship by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research. The fellowship provides funds for early-career scholars to write and publish significant monographs that will impact the development of anthropology.

The Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies is delighted to announce that Dr Farouk El-Hosseny will join the teaching staff as Visiting Assistant Professor of International Law.

On Tuesday evening 22 August, our very dear colleague Jo Hermans passed away. Jo had been ill for some time, but continued to enjoy life in good spirits until the very end. He meant a great deal to Leiden University and will be remembered with fond memories by many.

To foster interfaculty collaborations and explore common ground for working interdisciplinary on health-related themes in Leiden and beyond, the Leiden University Medical Anthropology Network has been set up.

ICT

How did a fifteen year old paper receive an award? It happened to LIACS professor Todor Stefanov and his colleagues. Their paper was awarded with the Test of Time Award, an international award for papers that had the highest impact over time. This paper in particular is about Daedalus, a framework used…

Leiden University has received a Lifelong Learning grant that will enable it to significantly expand its learning for professionals, for example for the government in The Hague and the Leiden Bio Science Park.

Facility

On the second day of the EL CID week, hundreds of new students set foot in ‘their’ law faculty for the first time. Today, they will be introduced to the history and ways of the University. Exciting and fun at the same time. ‘Things are getting real!’

Around 200 scholars from around the world are expected in Leiden to discuss the contribution of courts to societal change. Leiden Law School is hosting the conference.

The Schoof cabinet has presented its budget. As expected, higher education is facing severe cuts. In the coming period, the Executive Board will regularly look at the consequences of what it deems an irresponsible policy.

Doctorates, scholarships, or a trip around the world during a sabbatical: when it comes to our careers, we often talk about what went well. The CV of Failures exhibition at the Herta Mohr Building shows the other side of the coin. On large boards, university staff talk about rejections, setbacks, and…

Hundreds of students and staff from Leiden University gave a ‘whistle concert’ on 11 December against the planned cuts to higher education. Similar protests were held in other student cities on the same day.

Library, Research

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.

Organisation

The Teaching Fair is coming up again. On Thursday afternoon, 20 June, you can let your colleagues inspire you about educational innovation. In the workshop ‘No more boring lectures’, Jasmijn Mioch will show you how to incorporate interactive workshops in your lectures.

Leiden University and four other parties have signed a declaration in which they agree to improve the well-being of students in Leiden. They signed this Declaration on Student Well-Being on 5 April at the Leidsch Besturendiner, a dinner for student associations, universities, local government and bu…

How do you put students at the centre of education? And how do you make your research action-oriented? A new podcast by the Centre for Innovation answers these question. In Design Thinking in Education, four lecturers and two students talk about educational innovation.

In Europe, the Netherlands is in middle position when it comes to the placement of children in care. The consequences of such a placement in care are often disastrous, says Mariëlle Bruning.

What is the state of open science at the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs? Our faculty offers a unique environment for moving open science practices forward, while keeping a critical eye to their potential excesses.

At the latest Institute Council meeting in November, the institute’s biannual prize for teaching was awarded. The award is named after Carla Musterd, a former, highly valued member of staff, who was famous for her unflinching dedication to teaching standards and excellence. The award was created to…

Jeanine de Roy van Zuijdewijn, PhD candidate at ISGA, explained the dilemma countries face in the aftermath of terror attacks.

Organisation, Research

Organisation

One of the EU's most heralded weapons against tax avoidance and evasion falls prey to political whims, is applied arbitrarily, and lacks transparency, according to tax observers and lawmakers.

The English-language interdisciplinary minor ‘AI and Society’ explores the role of artificial intelligence in our society. The interdisciplinary nature of the minor is proving beneficiary for students and lecturers alike. We sit in during a class.

Hans van den Berg, CEO of Tata Steel NL, is in the eye of the storm. He continues to believe in connection, debate and knowledge that will make green steel possible.

Never before has so much research been carried out on the therapeutic effect of psychedelic drugs. Researchers at the LIBC Public Day are happy about the effect the drugs can have on depression, anxiety and PTSS, but at the same time they have some doubts. ‘The hype is bound to crash before long.’

After 45 years at Leiden University, it is time for Kees Goudswaard to retire. In his farewell lecture, he reflects on developments in his field: social security.

Monica den Boer, who has decades of experience within police and defence and was also active as a Member of Parliament (D66), has been appointed extraordinary professor of Police Studies.

Researchers Rowie Stolk and Caelesta Braun’s ‘Litigation in the name of public interest’ Kiem project included an interdisciplinary workshop on the same topic. For starting PhD candidates in particular, this was the chance to build valuable connections.

Radhika Gupta has received a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council to study how transnational Islamic charitable networks are entangled with Western humanitarianism and neoliberal welfare frameworks.

Thursday 15 January starts with a long journey and ends with an equally long working day full of current issues. Jasper visits the Mathematical Institute with the scientific directors of our faculty and attends a meeting on collaboration with the Ministry of defence.

Only one in five young people with emotional health problems such as an anxiety disorder receives appropriate professional help. GPs often fail to properly recognise the signals in children and young people, according to psychologist Semiha Aydin. How can we improve this? PhD defence 23 February.

Ionica Smeets is planning to give the prize money that she won with the Iris Medal, a prize for excellent science communication, to student projects.

Getting to know all his colleagues as fast as possible, and learning about the faculty’s strengths: these will be Jasper Knoester’s first challenges. Jasper became the new Dean of the Faculty of Science on 1 January, and he is optimistic about the corona restrictions. ‘Obviously, this isn’t the start…

Leiden University has secured an impressive 12 European exchange grants. This is good news for students, lecturers and researchers from home and abroad.