Audio podcasts or audio recordings have a broad range of opportunities in education. Podcasts can be used to transfer knowledge (audio lectures), record interviews, record instructions for a field trip or to make a short radio documentary on location. Podcasts are a flexible medium, the small file size…

From research on the first human ancestors to leave Africa to mathematical models in random disturbances. For Leiden researchers have been awarded a prestigious Vici grant by the Dutch Research Council.

Leiden University considers good education to be of paramount importance. That is why we invest in our teachers’ professional development, to ensure that their teaching methods continue to match the needs of individual students.

Paul Gobée (LUMC), Kirsty Rolfe (Humanities) and Frank Takes (Science) have been nominated for the Leiden Teaching Prize 2023.

One of the largest roofs at Leiden University, that of the Snellius building, has recently been equipped with 590 solar panels and 57,000 sedum plants, making it the largest combined roof in the Benelux. The roof was officially opened on Monday 10 October by Annetje Ottow and Martijn Ridderbos, President…

The 289 students who recently moved into the tower on Kolffpad at the Leiden Bio Science Park are sitting pretty. A self-contained unit in the middle of the campus yet surrounded by green, with a launderette, games room and study area on the ground floor, and, coming soon, a branch of Coffee Star.

Research

Maryam Alqassab, an assistant professor at ICLON (Leiden University Graduate School of Teaching), helps train new PhD supervisors and knows how demanding the role can be. When asked to contribute to an online handbook for PhD supervisors, she didn’t hesitate: ‘Everything supervisors do or are involved…

Leiden University is concerned about the plans presented by Minister of Education, Culture and Science Robbert Dijkgraaf to limit English-taught courses in higher education. If these plans go forward, the university believes this could have major consequences for our international students and staff.…

Seven researchers from Leiden University have been awarded an ERC Starting Grant. This will enable them to start their own project, build their research team and put their best ideas into action.

Smiling faces, a mass dance and a bit of awkwardness: after two ‘corona editions’ of EL CID, the Leiden introduction week is back with a vengeance this year. A total of 3,412 first-year students from Leiden University and University of Applied Sciences Leiden, accompanied by 486 mentors, started EL…

The exhibition Leiden celebrates – 450 years of parades at Museum De Lakenhal shows how parades and society have changed through the centuries. Alumnus and historian Danielle van Goethem worked on the exhibition. She gives a preview.

The new Comenius Calls have been published. You can use a Comenius grant for innovation projects that help improve higher education. Associate Professor David Ehrhardt from Leiden University College (LUC) in The Hague received a Comenius grant in 2020 and is now implementing his Comenius teaching project…

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…

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.

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…

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

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.

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,…