Public Administration student Iris did an internship at the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations. During her internship, she dealt with election accessibility.

‘Wonder is the beginning of insight. Don’t let that academic curiosity erode.’ This was Jan Anthonie Bruijn’s call to administrators and funding bodies in his valedictory lecture.

Better recognition and rewarding for support staff. Organisations tend to overlook this, despite the crucial role this group plays. A new initiative is set to change this for our faculty. Paul de Hoog explains how FWN support staff will soon have even better opportunities for growth.

Young Academy Leiden wants to bring together young academics. After all, it is not that easy in practice to meet peers outside your field. With inspiring and fun Faculty lunches, the organisation strives to connect young researchers. The most recent, hosted at the Faculty of Social and Behaviourial…

Want to find out how to assemble a human skeleton? Do you know what chemistry can be found around you? And are you easily fooled by fake news? Discover this and more at our Science Fair on 3 October.

Pigeons, zebra finches and parakeets. Carel ten Cate studied bird sounds. But not just that. Together with linguists from Leiden, he investigated parallels between birdsong and language. On 9 June, his farewell symposium was held to mark the end of his broad career. Well, the end? Carel ten Cate has…

Leiden University will share impactful research and teaching with policymakers, businesses and the general public at the Impact Fair in Utrecht on Thursday 3, Friday 4 and Saturday 5 April. Visit our stand, meet over a hundred inspiring exhibitors – and get a discount on your ticket.

With which questions do you go to HR, and when should you contact the department Personnel ? What about leave arrangements? And what about career development? In this series, an HR colleague answers a different question every time. We’re kicking off with Elice Schöne, Head of HR at FWN.

The Social Citizenship and Migration interdisciplinary research programme is holding its annual symposium on 17 January 2024. This is the chance for Leiden researchers to share their experiences with a large network of colleagues with expertise in migration and social impact.

Winning an award at the start of your studies? No problem! Lieke Vertegaal is 20 years old and a first-year Computer Science student at Leiden University. On November 29, 2021, the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences (KHMW) awarded her a Young Talent incentive award.

What does research support involve? And what should we do to improve the support for researchers at the University? We spoke to Maribel Adame Valero, research policy officer and external cooperation coordinator at the Institute of Biology and a member of the Leiden Research Support (LRS) focus group.…

Elise Darras studeert aan het Leiden University College (LUC) en be besloot een maand lang stage te lopen in Frankrijk bij H2Air.

Doing your taxes, Netflixing or driving a car: more and more daily activities are supported by computer applications. It is challenging and expensive to test software thoroughly, leading to errors in most applications. PhD candidate Benjamin Lion made a mathematical framework to deal with this problem.…

As a university, we enjoy collaborating with international partners, but it can happen that sensitive information falls into the wrong hands. For that reason, employees need to carefully weigh up the possible risks of every potential cooperation. Adviser Merel Snoeck explains the new knowledge security…

Receiving a gift is nice, but giving a present also makes you happy. Development psychologist Mara van der Meulen former member of the Leiden Consortium on Individual Development (L-CID) answered four questions about giving gifts.

Charlotte Holt is a second year International Justice student at Leiden University College. She did an internship at Academia Neerlandesa; a language school that offers Dutch language courses to medical professionals. ‘An internship can become very beneficial for those who wants to discover where their…

With a healthy dose of logic and creativity, mathematics student Lance Bakker shows how computers can prove complex mathematics. His method proves intricate formulas without calculating every intermediate step. It earned him a nomination for the Leiden Science Young Talent Award 2025.

Nicky Boer is enrolled in the Educational Master’s Programme in Social Studies/Social Sciences at ICLON, the Leiden University Graduate School of Teaching.

We catched up with Annette Righolt, Honours College coordinator at FGGA, about a grant, a new course and the new year.

Una Europa, an alliance of 11 top European universities, provides annual seed funding for new research and teaching projects. Assistant Professor Carmen van den Bergh applied for funding with her Flemish and Italian counterparts. Thanks to this funding and the support of Erasmus+, students can now take…

Almost 3,000 students from the Faculty of Humanities completed the National Student Survey (NSE) in the spring of 2022. With a response rate of 38%, the Faculty scored slightly above the national average.

Where was that message again? In Teams, Outlook, or in the chat? And where is that document stored? On the J-drive or in a Teams channel? By collaborating smarter in the cloud, you keep overview, save time, and work together more effectively.

Wat als je advies zou kunnen krijgen van je toekomstige zelf? Jean-Louis van Gelder en zijn collega’s ontvangen een ERC Proof of Concept-beurs voor het project YourFutureU, waarin deelnemers gecoacht worden door een virtuele AI-versie hun toekomstige ‘ik’.

In September, university lecturers Olga van Marion and Astrid Van Weyenberg started working as education coaches. How did their first semester of activities go and what is next on the horizon?

Human resources

Career Services of the Faculties Governance and Global Affairs, Social Sciences, and Humanities joined forces to organise the ‘Meet the Employer’ Week held from 6 – 10 December 2021!

Goede en actuele data zijn cruciaal om infectieziekten effectief te bestrijden en de volksgezondheid te beschermen. Bijzonder hoogleraar Susan van den Hof en haar team zetten zich in voor betere data-methoden, zodat infectieziekten vroeg worden opgespoord en doeltreffend worden aangepakt.

Starting this academic year, the regular Performance and Development interview (ROG) has for academic staff been replaced by an annual interview. A survey will be held in early December to evaluate this pilot.

Male scientists owe their position to their brilliance, women to their hard work. Or do they? The Equalista app helps staff and students at the Faculty of Humanities to become aware of gender equality.

Organisation, Social

As a Leiden University’s master’s student in Political Science you conduct independent research and report your findings to fellow academics and, who knows, to a larger audience. Your thesis is a showcase of your academic skills and personal interest, and perhaps even passion. Easier said than done,…

Organisation

Abuse of power, sexually transgressive behaviour and non-funny jokes: they all came up in the stage show Mindlab, which was performed at the end of September to get staff of the Faculty of Humanities to talk about undesirable and transgressive behaviour.

Education, ICT

Chronic pain, nausea or vomiting due to chemotherapy. If you suffer from such ailments, medicinal cannabis can be a godsend. Though a downside is that it can make patients high. Therefore, Leiden researchers from the Oncode Institute are investigating alternatives that do not make you high. In Nature…

Marjolijn joined Leiden University in June as Policy Adviser on Healthy University and Staff Absence. She is passionate about healthy living and is pleased to be able to draw on this in her work. She is currently hard at work on the preparations for Healthy University Week, which will be from 31 October…

Are you thinking of applying for a Kiem grant but still tinkering with your idea for an interdisciplinary project? Let Leiden colleagues from the first Kiem round inspire you! Lydie Cabane invited researchers from all over the world for a workshop entitled ‘Protecting against disasters’.

On 26 September – the European Day of Languages – we will shine a spotlight on our rich array of language and culture programmes. The faculty is organising the Evening of Languages, and we warmly invite you to join us. With an inspiring event we offer the public the opportunity to discover your area…

Leiden University offers one full Leiden University Excellence Scholarship (LExS) to an African candidate interested in the two-year Research Master African Studies programme (ResMA AS); thus non-EEA/non-EFTA* applicants. LExS is a prestigious scholarship and includes a fee waiver up until the statutory…

Security

Medievalism is the area of academic study that investigates the reception and reconstruction of the medieval past since the Middle Ages came to an end.

Human resources

We asked a lot of everyone last year. The Personnel Monitor showed that the workload was high in 2022 and Covid took its toll. I therefore think everyone deserves some downtime. Time away from the daily grind.

Work balance is an important issue within the Faculty of Humanities. Education coaches Astrid Van Weyenberg and Maarten van Leeuwen also deal with this regularly during their coaching sessions with lecturers. They have listed their most important tips.

Setting a good example by showing that it’s good to make choices. That it’s okay say ‘no’. And as a manager, using a range of tools for Recognition & Rewards. Bram Klievink, Scientific Director and Professor at the Institute of Public Administration, shares his ambitions for Academia in Motion.

Three Psychology students will present a poster of their thesis research on Alzheimer’s and dementia at the international conference AAIC Neuroscience Next. ‘I remind myself to recognise - without fear or shame - when I don't know something.’

AI ultrasounds: LUC alumna empowers women in rural Africa