Are international courts effective? Dr Fatou Bensouda, a former Lead Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague (ICC), will discuss this issue during her lecture at the Owada Symposium 2025. The ICC’s efficacy depends on the actions of its member states, she says.

Fat is a very valuable food component, packed with calories, especially important when other resources might be scarce. Our earliest ancestors in Africa already cracked open bones to extract the fatty marrow from bone cavities. But now a new study published in Science Advances demonstrates that our…

After various jobs as an archaeologist, alumnus Ruurd Kok became a journalist. For the ‘Traces of Leiden University’ series, he explored the past of university buildings. ‘To me, history is interesting when you can touch it.’

Festival

The fifth Leiden Research Support Network Conference, on Monday 16 June, was about the future of research support. A great opportunity for the 100 support professionals present to join interactive workshops and to network with colleagues from other faculties and the LUMC.

A surprising amount of life grows, crawls and flutters around Leiden University’s buildings. During the Biodiversity Challenge – from 30 April to 2 July – the campus will turn into a research site, and you’ll be the researcher. Grab your phone, take a look around and record what you see.

Through its Demonstrator Projects, the Dutch Oncode Accelerator consortium provides grants for preclinical cancer therapy development. The first call for these projects is open until September 2025.

Leiden University continued to reduce its carbon footprint in 2021 by being more careful with natural resources and making structural reductions to its energy consumption. This is what it says in the Sustainability Report 2021.

New archaeological research into grave goods and skeletal material from the oldest grave field in the Netherlands shows that male-female roles 7,000 words ago were less traditional than was thought. The research was conducted by a multidisciplinary team of researchers led by Archol, the National Museum…

Dutch scale-up In Ovo, a spin-off of Leiden University, has raised 34 million euros to accelerate its international growth and scale-up plans. The new funding is supported by Leiden University’s Libertatis Ergo Holding. The funding has also been provided by, among others, impact investors ECBF and ABN…

Students from the Royal Academy of Art The Hague (KABK) designed the 450 lustrum logo.

A growing number of student organisations are focusing attention on the mental, social and physical well-being of their members. This year, the first Student Well-being Award was therefore presented at the annual reception for new student association board members (’omgekeerde constitutieborrel’) in…

In September, the LeidenGobal seminar series ‘Beyond Discipline and Place in the Social Science and Humanities’ will kick off. The series, targeted at PhD’s and Research MA students, engages with the question what it means to be an interdisciplinary researcher. “These seminars can help you define your…

If your students will be taking part in an internship or period of study abroad, or if you are planning to teach in another country yourself, you should make sure that the trip is well prepared.

Education, Research

‘Be yourself. Be as gay, queer, trans as you can and show the world you exist.’ These rousing words from Looi van Kessel marked the start of the third Pride Leiden for the university boat, with the theme: ‘450 years of being yourself’.

Space for open dialogue on historical slavery was created at the Keti Koti Table at Museum De Lakenhal, organised by Leiden University and the Municipality of Leiden. There, just metres away from 17th-century paintings, Leideners shared a ritual meal and spoke about the effects of slavery and our colonial…

During the last couple of months, Leiden University has conducted many constructive discussions with the University Council and many other experts and groups from the academic community. Based on their input, the Executive board has decided to create a preliminary policy regarding our ties to Israeli…

Research

Do you have questions about the Kiem grant? You can find answers to frequently asked questions on this page.

When you decide to move to the Netherlands and bring along your family there is a great deal that needs to be taken care of. We will provide some information on schools, childcare and learning Dutch to help you settle in in the Netherlands.

No fewer than 55 applications were submitted for a Kiem seed grant, an initiative for developing new interdisciplinary, interfaculty research partnerships and encounters. The draw took place on Monday for the allocation of 22 seed grants. The Executive Board was so impressed with the number of applications…

The Just Peace Festival's first edition is live! The Opening Event marked the beginning of two weeks filled with activities to reflect on what peace and justice mean in today's world.

Didactics

The working language at Leiden University is Dutch. As not all employees at the University have the same level of Dutch language skills, there are various ways of working together.

Would you like to share your academic news with the world? Since 1 January 2024, Leiden University has been a partner of The Conversation, an international not-for-profit news platform that unlocks academic knowledge for a wide audience.

Leiden University strengthens the impact of its research through strategic collaborations and innovative themes. Here you will find more information about our vision on internationalisation and partnerships, as well as answers to questions such as: How do I benefit from the Leiden-Delft-Erasmus alliance?…

Latin America matters! With its rich history, culture, its impressive resilience and creative innovation in the face of such a diverse array of challenges, Latin America can indeed show the way forward inspiring for positive change. Working together with Latin American institutions, our researchers…

From November 13 to 17 2023, a workshop on Ethics in Caribbean Archaeology was organized at the Lorentz Center in Leiden by Eduardo Herrera Malatesta (Aarhus University), Felicia J. Fricke (University of Copenhagen) and Maaike de Waal (Leiden University).

The Leiden interdisciplinary research programme Global Transformations and Governance Challenges (GTGC) and the Embassy of Ireland are jointly organising a special book launch in The Hague. On 13 November, Gerry Finnegan, author and a former director of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), will…

The Netherlands celebrates Space Exploration Day on 12 April each year. Space exploration has brought us ground-breaking discoveries with applications on Earth as well as in space. Leiden University is at the forefront of space innovation. Below are some examples.

The University believes it is important that you are happy in your work. This is why we gauge your opinion with the personnel monitor. We use the results to make improvements that enhance job satisfaction.

Lecturers Zsuzsika Sjoerds and Sebo Uithol have been awarded a 100,000-euro Dutch National Education Institute (NKO) Scale-Up Grant for their ‘Family Dinner’ app. The app helps students develop critical reasoning skills by identifying fallacies and prejudices during a simulated family meal.

Exhibition

Facility

Lecture, Open Mic

A lecturer winning a prize, an expert appearing in the media or a professor giving their inaugural speech: these are faces we often see. But we rarely see the staff who work behind the scenes to make their work possible. They are now featured in the photo exhibition ‘The forces behind the faces’.

Personal development, Working effectively

Online discussion

The end of January arrived together with welcome guests from Saxion University of Applied Sciences. As a part of their two-day-long visit to South Holland, almost 100 Saxion archaeology students visited our Faculty.

On Friday June 2, the Liveable Planet event 'Interdisciplinary Collaborations - Food, Sustainability & Health' will take place. Here, researchers can learn everything about how to set up successful interdisciplinary collaborations. Why should you attend this event? We’ll give you three reasons.

Celebrate Leiden University’s 450th anniversary with the special International Staff Week Connecting New Opportunities, taking place from 3 to 5 September. Join academics and professionals to explore transformative developments and challenges of the 21st century in international higher education.

It’s November, so from now on we will be using Shuttel to log our travel and homeworking days. Esther van Opstal (HR Director) and Karin van den Elzen (Finance Director) were closely involved in developing our new mobility policy and the updated travel allowance. They explain how they use Shuttel and…

In March, Jan Pronk starts as the new Executive Director at the Faculty of Archaeology. We sat down with him for an interview on his background, his drive, and his take on archaeology.

If you have an idea for a new degree programme, be aware that the registration procedure is complex and time-consuming. Your faculty, the Executive Board, the Efficiency Committee for Higher Education (CDHO) and the Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders (NVAO) must all approve.

The Research Support Portal makes it easy for researchers and support staff to find information on research support at Leiden University.