For thousands of years bloodlines have been held as virtually unassailable credentials for leadership, with supreme political power perceived as a family affair across the globe and throughout history. At the heart of royal dynasties, kings were inflated to superhuman proportions, yet their status came…

Leiden University is developing new short stay living space for foreign guests and employees. De Kloksteeg is currently the last of four projects that has been renovated by the Leiden University Real Estate directorate since 2017. The Service Centre International Staff (SCIS) is responsible for rental…

Didactics

The power of personalized nutrition lies in being able to conduct clinical research on healthy people while capturing metabolic markers sensitive to the impact of environmental and metabolic stressors (e.g. diet, changing sex hormones and the menstrual cycle).

In this study, Tessa Dool and Thijs Bosker estimate the microplastic uptake of two odontocetes in the Mediterranean Sea and the Norteast Atlantic.

What evaluative languages (errors, mistakes, vices, etc.) did book reviewers employ? To what extent and on what occasions did they invoke early modern vices? And to what extent did this differ across fields or change over the course of the century?

Promotor: M. de Jong, Co-Promotor: Samtleben

There are several ways to become a donor to the LUC Fund, both from the Netherlands or abroad.

The high velocity tail of the total velocity distribution of stars provides essential insight into fundamental properties of the Galaxy.

On 12 March, Frederik Heitmüller defended the thesis 'Combatting tax avoidance, the OECD way? The impact of the BEPS Project on developing and emerging countries’ approach to international tax avoidance'. The doctoral research was supervised by Madeleine Hosli and Irma Mosquera Valderrama.

Natascha van der Zwan, Assistant Professor at Leiden Univeristy, together with two other authors, wrote a book that explored some of the ways coronavirus is impacting the global capitalist system – and how this could change for better and for worse.

The Sun and all the stars in the night sky reside in the Milky Way galaxy. In the at-rest reference frame of the Galaxy, typical stars travel with velocities of about 100-200 kilometres per second.

Promotor: P. T. de Zeeuw, Co-promotor: N. Neumayer; G. van de Ven

Study support, Arts and leisure, Arts and leisure

Promotor: K.H. Kuijken

Astronomer and Marxist Anton Pannekoek was a remarkable figure. This book aims to study the connections between his life as a socialist theorist and as a pioneering scientist through the prism of Pannekoek's biography.

Over time, the temperature in all buildings will be regulated in a sustainable manner. In this way, using gas will not be necessary anymore.

On 29 april 2020, Beth Van Schaack defended her thesis 'Imagining Justice for Syria: Water Always Finds Its Way'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. C. Stahn.

Promotor: Prof.dr. H. J. A. Röttgering, Co-Promotor: Dr. M. Haverkorn

Do sustainability values play a role in motivating people to act for biodiversity in successful projects and in successful leadership action? And how could these values be incorporated in current economic valuation methods?

This book is about the workings of networks of the mobile in Africa, a continent usually associated with the ‘global shadows’ of the world.

Promotor: Prof.dr. A.G.G.M. Tielens, Co-Promotor: J.B.R. Oonk

The formation of stars and planets happens over multiple scales, which can interact. In particular, planet formation happens in the dense, complex environment of star forming regions.

Chenyu Cheng defended her thesis on 6 April 2017.

Isabel van Vledder and Dieuwertje van der Vlugt, 2 astronomy students from Leiden University, have mapped the entire Milky Way galaxy in dwarf stars for the first time. This result is the most comprehensive model ever for the distribution of these stars. The findings appear in a new paper in Monthly…

Supervisor: S.F. Portegies Zwart Co-Supervisor: A.G.A. Brown

A brief review essay on some of the work that has been recently published in the emergent field of digital ethnography.

Promotor: J.N. Kok, P.E. Slagboom Co-promotor: J.F.J. Laros

Four videos tell the story of the history of Leiden University. The films were premiered on 2 November during the Leiden Film Festival.

Leiden Physicists have found evidence for the Berry-force that could be used for driving tiny nanomotors, just like a river drives a water wheel. Nanomotors could be used for drug delivery in the human body. Publication in Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology.

With the emergence of social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, it’s easier than ever to share information. Including disinformation. During his PhD computer scientist Xueqin Chen developed a new way to recognise fake news and predict how messages spread within online social networks…

A new computer simulation shows the promising possibilities of the booming field of topology. Smartly designed mechanical structures carry sound exclusively one way and are immune to fabrication errors. Publication on 17 July in Nature Physics.

Rigid materials break more easily than floppy ones. This simple observation allows to predict and control the width of cracks. Theoretical understanding of how materials break is useful in for example the production of cars or screens. Publication in PNAS.

Researchers from Japan and the Netherlands who were previously involved in the discovery of an exoplanet with huge rings have now calculated that the giant rings may persist more than 100,000 years, as long as the rings orbit in the opposite direction to that of the planet around the star. Their findings…

For centuries, astronomers have studied the universe by collecting light signals. Since 2015, the confirmation of an important prediction of Einstein allows us to explore the universe in a new way: through gravitational wave radiation. Astronomy PhD candidate Valeriya Korol proposes to use these gravitational…

What is dark matter? How do supermassive black holes form? ‘Primordial’ black holes might hold the answer to these long-standing questions. Leiden and Chinese cosmologists have identified a new way in which these hypothetical objects could be produced just after the Big Bang. Publication in Physical…

Using the Dutch-led Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) radio telescope, astronomers have discovered unusual radio waves coming from the nearby red dwarf star GJ1151. The radio waves bear the tell-tale signature of aurorae caused by an interaction between a star and its planet. The radio emission from a star-planet…

For centuries astronomers studied the Universe by collecting light. Nowadays, we are living in times of great technological advancements, which allow us to explore our Universe in a new way - though gravitational wave radiation.

Tax collection has become highly complex and the system is creaking at the seams. Is there an easier way to collect taxes? This is the question raised by Rex Arendsen, Professor of Tax Law, in his inaugural lecture on 16 September.

Scientists have developed a material that breaks one of the fundamental principles governing many physical systems. Ordinary materials transmit external forces equally, no matter where the pressure comes from. The newly developed material breaks this rule and could potentially be of interest in soft-robotics…

In important cases before the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) in Luxembourg, judgments are preceded by an Opinion of an advocate general. These Opinions are not binding on the Court, but are highly influential in practice.

Prof. Andrea Evers is a health psychologist who studies the role of behavioural factors in health and disease. As a Medical Delta Professor, she is now affiliated with Leiden University, TU Delft and Erasmus University. In that position, she conducts research at the intersection of various disciplines.…