Marjan van Dasselaar was appointed as the new ombuds officer for staff on 1 May. She will be working to create a safer working atmosphere within the University. 'There is a lot of pain felt by people who experience social insecurity. That pain always has to be taken seriously.'

Her Royal Highness Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands will attend the Dies Natalis ceremony at Leiden's Pieterskerk on Friday 7 February to celebrate our 450th anniversary.

Leiden University, Delft University of Technology and Erasmus University Rotterdam have been collaborating intensively for many years. In 2012 this collaboration was formalised in the Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Universities strategic alliance. This has allowed us to approach important and complex societal…

From cities that sometimes deviate from national foreign policy to the direct influence of geopolitics on local developments, PhD candidate Pieter Jeroense, director of VNG International, examined seventy years of the internationalisation of Dutch municipalities and observed notable trends.

Met een openingswoord, een paneldiscussie op de Spaanse Trappen in Wijnhaven en een druk op de rode knop voor het gebouw zelf, is POPcorner The Hague donderdagmiddag officieel geopend door rector magnificus Hester Bijl.

Two talented academics from Leiden who recently obtained their PhD have been awarded a Rubicon grant by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). The grant enables them to gain experience at a knowledge institute abroad.

These are turbulent times at Dutch universities. We have all seen what has been and is still happening at various campuses in the country. Protests, demonstrations, occupations. Situations and scenes that deeply affect us all.

Management, Leadership

Social scientists from Leiden University have worked with an international team to create teaching modules on migration.

Applications for Leiden University’s interdisciplinary Kiem grant have opened. Academic and support staff can apply for a 10,000-euro grant for an interdisciplinary, interfaculty research, teaching or organisational initiative.

Here you can find questions and answers about the employee experience survey.

Six professors or associate professors from Leiden University have officially been appointed 'Medical Delta Professor'. Their inauguration took place at the Medical Delta Conference in Delft on 8 April.

On Monday, Minister of Education, Culture and Science Robbert Dijkgraaf attended the start of Orientation Week Leiden (OWL), the introduction week for international students at Leiden University. He welcomed the students and spoke with them about their ambitions and the problems they face.

For 25 years now, each faculty has had an assessor, a student representing the interests of all the faculty’s students. Yet few students are aware of this.

Koos Biesmeijer, Professor of Natural Capital, and Claire van Megen, an Educational and Child Studies student, are in with a chance of winning Leiden’s Person of the Year title.

A new government, conflicts around the world and obviously a lot of science: these are the five stories about Leiden University that you enjoyed reading in 2024.

If you wish, you can take part in the collective health insurance scheme offered by Leiden University and Zorg en Zekerheid. This scheme offers a collective discount, for you and your family.

Organisation

You can suggest topics that need to be addressed in these FAQs. Please contact us at our usual email addresses and phone number(s).

Leiden University has a number of charging stations where you can recharge your electric car.

Organisation, Social

When your contract with Leiden University ends, you may be entitled to unemployment benefits under the Unemployment Act (Werkloosheidswet, WW). You may also be eligible for supplementary unemployment benefits (Bovenwettelijke werkloosheidsuitkering, BWNU).

Research into our history of colonialism and slavery, heart-to-heart conversations at a Keti Koti table, exhibitions, lectures and podcasts that establish the link between present and past. Staff and students participated in the national Slavery Memorial Year in many different ways. What have we learned…

Dutch politics has long been a paragon of stability. Think, for example, of our party system until, say, the last decade. At the same time, we also see occasional changes and significant shifts. Society has changed and this is reflected in, among other things, how we vote and how policy is made. About…

Alternative demonstrations were held in Leiden and The Hague on Thursday 14 November after the national protest in Utrecht was cancelled. Leiden University supports these protests, which were organised by WOinActie. Read our live blog of the demonstrations.

research support portal

As of 1 September 2024, Thed van Leeuwen is professor by special appointment of the chair “Monitoring Open Science Policies and Practices” at the Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) at Leiden University. The mission of the chair will be to understand the changes in policies and practices…

Study information

On Thursday 1 February, the symposium ‘On interdisciplinary collaboration: How do we foster connections?’ will take place. The event will discuss lessons learned, but also look at the future. An essential event for every Leiden researcher who is involved in an interdisciplinary collaboration, or would…

Leiden University has seven top-rated bachelor's programmes according to Keuzigids universiteiten 2026, a consumer guide to university programmes. This is based on the National Student Survey.

Why are health problems such as loneliness and obesity so persistent? What causes them to occur more frequently in some neighborhoods than others? And how can we solve them? You will learn about these topics in the new minor 'Co-creating a Healthy Society'.

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.

Organisation, Human resources

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.

The more than 370 sensors that have been hung up in Leiden University buildings to count the people present will not be switched on again. The equipment will eventually be removed from the buildings.

Exhibition

The Advanced Nano-electrochemistry Institute Of the Netherlands (ANION) consortium will receive 23.6m euros in Gravitation funding for research on important electrochemical processes for energy transition. An additional four consortia with members from Leiden have also been awarded funding.

Which teacher knows best how to inspire their students? Carmen van den Bergh (Humanities), Egbert Koops (Law) and Arjan Louwen (Archaeology) have been nominated for the 2025 Leiden Teaching Prize.

All partnerships between Leiden and international partner universities are managed in a central database.

Fancy seeing how your job is done at a university abroad? Project Managers Christina Schlüpen and Jeannette de Wolf from the Leiden Institute of Chemistry did just that. They both spent a week shadowing a European colleague: one in Bologna and the other in Berlin. This was through the Una Europe alliance,…

Skåne University Hospital, Lund University and Leiden University Medical Center will work together to expand their research, teaching and development relating to Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products. That is the essence of a Memorandum of Understanding signed at SciLifeLab near Stockholm on Wednesday…

Quietly read a book in our new reading nook, listen to interesting and bizarre stories set in early twentieth-century Leiden, walk past literary locations in Leiden and watch the best film adapted from a Leiden novel as decided on by you. April is Literary Leiden month! A month in which we pay special…

Ten Leiden researchers have been awarded a Veni grant by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). The grant, of up to 280,000 euros, will enable them to elaborate their ideas over a period of three years.

At a celebratory event, 26 projects received a €10,000 Kiem grant for 2026-2027. No fewer than 108 interfaculty teams from Leiden University submitted innovative ideas for this, the last ever Kiem round.

This page provides updates on the protest today at the Academy Building and Hortus botanicus in Leiden.

Do you have questions about data management? Please contact the data stewards:

Amidst great interest from locals and visitors, Emperor Naruhito and King Willem-Alexander paid a visit to Leiden University on 18 June. In the Hortus botanicus they talked with students and researchers. ‘This visit emphasises our shared ambition.’

Would you like to take concrete steps toward a sustainable university or do you have a broad interest in sustainability? Over 200 staff members have already joined the Leiden University Sustainability Network. And there is always room for more – even if you’re no expert on sustainability, says project…