Buurtlab 070 is a new Leiden University project in which residents, researchers and students from The Hague work together on climate, sustainability and biodiversity solutions. What do they expect of the lab?

Finally we know for sure that there is a black hole at the centre of our own galaxy. Today, astronomers unveiled the first ever photo of Sagittarius A*, a super-massive object at the centre of the Milky Way. This picture could only be taken thanks to the cooperation of telescopes worldwide.

Conducting research with academics from different disciplines is not easy. ‘But collaboration is vital to society,’ says Professor of Environmental Sustainability, Jan Willem Erisman. On behalf of Leiden’s Liveable Planet interdisciplinary programme, he is organising a symposium that will be held on…

The PhD track involves many different aspects. As well as important administrative steps that you have to take, for example, there are also introductory activities, a training programme and opportunities for research abroad.

What should we do about litter in the countryside? Can you tell from camera images if someone is guilty? And what does your heart rate really look like? Get answers to these questions and more at the free ‘Wijsneus Festival’ on Friday 16 September at Leidse Hout Park.

The Personal Professional Skills Lab (PPSL) is an elective programme for all FSW bachelor students that enter in 2024 and on. The aim of the PPSL is to encourage students to develop personal and professional skills during the bachelor, that will give them greater resilience and direction: both in their…

Giving lectures, marking exams, essays or theses, supervising students and PhDs, doing research and, as if that wasn’t enough, also trying to raise the necessary funding. There is a limited number of funds for academic research and a large number of applications. Many of our researchers therefore experience…

Anne-Laura van Harmelen has received a Vidi grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO). This talent programme will enable Van Harmelen to research the social and neurobiological mechanisms of resilience in young people with childhood trauma.

Researchers, civil servants and local residents met on 27 September to talk about partnering for sustainability. What were the results? In a green ‘city oasis’ in the centre of The Hague they spoke about the energy transition, bottom-up initiatives and citizen science.

The intake of bachelor’s students from classic immigration countries whose prior education was in the Netherlands does not reflect the growing diversity in society. This is according to data from Statistics Netherlands.

Chemotherapy, but without hair loss or extreme fatigue. It may be possible if the toxic drug only becomes active where it is ‘switched on’ by light. Matthijs Hakkennes has helped bring that idea closer to reality and obtained his PhD cum laude. ‘I received many thank-you emails from China and Bangla…

Webinar, discussion

Master’s students in the Honours Class ‘Leiden, City of Refugees?’ were asked to contemplate the concept of ‘the other’ from both an academic and an artistic perspective. The result was the exhibition ‘The Invitation’ which was presented at Stadsbauhaus on 4 June.

From 22 to 24 October, researchers of the MARBLES-project informed museum visitors about microbes: bacteria and fungi that live all around us. The event was organised around the Micro-day of Leiden, which is this year’s EU City of Science.

On Thursday, May 16, Leiden University Libraries is organizing a workshop on early photography of the Middle East. In the workshop, curator Maartje van den Heuvel shows photos of three adventurous Dutch nineteenth-century travel and photography pioneers. They created beautiful photos and photo albums…

Leiden University is featured by French magazine L’Express as one of Europe’s leading ‘schools of power’, highlighting its Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs and the Institute of Security and Global Affairs in The Hague and its role in training future leaders in politics, diplomacy, and securi…

A team of European astronomers has found a silicate-based weather system on a cloudy gas planet around the star WASP-107. It is the first time astronomers have found silicate clouds and rain. They also conclude that temperatures deeper in the atmosphere are rising rapidly. 'The presence of clouds has…

Last week we were informed that Prof. A. Hordijk, emeritus professor at the Mathematical Institute, has passed away. Arie Hordijk (1940) came to the Universiteit Leiden in 1976 and has been a professor of Mathematics of Operations Research at our institute until his retirement in 2005.

On Monday 25 November at 13:00, students and staff from higher education institutions are protesting at Malieveld against the announced cuts. How do you ensure that you and your students can be there if you should be teaching then, and cannot or do not want to cancel your class?

From pipetting in the lab to shining in front of the camera at a global student event. With 8.000 viewers watching the livestream, Marjolein Crooijmans presented the iGEM Giant Jamboree in Paris.

Watching and analysing hundreds of TEDx talks, that too can be research. That becomes clear from the work of PhD student Aletta Meinsma, who is studying potential problems in popular communication about quantum technologies. She explains how she approaches this and why it is so important.

The rising energy prices cannot have escaped anyone’s notice. They have dominated the news in recent months. As a university, we too face a big challenge as the prices continue to rise. We will all have to do our bit in the coming months, also in view of the climate crisis that we want to help resol…

Leiden University is a member of the Una Europa European alliance. This partnership of 11 research-intensive universities is working to shape the university of the future.

Recently, our respected and talented former colleague Bente Hilde Bakker passed away after a long and brave fight with illness. She received her mathematical training at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam and also obtained her PhD there under the supervision of Jan Bouwe van den Berg and Robert van…

Hundreds of students and staff from Leiden University gave a ‘whistle concert’ on 11 December against the planned cuts to higher education. Similar protests were held in other student cities on the same day.

Nederland heeft geen nationale bloem en daar wil het radioprogramma Vroege Vogels verandering in brengen. Verschillende experts van Universiteit Leiden zijn betrokken bij de verkiezing.

Leiden University staff will be starting the national staggered strike against the cuts to higher education on 10 March. The Leiden and The Hague Action Committee is calling on staff to join teach-outs at schools and other public organisations on that day.

As of 1 April 2025, Lodewijk Govaerts will be standing down from the Board of Governors due to other commitments that will demand a significant part of his time and attention within the foreseeable future. Govaerts does not want this to affect his ability to fulfil his role on the Board of Governors…

Lecture