best phd theses of the faculty of science Leiden - physics, chemistry, computer science, biopharmaceutical sciences, biology, industrial ecology, environmental sciences, astronomy, mathematics

A liveable planet. More biodiversity. And resources which are being managed wisely. At the CML, we want to make an impact with our research and education. On this website you can read what we do to achieve that.

This thesis comprises four closely related interpretative studies and set out to answer the compound question: ‘How do teachers interpret their classroom interactions in terms of their pupils’ best interest?’

Best Job in America

Are predictive archaeological maps a reliable tool to play an important role in the spatial planning? One of the goals of this project was to develop best practices for the production and application of the models.

Wouter Jong and Hanne Goossen explore best practices in risk and crisis communication within the tourism sector, aiming to identify effective strategies

Inaugural lecture

Niall Hodgins, master student Biology and Science Based Business, has earned the right to call himself the best student entrepreneur in Leiden. On June 15th 2016 he won the finals of Gulliver and the associated 10,000-euro prize for his company NADES to continue developing solvents for use in preclinical…

Every year, the Leiden University Student Platform (LUS) chooses the best lecturer in the university. The prize is awarded during the Opening of the Academic Year, this year on 5 September.

Leiden University is the highest scoring comprehensive university in the biannual valorisation ranking produced by Elsevier and Science Works. They calculate which Dutch universities best exploit their scientific capital, in economic terms and in terms of societal impact. .

Students awarded the highest scores to Leiden University and the Radboud University Nijmegen. These are the findings of an annual survey by Elsevier into the best study programmes in the Netherlands. Elsevier Magazine has a weekly readership of half a million, making it one of the most iinfluential…

Students, lecturers and careers officers who attended a conference on preparing for the job market advise encouraging students to explore their career opportunities as soon as possible. What works?

On November 9, Marcel Cobussen received the Best Speaker Award of the 2021 Conference on Sound, Sound Studies, and Soundscaping.

During the 19th International ICE-IEEE ITMC Conference on Engineering, Technology and Innovation (ICE), 24-26 June 2013, The Hague, The Netherlands, Christoph Stettina et al. won the best paper award.

Professor Sjoerd Douma has been named the top lecturer on Coursera, the best-known platform for online courses. Students gave him an average score of 9.8 - almost unheard of for a lecturer in International Tax Law.

With the Dutch general elections just around the corner, it’s not always easy when political differences exist within your circle of friends. How do you not lose sight of each other in political discussions? We asked best friends Jort Schaafsma and Michiel van der Velde, both students at Leiden Law…

The red carpet treatment of expats, terrorism studies and women professors who took over the Senate Chamber. These are the best read articles of 2018.

Our language is adapted to the context in which we humans communicate. But computers ‘think’ differently. What would a language be like whose structure was optimally adjusted for use by humans and machines? Tessa Verhoef is trying to find the answer.

Three lecturers have beennominated for the LUS Teaching prize: Florian Schneider, Thijs Porck and Christine Espin. The prize, an initiative of the Leiden University Student Platform (LUS), will be presented at the opening of the academic year.

Martina Vijver has been nominated as Teacher of the Year of the Faculty of Science. She gets this nomination for the course Ecotoxicology she taught in 2022. The 52 students who took the course were hugely enthusiastic, as can be read in their positive reviews. What is so great about this course then?…

The Master of Medicine at Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) has won the national biennial award for best educational innovation in medical teaching. It was awarded the prize by the Netherlands Association for Medical Education (NVMO) for its MasterMinds Challenge (MMC).

Since 2020, the Krijn Rietveld Memorial Award has been annually presented by dsm-firmenich for the best master's or doctoral research at the Faculty of Science in the field of life sciences combined with data science. As of 2024, this award will be split into three prizes with a broader scope of research…

Our language is adapted to the context in which we humans communicate. But computers ‘think’ differently. What is the optimal form of a language for human-machine communication? Tessa Verhoef is trying to find the answer.

Prof. David Fontijn’s Economies of Destruction team was invited by Museum Midtjylland to participate in this year’s excavation in Boest, Jutland (Denmark). The exceptional site of Boest includes burial mounds, an alignment and depositions, consisting of axes, spearheads and rings, dating to the Bronze…

Practicum Artium is a joint programme by Leiden University and the Royal Academy of Art (KABK) that offers students the opportunity to develop their artistic skills. Due to the pandemic, this year’s exhibition will take place online so we asked a few of these talented students about their experience…

On 10 July 2020, the final of the European Law Moot Court Competition took place online before an impressive line-up of academics and practitioners of EU law.

The Convenors of the Standing Group on Interest Groups and the ECPR 2018 Section Chairs, have announced the winners of the best paper awards.

The Security Studies bachelor's programme has received a bronze medal in EW Best Studies 2023. Every year, EW Best Studies selects the top programmes in Dutch higher education.

More than 200 students completed their Bachelor’s degrees in combination with a three-year Honours programme last year. On 15 November, this resulted in a record number of certificates since the start of the Honours College 9 years ago. While listening to personal speeches, the students received their…

What happens in young people's brains when they win money for someone else? Psychologist Elisabeth Schreuders has shown that the brain responds differently according to the type of friendship and that the response is strongest with stable relationships later in adolescence. PhD defence on 6 March.

The Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) ‘EU policy and implementation: making Europe work!’ of Public Administration is included in the list of Class Central of the best courses in 2020.

Leiden University College The Hague (LUC) has received a bronze medal in Elsevier’s Beste Studies 2022 (Best Study Programmes 2022). This means that both the student satisfaction regarding the quality of the programme and the programme’s performance have scored above average. Each year, Dutch news magazine…

The Humanities Faculty bachelor’s degree programmes in History, and Greek and Latin language and culture were rated by students as the best. The master’s programmes in Classics and Ancient Civilisations, Dutch Studies and North American Studies also received the highest scores. These were the results…

Salvador Santino Regilme's paper “One Great Nation Under Trump? Global Human Rights in Distress Amidst American Decline” has received the

Dimiter Toshkov, Assistant Professor at the Institute of Public Administration, is a joint winner of the Haldane prize for best article published in 2013 in Public Administration - one of the oldest and most prestigious scientific journals in this academic field.

Dutch astronomer Jorryt Matthee will receive the European MERAC Prize for Best Doctoral Thesis in observational astrophysics. Matthee received his doctorate at Leiden University in 2018 and is now doing research at ETH Zürich.

Vijf opleidingen van de Leidse rechtenfaculteit hebben een medaille ontvangen als ‘beste studie’. Dit blijkt uit onderzoek dat EW Magazine uitvoerde in samenwerking met ResearchNed. De Advanced Master Air and Space Law scoorde uitzonderlijk hoog en ontving een gouden medaille.

Each year a distinguished jury will award the Haldane prize to the author(s) of the best article published in Public Administration. The Haldane prize commemorates one of the founders of Public Administration (and first President of the Royal Institute of Public Administration), Richard Haldane.

Last week Elsevier published the results of a survey among academy professors and teachers, asking what according to them was the best place to study in their profession. As for Mathematics, Leiden turned out to rank highest.

English student Anna Carey has won the Student and City film competition. Her promotional film for Leiden as a student city was the best of the 12 entries.

A full overview of all loans and debts between banks would help preventing a new financial collapse. But banks do not provide this information. An econophysics model by Diego Garlaschelli and collaborators reconstructs the most probable situation and finishes first place in two independent tests.

LUC has the best professors of the large university programmes in The Netherlands. Sharing the first place with University College Maastricht with 90/100 points, LUC scores significantly better than all other programmes. This year, next to the general Dutch university ranking, weekly magazine Elsevier…

The Leiden Bio Science Park is nominated for Best Business Park in the Netherlands. The competition is set up by 'Bedrijventerrein Magazine'.

From interview training and competence tests to internships and contact with alumni. At Leiden University there are many ways for our students to prepare for the job market, but the support available is often too fragmented and hard to find. How can we best prepare our students for a job market that…

At the New Year’s reception of the Faculty of Science on 6 January, it was announced that Annelien Zweemer, Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research, has been awarded the ‘Discoverer of the Year 2014’ prize. Matteo Brogi, Leiden Observatory, wrote the best dissertation in 2014 and Dennis Claessen, Institute…

Assistant Professor Juan Masullo of the Institute of Political Science has been awarded the 2025 Alexander George Best Article Award for his work on interviews and process tracing.

CADS alumna Ruth Erica has won the Glazen Globe with her book The Tree with the White Leaves. This is a biennial prize for the best geography-related youth or children's book.