AI has applications in all kinds of fields. Would you like to organise an event on the possibilities of AI in your research field? The Leiden interdisciplinary research programme SAILS offers you experts on content, money and other support.

In the Netherlands it is now possible to visit non-essential shops if you make an appointment beforehand. But when you book an appointment you have to provide a lot of personal data. Are shops allowed to ask you for all this data and what happens to it?

Monday 14 November marks the start of the Week on the International Student. The perfect moment to reveal our new Acts of Kindness Pillar. At 12.00 hours on the dot, the festive reveal will take place in the restaurant at KOG. Everyone is cordially invited to take part in the ceremony and have some…

Education, Research

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Education, Research

The first global safety summit on Artificial Intelligence is a fact. Prime Minister Sunak organised the conference because he believes that the issues related to AI can only be dealt with by governments. But the real issue with AI remained undiscussed at the summit, Reijer Passchier claims in Dutch…

The Academic Language Centre is organising an introduction to Ukrainian with the Russian Studies/Russian and Eurasian Studies programmes. This six-part course is meant primarily for people who are in contact with refugees from Ukraine.

The winners of the JSVO teaching prizes for academic year 2020-2021 were announced at the opening of the faculty year on 7 September 2021.

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.

How do you get fit after these challenging times? How do you actively start a healthy lifestyle? Healthy University Leiden would like to address these topics during the upcoming from #COVID to #GOFIT Week, which will take place from 21 to 25 June 2021.

‘It truly is a plan by and for us all,’ said Annetje Ottow, President of the Executive Board, at the Dies Natalis celebration on 8 February. Leiden Law School was also actively involved developing in the strategic plan.

Organisation

Dutch municipalities are racing to digitalise, introducing virtual services, fraud-detection algorithms and more. The digital city may not always serve its residents. Professor Jiska Engelbert calls for civil servants who dare to push back.

It can be irritating, all that logging in to university systems: entering your password for the umpteenth time and confirming in an app or with a code that you are the one who is trying to log in. Find out why we really do need to do this.

On Friday 20 September, the Dutch associations for Privacy Law (VPR) and for Privacy Law Attorneys (VPR-A) announced their annual thesis award winner in a ceremony held in the Lorentz Lecture Hall at Leiden Law School. We are very proud that Kimmy Shah and Hannah Appel, recent graduates of the Advanced…

Drug use during pregnancy seems like a choice without any consequences. However, the Dutch Public Prosecution Service (OM) has decided to prosecute a mother for using alcohol and drugs during her pregnancy. Mariëlle Bruning, Professor of Child Law, tells current affairs programme ‘Nieuwsuur’ that she…

Wereldwijd worden veel samenwerkingsverbanden met Rusland stopgezet vanwege de oorlog in Oekraïne. Hoe zit dat met de ruimtevaart, waar de Russen ook een groot aandeel in hebben?

It is not possible for juvenile courts to properly assess whether it is necessary to place a child in care. This is evident from a fact sheet that has been prepared by legal scholars from Leiden University, commissioned by the Dutch House of Representatives and others.

The 16-year-old girl was staying in a closed juvenile care institution where, among other things, she was administered 'pain stimuli'. The charges are the first of their kind, says Mariëlle Bruning, Professor of Children and the Law, to Dutch newspaper the Volkskrant.

Leiden University will deepen its cooperation with knowledge institutions in Africa. During a trip to Ghana, a delegation spoke with several African knowledge institutions about intensifying their collaboration.

As the end of the year approaches, the new University Sports Centre (USC) building is nearing completion. Vice-President of the Executive Board Timo Kos visited the USC, which celebrates its 55th anniversary this year, to see how work is progressing.

On 8 February, the Universities of the Netherlands (UNL) published the measures that universities themselves are intending to take to manage the influx of international students and enhance the Dutch language skills of lecturers and students.

A leaving do, birthday or other celebration? Many people like to ask for a donation to a good cause for their birthday or anniversary present. Leiden research can be one such cause.

Organisation

The Schoof cabinet has presented its budget. As expected, higher education is facing severe cuts. In the coming period, the Executive Board will regularly look at the consequences of what it deems an irresponsible policy.

On 27 May, 180 pupils from Vlietland Secondary School visited Leiden University’s law faculty. At the school, pupils learn about themes that are important for them as well as for the world, such as sustainability, globalisation and children's rights.

February 8 saw the launch of the Medical Delta ‘Sustainable Hospitals’ Interdisciplinary Thesis Lab. The research projects will touch on different aspects of healthcare. The students hope they will be able to offer practical solutions to make hospitals greener.

Around 1:00 p.m., a group of more than one hundred pro-Palestinian protesters gathered at the The Hague campus. Participants chanted slogans and put up banners. The vast majority of those taking part left the building after a short time. However, a small group refused to leave. Follow updates in this…

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.

Many students who graduated during the pandemic were unable to celebrate their graduation in style. To make up for this, they were given the chance to sign their name in the Sweat Room on Friday 26 May.

By making use of artificial tax arrangements via the Netherlands and other countries, corporations and wealthy individuals worldwide together manage to avoid paying $472 billion in tax.

Marjolijn joined Leiden University in June as Policy Adviser on Healthy University and Staff Absence. She is passionate about healthy living and is pleased to be able to draw on this in her work. She is currently hard at work on the preparations for Healthy University Week, which will be from 31 October…

It has been preying on people’s minds: the outline agreement and its proposed cuts to higher education. Although the content is not yet set in stone − the outline agreement will be developed into a coalition agreement − we are certain that Leiden University should also expect substantial cuts.

Over the past year, many students and staff members of Leiden Law School have been lauded for their extraordinary achievements. For instance: a grant received, an award won, or an appointment by a special committee. We have combined all these achievements in our Honours Gallery 2022:

In this flash interview we get a flash introduction of our President and alumna Annetje Ottow.

Rector Magnificus Carel Stolker will retire on 8 February. If there’s one theme running through his career, it’s the links between the University and society. In this series of pre-retirement discussions, Stolker will talk one last time to people from within and without the University. In this edition…

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 student debate in Leiden’s Stadsgehoorzaal promised to be ‘the key to your vote’. That may sound hyperbolic, but what this well-attended debate did achieve was increased trust in politics. ‘They even let each other finish their sentences’, the flabbergasted students concluded at the end.

The first hybrid Leiden Research Support Conference – organised for and by research support staff – took place on 27, 28 and 29 September and focused entirely on organising effective research support.

If your work allows it, you can work partly from home and partly at the University. How this combination of working from home and at the University will turn out for you depends on your own working activities and situation and those of your team. This means that tailor-made solutions are needed.

De Universiteit Leiden zet in op de versterking van de ondersteuning voor onderzoekers en onderzoeksgroepen bij extern gefinancierde onderzoeksprojecten.

Conference

Timo Kos has been Vice President of Leiden University’s Executive Board since 1 March. Who is he and how have his first weeks been? ‘Higher education is under threat; we’re under fire.’

Public agencies are keen to use new technology such as AI to speed up their primary processes. But the internal organisation is often a major stumbling block. SAILS researcher Friso Selten conducts research at the interface between data science and public administration.

Guiding high school students as a mentor at Pre-University College: what is that like? And what does it all entail? As part of the 20th anniversary of PRE-College Leiden, we asked two experienced PRE-mentors about their job - and what makes their work so meaningful. ‘You really see them grow.’

Four PhD candidates from Leiden University started the two-year Europaeum Scholars Programme this month. They have now completed the first week of the programme. How was it and what do they expect from this programme?

Using enslaved people as servants, becoming an administrator in the Dutch West India Company or making uniforms for the colonial army. Many people from Leiden played a role in colonialism and slavery. Historians are conducting preliminary research and finding striking examples.