Each academic year, POPcorner offers a wide range of workshops, courses and other support activities.

Professor Eline Slagboom has been studying multiple generations of families for over 20 years. She collects data on why some people age healthily and others decline early.

3 October University has become something of a tradition: a bit of science among the Leidens Ontzet celebrations. During the new and improved edition, the WetenschapsWarenMarkt (Science Market), visitors spoke to researchers about the nitrogen problem, making organs and the city’s connections with A…

A suitcase covered with stickers from various universities, containing a quantum light source. Since April 2024, this suitcase has been visiting scientists in Europe researching single photons: the smallest possible quantity of light. The suitcase, also called ‘Q-torch’, travels from lab to lab like…

Leiden-Delft-Erasmus is introducing three new minors this year: Space Missions, (Re)imagining Port Cities: Understanding Space, and Living Education Lab. Marja Verstelle, Project Manager for Teaching at Leiden-Delft-Erasmus, talks about the importance of multidisciplinary collaboration for the new generation…

After two years of corona restrictions, it was ‘back to normal’ in 2022. Migration, elections, the history of slavery, Russia, and Ukraine were much-discussed topics. We compiled an overview of the most-read news items and other events of the past year.

The Dutch Research Council (NWO) has rewarded four projects in which Leiden researchers are bringing science and society closer together. What are these projects?

She walked into the Sylvius building as a wide-eyed twenty-something in 1984, and next year, she’ll be leaving us as a soon-to-be retiree in her sixties. Ine Tijdens (66) reflects on more than four decades at LACDR. ‘One year, I got a little whip for Sinterklaas. That says something about my persona…

With lab tours, presentations and an information fair, Leiden University’s Master’s Open Day gave students a good impression of our master’s programmes and the career prospects that come with them.

A bacterium hiding from the immune system and picking up bits of DNA from its environment. The result: gaining new traits, such as better protection against antibiotics. Fortunately, we have not found such a damning scenario yet. However, PhD student Renée Kapteijn did find the first clues, which…

Workshops

The days of an archaeologist studying soil traces with a shovel in hand seem to be numbered. Digital archaeologists will soon launch the first version of software capable of carrying out a virtual excavation.

By looking at what is different, researchers often discover the special, the unusual. And that has already brought a wealth of highlights – also in Leiden.

Study support

ICT, Security

The new Humanities Hub in the Huizinga Building was officially opened on Tuesday 3 December. In the different labs, researchers presented the options for using digital technologies in humanities research.

Future proofing student skills with a new cohort of Digital Humanities & AI students.

Leila Akkari was appointed Special Professor of Cancer-immune interactions at the Leiden Institute of Chemistry (LIC) on 15 December. Akkari is a researcher at the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI), where she studies the relationship between cancer cells and the immune system, with a particular focus…

Fish populations in lakes and rivers have declined in recent decades. This is probably due to light and noise pollution. The Horizon Europe grant enables ecologist Hans Slabbekoorn to investigate this and improve the situation for migrating fish. In order to do so, a seven-metre-long swimming tunnel…

By means of a presentation, a panel discussion, and activities in the fresh air, the event themed ‘Environmental Humanities’, organised by the Honours College Humanities, managed to unite both people and disciplines. ‘There is a gap between humanities and sciences, but they are more alike than you might…

This spring BA International Studies will be a focus of investigation! An investigation we invite you to become an active participant in, by joining in and discussing some profound questions in order to build a strong(er) community in the uncertainty of the world around us.

A group of biology students are working on a solution to the world’s plastics problem by getting bacteria to make biodegradable plastic.

Book presentation

Buurtlab 070 is a new Leiden University project in which residents, researchers and students from The Hague work together on climate, sustainability and biodiversity solutions. What do they expect of the lab?

A team of students from Leiden won the iGEM international biology contest in 2020 with their Rapidemic mobile testing kit. The kit makes it easy to detect viruses. The team has now been nominated for the Most Innovative Student in the Netherlands prize. Cast your vote and help them develop their inv…

The thermostat in Leiden University’s buildings will be turned down by two degrees. The temperature will also be adjusted in rooms that are cooled. This is the University’s response to the government’s call to use less energy.

2024 was an eventful year for the Faculty of Humanities. Despite becoming the centre of political discussion and budget cuts as faculty ourselves, exceptional research projects were carried out and new initiatives were launched.

Leiden researchers have developed a groundbreaking model to advance cancer immunotherapy. Using a 3D printer, they create mini-tumors within an environment that closely mimics human tissue. They have also developed a method to monitor real-time interactions of these mini-tumours with immune cells during…

Lecture, Tuesday Talk

It is exactly one year ago that the university had to close, bang in the middle of the academic year. Suddenly, on that third Monday in March, we found ourselves at home, working and studying online – many of us from that cramped attic or student room. The momentous coronavirus year in pictures.

Sky-high energy prices and a climate that keeps getting warmer: it’s clear that we have to turn down the heat. Sustainability Day on 10 October will mark the start of our five-month Energy Campaign and we’ll be making the switch. Sustainability Coordinators Aranka Virágh (Real Estate) and Marlies Nijemeisland…

When a bacterium becomes resistant to one antibiotic, it may sometimes become more sensitive to another. This biological side-effect offers an unexpected opportunity in the fight against antibiotic resistance.

Festival

Legal protection. What do those involved in youth care and child protection understand by this concept? And what needs to change to improve legal protection? This question was explored by researchers from Leiden University’s Department of Child Law. Their research fits with the government’s ambition…

Lecture, Tuesday Talks: Science Insights

PhD candidate Sebastiaan van de Lubben has written live blogs about Leiden politics. But how do you go about covering an event while it unfolds? ‘You don’t have time to think while you’re at it.’ Much proved to be unknown about this relatively new journalistic genre.

An international team of astronomers, led by Will Rocha of Leiden Observatory, using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have discovered that the key ingredients for making potentially habitable worlds are present in early-stage protostars, where planets have not yet formed.

Is aggression always bad? PhD research by psychologist Simone Dobbelaar shows that it is not. In fact, children who occasionally fiercely defend themselves and stand up for their peers often feel better mentally.

What started as an idea during a social gathering led to an unexpected breakthrough in research on resistant bacteria. Biologists and chemists from Leiden developed a new substance that proves to be effective against bacteria resistant to antibiotics. They published their discovery in Nature Chemist…

Halfway through his career alumnus Marc Tijhuis made a radical change: he left the corporate world to join the global battle against waste with the International Solid Waste Association.

Study support, Study support

How do you rebuild a field of science after years of war? In June, a remarkable gathering of Ukrainian and Dutch astronomers took place at Leiden’s Old Observatory, aimed at jointly developing a recovery plan for Ukrainian astronomy.

A group of postdoc and PhDs at our Focus on Emotions lab organized an escape room for staff and students to increase their awareness of diversity and accessibility matters. It was designed particularly for this year’s EUniWell FestiWell, which ran under the headline “Towards global sustainable well-being”.…

From a ship that has been designed to tell you what maintenance it needs and when, to an intelligent journey planner for global goods transport. The three universities in Zuid-Holland are abuzz with AI research in the field of ports and maritime. Three researchers explain. Part two in a series of five…

Violette Defourt came to Leiden for her master’s just before Covid hit. Four years later, she is leading her own biotech company, which aims to radically speed up diagnostics.

Students who also want to develop their artistic talents can take a year-long art class – Practicum Artium – at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. ‘I can express my creativity and am learning to approach subjects in a visual way.’

Try to resolve the nitrogen problem, go on a regeneration journey or take part in psychological research: discover this and more at the new and improved 3 October University, ‘WetenschapsWarenMarkt’.

Career and apply for jobs

What makes a good leader, and is there such a thing as a born leader? These are questions that the master's students of the Leiden Leadership Programme (LLP) will explore this year. During the opening seminar, the new participants learn about the programme and share their expectations. 'I want to bring…

Leiden University has secured an impressive 12 European exchange grants. This is good news for students, lecturers and researchers from home and abroad.