With Sunday 28 January the annual European Data Protection Day, we are drawing attention to data protection and the right to privacy. Because it’s okay to stop and think before sharing our data or that of others, says privacy officer Eric van Hoof. ‘If you cross the road, you don’t do so without looking…

What does academic freedom mean? And how do we give shape to it in Leiden? The Academic Freedom Core Team considered these questions and presented its final report on 17 June.

Wearing All Stars and ‘just’ a pair of jeans, with a backpack slung over his shoulder. It was an informal Friday afternoon with Mark Rutte, NATO Secretary General, at Wijnhaven. Perched on a desk, he took questions from students in the audience.

What effect do trends in the art world have on the formation of museum collections? University lecturer Martin Berger wants to answer that question in his research within the Museums, Collections and Society project, which asks ethical questions about the origin of collections.

AI-related activities and programmes are springing up throughout the university. In research, for example, at SAILS, and for staff in workshops and co-creation labs. As an AI champion at the ISSC, Julian van der Kraats is involved in various AI developments.

‘We can only achieve this if we work together.’ This is what Rector Magnificus Hester Bijl emphasised as she spoke about professional research support at the opening of the second Research Support Conference at PLNT on 14 June. For the 80 research support staff present, learning and inspiration was…

Fifteen passionate lecturers earned their Senior Teaching Qualification (SKO) on Monday 22 January. Rector Magnificus Hester Bijl congratulated them in the Academy Building. Four of these lecturers talk about what motivated them to take the SKO and how it has benefitted them.

To tackle the high workload at our university, and at the insistence of the University Council, the Executive Board launched the Workload Reduction Fund last year. The first fund-financed projects have since begun. Two staff members explain how their ideas can help others.

Spui Campus, Leiden University’s fourth location in The Hague, will soon open its doors. The former V&D department store’s transformation into a university campus is becoming more visible by the week. Removal vans will soon be driving back and forth to move all the furniture there in time. The first…

Cleveringa Lecture

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.

Violence such as assault or head-butting causes pain, shock and distress. It is often seen as savage or senseless. But for those who commit it, violence has meaning, argues violence researcher Don Weenink in his inaugural lecture.

Public agencies are keen to use new technology such as AI to speed up their primary processes. But the internal organisation is often a major stumbling block. SAILS researcher Friso Selten conducts research at the interface between data science and public administration.

They are not always in the spotlight but are essential to our scientific research: Leiden research support professionals. And their network is growing and professionalising all the time. Over a hundred such professionals shared knowledge and gained inspiration at the Leiden Research Support Network…

Without academic freedom, we might not have antibiotics, nor a deep understanding of human behaviour. Literary criticism, climate models, and ecological restoration would be severely limited; just like ethical reflection on artificial intelligence, justice, trauma, parenting, faith and hope. All these…

Course, Worksop

What skills do students need to function as academic professionals and engaged citizens?

Workshops, lectures

The Dutch high-tech industry urgently needs specialised technicians. Leiden University aims to help meet this demand with its new specialisation in High-Tech Innovation (HTI), which brings together chemistry, physics, mathematics, computer science, astronomy and project management.

Research

Conference

University ceremony

Conference

A delegation from Leiden University recently embarked on a knowledge mission to various NGOs, universities and government organisations in Indonesia. New partnerships were formed and important knowledge exchanged, and researchers from Leiden gave guest lectures.

Eighteen researchers from Leiden University have been awarded a Veni grant by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). This grant gives promising young researchers the opportunity to develop their ideas for a period of three years.

Conference