For the academic year 20265-2027, five (teams of) teachers will receive a Grassroots or Grass shoots grant. Here you can read about their projects.

Leiden University wants to give everybody the opportunity to work in the best circumstances.

Research, Transferable skills

Staff development is an important key to promoting staff and student well-being at Leiden University. By following training courses and workshop, you can gain knowledge outside your own field of expertise.

On 26 May, the Food for Thought lunch meeting about Mental Health Disorders brought together researchers from across Leiden University to explore how interdisciplinary collaboration can strengthen research and societal impact. Moderated by Judy Veldhuijzen, the session positioned mental health within…

Hoe moet het bestuursrecht burgers beter beschermen tegen de overheid? Die vraag is volgens promovenda Joyce Esser urgenter dan ooit. Op 23 juni 2026 verdedigde zij haar onderzoek aan de Universiteit Leiden en ontving daarvoor de hoogste onderscheiding: cum laude.

During Consent is Key Week, we’re exploring ways to eliminate sexual violence within our university community. We spoke to Assistant Professor Mischa Dekker, who specialises in gender-related violence, about how to prevent unacceptable behaviour among students and staff.

In het jaar voor overlijden door zelfdoding zag een groot deel van de mensen een zorgprofessional. Het optreden van zorgprofessionals is van cruciaal belang om het aantal zelfdodingen in Nederland te verminderen. Daartoe moet de kwaliteit van zorg beter, in het bijzonder voor jongeren, jongvolwassenen…

If universities and research institutions want to tackle unacceptable behaviour in academia, they must shift their focus from dealing with complaints to preventing such behaviour in the first place. This is what the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) has concluded. It has therefore…

Four researchers from Leiden University will receive funding from arthritis foundation ReumaNederland over the next five years. This should facilitate long-term research into arthritis.

How does loneliness work? What sometimes makes friendships complicated for autistic people? And why can the school building be such an unpleasant place for some pupils? Pupils explored this during their pre-university classes. 'I now have a good idea of what studying psychology entails.'

Many problems in criminal law can be predicted by the academic world and using knowledge from criminal law practice, says criminal lawyer Professor Patrick van der Meij.

As part of Leiden University’s aim to be a safe and healthy environment for all staff and students, several activities and lectures were organised in an action week around suicide prevention. Dedicated benches were also placed at several university buildings, including at the Faculty of Humanities.

Preventie, signalering en opsporing van seksuele uitbuiting van jongeren kan effectiever via buren, klasgenoten en andere mensen uit hun sociale leefomgeving. Dit volgt na onderzoek van universitair docent Ieke de Vries in samenwerking met het Centrum Kinderhandel en Mensenhandel (CKM).

Professor of rheumatology Annette van der Helm focuses her research on the earliest possible detection of inflammatory joint rheumatism to prevent symptoms from becoming chronic.

We need to be quicker and better at discovering side effects. In her inaugural lecture, Agnes Kant, Professor by Special Appointment of Innovation of Pharmacovigilance, calls for more research on these adverse effects.

Dutch retailer Blokker has gone bust. But a restart could be possible depending on the trustee. Research conducted by Jessie Pool and her colleagues has shown that one third of all bankruptcy trustees would prioritise saving the high street.

Professor of Media Law and Information Society Tarlach McGonagle is concerned about the increase in online disinformation and hate speech. He argues that human rights should guide new policies for the online world. McGonagle will give his inaugural lecture on 9 May.

Leiden researchers Arjen Doelman, Tom Huizinga and Manfred Wuhrer have been awarded ERC Synergy Grants worth millions of euros for their research on preventing tipping points being reached in ecosystems and helping eradicate rheumatism.