The Honours Academy celebrates its tenth anniversary. How did the institute develop over time, and what are aspirations for the future? We speak with the current Dean and a predecessor who was there at the Academy's founding. A conversation about identity, inspiration, and impact ensues. ‘It is about…

Can the academic year be structured in such a way to give students, lecturers and researchers a bit more breathing space? To find out, Leiden University is taking part in ‘smarter academic year’ pilots.

The number of insect species is plummeting, which is why the University is creating a more biodiverse environment around its buildings. Annetje Ottow, President of the Executive Board, planted the first bee-friendly plants in the front garden of Oude UB on 20 September.

It’s starting to become a real Dies Natalis tradition: on 8 February professors from Leiden University teach a class at primary schools in the region. This introduces children to academia and teaches them more about conducting research. ‘Had you expected me to be a woman?’

Over the centuries painters and photographers have depicted students at study in Leiden. An exhibition at the Hortus botanicus reveals the similarities and differences in 450 years of student life.

Higher education research improves the quality of education. And these investments more than pay for themselves in terms of well-being and prosperity. This is what Professor of Education Science Roeland van der Rijst will say in his inaugural lecture.

Physicist Kaveh Lahabi’s research on quantum materials led to the launch of a new company: QuantaMap. With his colleagues, he developed a sensor that will improve the production of quantum computer chips. ‘It turns out that what I need for my fundamental physics research is also very useful for the…

The Dutch Research Council (NWO) has rewarded four projects in which Leiden researchers are bringing science and society closer together. What are these projects?

On Monday, Minister of Education, Culture and Science Robbert Dijkgraaf attended the start of Orientation Week Leiden (OWL), the introduction week for international students at Leiden University. He welcomed the students and spoke with them about their ambitions and the problems they face.

Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur for human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, visited Leiden Law School on 8 December within the scope of International Human Rights Day.

Welcome to the Expertise Centre for Teaching and Learning (ECOLe). Here you will find information on didactics, teacher development, teaching innovation, assessment and the use of teaching tools at humanities. Have a question or need advice? E-mail ecole@hum.leidenuniv.nl.

With a trip through the Netherlands, the preparations for the graduation of the Master Cyber Security had already started weeks ago. The apotheosis took place on Thursday, the 11th of February. A report of a digital graduation ceremony.

All students receiving their bachelor diploma in Political Science last week had a reason or two to celebrate. Two of them especially so: they won the annual award for the best thesis in the International Relations and Organisations and the Politicologie/Internationale Politiek programmes. Congratulations,…

All Political Science graduates have good reasons to be proud of themselves, having successfully completed their studies and having demonstrated considerable personal growth. This October, fifteen bachelor students can be extra proud: their theses were nominated for a thesis prize. In the class of 2023,…

The AI chatbot ChatGPT has a clear left-liberal bias when filling in the Stemwijzer voting advice application. This was discovered by master's student Merel van den Broek during an assignment for the Machine Learning for Natural Language Processing course.

Volgens het Europese Hof van Justitie zijn de regels van de FIFA die de basis vormen voor miljoenentransfers in het wereldwijde profvoetbal in strijd met de Europese wetgeving. Stefaan Van den Bogaert, hoogleraar Europees Recht, sprak met het AD en RTL over de mogelijke gevolgen.

The Faculty Board has appointed Professor Ymre Schuurmans as Academic Director of the Institute of Public Law. Schuurmans is Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law and was Head of the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law for the past six years.

The Leiden Legal Technologies Program is runner up for the Gouden Zandloper (Golden Hourglass) for Legal Education & Research, the prize for the most innovative legal programme.

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On Sunday, November 9 2025, Prof. dr. Sarah Cramsey presented a film at the “Eastern Neighbors” Film Festival in The Hague.

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Geopolitical situations, such as the conflict in Gaza, evoke strong emotions among staff and students. How do we discuss such situations at our faculty? This issue is an ongoing part of safeguarding academic freedom at our university.

Special achievements, grants and a top 10 ranking, a great calendar year for the Faculty of Archaeology! See the overview of 2023 in the hall of fame below.

On Wednesday 31 August 2022, the graduation ceremony of the BSc Security Studies took place. The ceremony was opened by programme director Daan Weggemans.

Here we highlight the achievements of our latest PhD graduates, each of whom has made significant contributions to the advancement of the field of (bio)pharmaceutical sciences.

Would you like to do collection-oriented research, but do not have sufficient resources? Every year, the Museums, Collections and Society (MCS) research group makes several research scholarships available for this purpose. Researchers Elizabeth den Hartog and Marika Keblusek previously received an MCS…

2021 saw many prizes awarded to staff and students of Leiden Law School. Grants for new research projects were also awarded and our staff were invited to particpate on committees or recognised in other ways too. An overview of this year’s achievements is given below.

As you may know, a draft profile for a broad BA programme in Languages and Cultures has been in development for some time. On 21 December 2021, the Faculty Board decided to end the design process of that broad bachelor’s degree programme. However, as the Faculty Board and partners in the discipline…

A memorial stone honouring professor and resistance hero Ben Telders was unveiled on 12 September at the site of the former concentration camp Bergen-Belsen.

On Tuesday 12 January 2021, the annual Meijers prizes and thesis prizes were awarded at the online New Year’s event broadcast from the Old Observatory.

De Universiteit Leiden is al 25 jaar stevig geworteld in Den Haag. Dat werd zichtbaar tijdens de feestelijke bijeenkomst rondom de foto-expositie Universiteit Leiden in Den Haag: Onderzoekers van de stad.

Claire van den Helder (fourth-year Cultural Anthropology student) and Orestes Kyrgiakis (second-year Cultural Anthropology student) won the Pieter de la Court Medal 2021. The Pieter de la Court Medal is an initiative for students by students and is awarded annually to students who voluntarily contribute…

An exhibition at Oude UB takes visitors to the historical Silk Road. Old maps, clothes and jewellery reflect the rich heritage of the cities of Central Asia and their inhabitants.

In this NRC article, sociologist John Boy together with Martijn Lampert and Lonneke van den Berg discuss the three biggest paradoxes of Generation Z: limitless freedom but experiencing enormous stress, being culturally independent but economically dependent and being highly idealistic but also constantly…

The 'Melissa' project strengthens the Netherlands' digital resilience against ransomware through public-private collaboration. Discover the successes, such as the dismantling of the Qakbot botnet, and the insights that contribute to a more effective approach to combating ransomware crime, both nationally…