A day filled with sunshine and prospective students. On Saturday 2 March, Leiden University's faculties welcomed around 6,000 prospective students and 4,000 parents. Throughout this sunny day, they heard all about what it's like to study at Leiden University. Here's an impression of the event at Leiden…

Facility

Are you looking for a free and transparent way to submit your scientific articles for peer review? Then look no further than Peer Community In (PCI). This platform, which is supported by Leiden University, is a good alternative to publication in traditional peer-reviewed journals.

Last July, Robbert Dijkgraaf, Minister of Education, Culture and Science and Annetje Ottow, President of Leiden University's Executive Board, opened the new front office of the Leiden University office in Jakarta. The office - located on the grounds of the Dutch embassy - has a dual role. Firstly, it…

During the Week Against Loneliness, we ask staff to (symbolically) open their doors, especially those such as lecturers and student advisers who work with students.

On April 10 -11, the annual national event NWO ICT.Open 2024 takes place in the Beatrix Theater in the Jaarbeurs in Utrecht. The event brings scientists from all ICT research disciplines and industries together to learn, share ideas, and network.

In totaal hebben 21 Leidse onderzoekers succesvol een aanvraag ingediend voor de NWO SGW Open Competitie XS. Twee van de beloonde projecten komen van onderzoekers van FGGA: Silvia D’Amato en Jaroslaw Kantorowicz.

On Tuesday 5 September, the opening of the faculty year took place at the Kamerlingh Onnes Building. Staff and students gathered in the Cleveringa Room to take part in the interactive part of the programme.

On Tuesday 8 April, the CV of Failures exhibition was officially opened by Hester Bijl. Members of the university community share their personal stories during the exhibition. They offer an honest insight into the rejections, setbacks, and unexpected turns that have shaped their journeys.

The social sciences are vital in navigating complexities, fostering understanding and bridging divides. This was celebrated during the faculty opening of the academic year.

There is a lot of discussion about international students and Dutch universities. The Cultural Anthropology and Sociology of Development programme is an international bachelor's programme. Forty per cent of our students come from outside the Netherlands. We ask five students how they feel about studying…

Four researchers from Leiden University have been awarded NWO Open Competition grants in the Science domain. This is for research into subjects such as immune cells in tumours, antibiotic resistance and magnetic semiconductors.

Social

In March, Dutch universities will take staggered strike action against the planned cuts. The strike will begin in Leiden on Monday 10 March. The university supports the strike action but is not going to close that day. Below we inform you how the strike will affect our university, students and staff…

Chinese Studies, History or Urban Studies? How do you choose the right degree programme for you? Hundreds of prospective students tried to find out at the Bachelor’s Open Day in Leiden and The Hague. A new formula helped them on their way.

After a turbulent Covid year, the well-being of our students and staff has the highest priority. How can we prevent physical and mental health problems? This was the key question at the Opening of the Academic Year in Pieterskerk in Leiden on 6 September.

Neuroscientist Anne Urai has been awarded a Veni subsidy to further develop her ideas over the coming four years on how the brain makes choices. Why did she receive the award? Urai answers five questions about her Veni grant for young researchers.

Education

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.

The new Humanities Hub in the Huizinga Building was officially opened on Tuesday 3 December. In the different labs, researchers presented the options for using digital technologies in humanities research.

Klare taal en betere regels rond geheimhouding. Dit zijn enkele aanbevelingen van Leidse onderzoekers om de toegang tot informatie te verbeteren voor burgers die procederen tegen de overheid. Bestuur en rechter moeten zo vroeg en zoveel mogelijk informatie delen.

Two research projects with researchers from Leiden University have been awarded a Dutch Research Council (NWO) Open Competition Domain Science-M programme grant. These grants fund curiosity-driven, fundamental research in the Science domain.

This month, the first part of the quality assurance audit (ITK) took place. A team of auditors from the Nederlands-Vlaamse Accreditatie Organisatie (NVAO) visited us to review how we ensure quality in education and how this aligns with our overall vision.

The Leiden University Fund and dsm-firmenich are proud to open the call for the Krijn Rietveld Memorial Awards 2025. These annual prizes honour innovative research at the Faculty of Science that contributes to a more sustainable world and has a clear societal impact.

Doctorates, scholarships, or a trip around the world during a sabbatical: when it comes to our careers, we often talk about what went well. The CV of Failures exhibition at the Herta Mohr Building shows the other side of the coin. On large boards, university staff talk about rejections, setbacks, and…

On Prinsjesdag, 16 September 2025, the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs (FGGA) opened the new faculty year with a reception at Wijnhaven. The opening was dedicated to the university’s lustrum theme: ‘Ahead of Time’.

Professor of Psychiatry Anne Speckens studied medicine in Leiden and did her psychiatry training there too. She opened the Radboudumc Center for Mindfulness in Nijmegen. What does she do there and how does she look back on her time as a student?

The programme for the interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary event The Knowledge Orchard has been announced. This anniversary event consists of more than 20 sessions aimed at providing you with practical next steps in your interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary work. Register now!

A degree in the Humanities provides a strong start in the labour market, according to research conducted among alumni who graduated between 2020 and 2024.

JSixty researchers have received a grant of approximately 50,000 Euros during round 3 of the NWO Open Competition SSH-XS pilot programme. Two of them are working at FGGA: Jolien van Breen and Honorata Mazepus. The sixty researchers received the grant to start working on a promising concept or an innovative…

On Thursday 9 September, Lord Martin Richardson (Scottish Supreme Court judge) gave a keynote speech to the new group of Advanced Master’s students.

Would you like to organise a session during the biggest multidisciplinary event in Europe - the EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF) conference - to be held in Leiden from 13 to 16 July 2022? If so, send us your proposal! Archaeologist Corinne Hofman is one of the driving forces behind the conference and…

From Wednesday 13 July 2022, for four days, Leiden is at the epicentre of European science, as it hosts Europe's largest interdisciplinary conference, the EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF). We interviewed Marja Spierenburg, Professor in the Anthropology of Sustainability and Livelihood. In addition to being…

Smart drug carriers, uneven cosmic expansion, and solar energy storage in molecules. These are the topics of three newly awarded NWO-XS grants to researchers at the Faculty of Science.

From medicines from snake venom to supercrops and the origin of words. Thirteen researchers from Leiden University will receive Open Competition XS grants from the Dutch Research Council (NWO).

The touring exhibition 'Presenting with the city' has touched down in the Lipsius Building. In the presentation, students and researchers show how their research has contributed to the city.

Research

A new university-wide survey is now open to all involved in conducting, teaching, advising on, or supporting research related activities at Leiden University, aiming to better understand the current state of Open Science awareness and practice. Initiated by Archaeology’s then PhD candidate, now guest…

Bjørn Peare Bartholdy is Archaeology’s representative in the Open Science Community Leiden (OSCL) . We spoke with him about the value of Open Science and how to make a good start. ‘Open Science is headed to be a regular way of academic work.’ So better to jump on the Open Science bandwagon early on.

Library, Research

Library, Research

Library, Research

Library, Research

Library, Research

Three enormous maps of China, created during the reign of three different emperors of the Qing dynasty, have now been made available in open access and are downloadable via Leiden University Libraries’ (UBL) Digital Collections. The rich maps are an early example of academic collaboration between the…

With a single sample of water or soil, researches can analyse the DNA of everything that is living in that environment. During her research, PhD candidate Beilun Zhao discovered a way to analyse not only the kind of species, but also the age of the species in a water sample. The method showed its first…