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Education, Research

Staff from Leiden University are starting the Dutch universities’ staggered strike against the government cuts on 10 March. Follow the strike in this liveblog.

Conference

Informatiesessie

The late 1960s: across Europe, students are demanding the right to more participation within their universities. In 1971 Leiden University was granted an elected University Council. It became quite powerful: the Council even had the right to dismiss the Chairman of the Board.

How do we prepare our students for a future labour market in which flexibility, resilience and adaptability are essential?

It took a while, but the new cabinet has now finally been appointed. Four members of Schoof I studied in Leiden. Who are they?

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.

Human resources

The Terms of Employment Individual Choices Model gives you some freedom to select your own terms and conditions.

Students and staff from Leiden University are protesting in The Hague on 25 November against the billions in cuts to higher education. ‘The cuts are a terrible idea and we want to show why’, says Claire Weeda from WOinActie. ‘Research and teaching are essential to society.’

If you have a question about the transition from SAP to BAS InSite, take a look at the list below to see if it’s included there.

Three new initiatives will provide a more diverse view of Leiden’s academic history, literally and figuratively: a historical study on the background of students and scientists, a new book about the Academy Building, and two new sculptures of female scientists, Ewine van Dishoek, Professor of Molecular…

ICT, Security

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…

Parents from all corners of the university bring their children to De Kattekop, the university’s day nursery. How does manager Ellen Buschman use her psychology degree in her work?

Management

Are you looking for a coach? If so, you’re welcome to contact one of the university’s internal or external coaches; you can do this directly yourself, after choosing a coach who seems suitable.

From January 2026, Leiden University will have an additional location in The Hague: Spui Campus. As well as teaching, study and sport facilities, it will offer 90 workspaces and meeting rooms for Leiden University staff.

How has progress been made on diversity and inclusion at Leiden University over the past decade? Attendees reflected on this at the D&I Symposium 2024: Untold Stories. And in the workshops, students and staff discussed the next steps toward a more inclusive community.

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.

You can apply various means to increase your societal impact: through interaction with professionals, the commercial sector or general audiences. The University can support you in this process in a number of ways.

If you have a guest or visitor who needs access to the network drives or a ULCN account, you can have him or her registered in the guest management system (GMS) via your GMS contact person.

Diversity and inclusion are core values for Leiden University, and our aim is to offer all staff and students equal opportunities. As the University lacks adequate information about the cultural diversity of our staff, this spring we are taking part for the first time in the Cultural Diversity Barometer.…

You win the Leiden Teaching Prize and suddenly all eyes are on you. Three past recipients reflect on how this student-awarded prize has changed how they work and improved their teaching – and how they chose to spend the money.

An article in Leiden University’s Mare newspaper on 24 September states that the University Council advised against reappointing President of the Executive Board Annetje Ottow. The Board of Governors, deans and Annetje Ottow respond below.

It’s become somewhat of a tradition at Leiden University: the strategic conference at the end of June each year. About a hundred staff including the faculty boards, academic directors, directors of the expertise centres and Administration and Central Services, the representative councils and student…

The Leiden interdisciplinary research programme Global Transformations and Governance Challenges and the Embassy of Ireland are co-hosting a special meeting in The Hague. On Tuesday 30 January, John Concannon (Director of the Global Ireland Unit), ambassador Brendan Rogers and dr. Alanna O’Malley will…

From a vegan community kitchen to a green framework for drug development: sustainability became more visible in everyday campus life at Leiden University in 2025.

An independent panel recently conducted an Institutional Audit (ITK) of Leiden University. It assessed whether our quality assurance and quality culture are organised in such a way as to realise our educational vision and goals. Its initial conclusions? Leiden University easily meets all the standards…

The opening of the new academic year highlighted students' and lecturers' personal motivators. Incoming students were encouraged to be bold, forge their own paths and grow by trial and error.

Research

The League of European Research Universities (LERU) was launched in Leiden 20 years ago. This anniversary will be celebrated with a major conference (19 – 21 May) on an urgent theme: How does science contribute to sustainable and resilient societies? We put this question to Kurt Deketelaere, Secretary-General…

For many a first-year, student life has well and truly begun. This also applies to students in The Hague, who were thrown in at the deep end during the HOP introduction week. We paid them a visit on a sunny afternoon at Landgoed Clingendael.

Conference, D&I Event

As of 12 Januari 2026, the FSW faculty building is called Agora. This name was chosen by the FSW community. In ancient Greece, the agora was the heart of the city: a place for meeting, dialogue and the exchange of ideas. This is exactly how we see our faculty building: an open space where knowledge,…

Thirteen teams of inventive staff rose to the challenge of creating brand-new AI applications to lighten their workload during the AI Cocreation Lab. At the closing ceremony in the Academy Building, participants showed their pitch films, and an expert jury announced the winning prototypes.

University ceremony

SAILS and CAIRELab, the LUMC’s AI expertise centre, recently held an event that gave healthcare professionals and computer scientists the chance to meet. The meeting proved fertile ground for new collaborations.

From human rights in Sudan to a new cult of heroes in China. During the board members' visit, the Institute of Private Law and the Institute for Area Studies clarified their social relevance in no uncertain terms. What's happening here in education and research?

Since 1 November 2025, Prof. Dr. Luc Sels has been the new president of Leiden University's Executive Board. In a message to our university he introduces himself and shares his first impressions.

Do you have questions about the Kiem grant? You can find answers to frequently asked questions on this page.

Professor Sarah de Rijcke will become the new Rector Magnificus on the Executive Board of Leiden University on 15 January 2026. She will succeed Professor Hester Bijl, who will become Rector Magnificus at Delft University of Technology.

Debate

Connecting worlds, enhancing research and teaching, and providing innovative solutions to complex social issues: that is the idea behind interdisciplinary research. In that respect, a huge amount happened at Leiden University in 2023.