Dr. Simon Willmetts from the University of Leiden’s Institute for Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) has been selected for a stay at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIAS-KNAW) in Amsterdam.

Learning a programming language is challenging. Even one of the first –but crucial– concepts to learn, variables, is hard to grasp. Variables can represent different roles and functions within a code and need to be named appropriately to support code comprehension and debugging.

Does the university value teaching less than research? Can you advance in science without academic awards? Which scholars inspire you? Does the university pay enough attention to both your academic achievements and your personal well-being?

There is no such thing as the quintessential cybercriminal. It can be a Russian gang or the boy next door. What we do know is that cybercrime is an enduring societal problem that can affect every one of us. ‘We do not know enough about the criminals’, says Professor of Governing Cybercrime Rutger Le…

A new AI model will soon be able to predict the risk of infection in postoperative patients. This will allow healthcare providers to take preventive measures and detect complications at an earlier stage.

He discovered how to determine the rotation and centre of our Milky Way, predicted where comets come from and laid the groundwork for radio astronomy: Leiden Professor of Astronomy Jan Hendrik Oort (1900 – 1992). Piet van der Kruit, whose PhD supervisor was Oort himself, has written a biography about…

Is polder rice a feasible circular alternative for cows on peatland? A pilot experiment started this week. On May 22nd, researchers from Leiden University and Wageningen University & Research (WUR) planted roughly 3,000 rice plants on the Polderlab near Leiden. The researchers want to test rice as a…

Performance, Subjectivity and Experimentation in Artistic Research: An Interdisciplinary Seminar

Astronomers and surgeons from Leiden are collaborating with industry to develop an optical instrument that delivers faster, more accurate imaging of tumour tissue and abnormal blood flow during surgery.

Tijdens het symposium ‘Transdisciplinary Study of Just Public Algorithmic Systems’, op vrijdag 24 maart in Den Haag, staat onderzoek naar het gebruik van algoritmische systemen in de publieke sector centraal. Een actueel onderwerp dat de laatste tijd veel in de belangstelling staat. Vijf vragen over…

An archaeologist as a modern-day shaman. An unexpected comparison Professor by Special Appointment of Public Archaeology Luc Amkreutz will make in his inaugural lecture.

As of April 1, 2018, Erik Danen has been appointed as Professor of Cancer drug target discovery at the Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research (LACDR). His discipline is cell biology of cancer, in which he focuses on the mechanisms underlying metastasis and therapy resistance.

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…

Webinar, discussion

The final meeting which took place on Wednesday 6 September marked the end of the third cohort of master students’ time participating in the The Hague Southwest Thesis Workshop. During this last meeting, master students presented their research results to residents and stakeholders from The Hague So…

The new minor ‘The (un)just society’ will start in September 2024. We asked Judi Mesman some questions about this new minor.

The University of Copenhagen and Trinity College Dublin will become members of the League of European Research Universities (LERU) with effect from 1 January 2017. The LERU, of which Leiden University is one of the founders, aims to promote the interests of scientific research and teaching.

The Leiden-Delft-Erasmus (LDE) alliance signed a collaboration agreement with the Indonesian Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Technology on 23 September.

According to the LUMC, patients experience 30% fewer serious side effects when medication doses are tailored to their DNA.

Bachelor's and master's students and PhD candidates came together from 10 to 13 July at Campus The Hague for the EUniWell Summer School ‘COVID-19: Impact on European health & well-being’. The participants attended lectures and workshops on the impact of the pandemic on public health. They also discussed…

Acute care agencies in the Netherlands are overwhelmed and this causes major problems. Physician-researcher Naomi Minderhout therefore spent the past few years at the Health Campus in The Hague researching how acute care in the Netherlands can be improved at all levels so that it remains accessible…

After decades of intensive farming, the peatland area is under pressure. Researchers, farmers and policymakers work together in the Polderlab to identify future-proof types of agriculture. ‘It’s unbelievable how quickly the system bounces back without intensive fertilisation.’

A new treatment for atherosclerosis showed promising results in isolated cells but proved to be less effective in initial animal tests. Bachelor student Biopharmaceutical Sciences Willemijn van der Heijden aimed to understand why. She investigated whether the formation of a protein layer around the…

On May 18 Janneke Wesseling gave a lecture at the conference

Oncode Investigator Mario van der Stelt and his colleagues have discovered a new potential drug that suppresses chemotherapy induced neuropathic pain.

Veel mensen denken dat zware metalen giftig zijn en mens en natuur altijd schade aanbrengen. Dat beeld moet genuanceerd worden, vindt hoogleraar Sylvestre Bonnet.

How do you increase the EU’s EQ so that citizens and countries feel a greater sense of belonging and safety in the EU, and the countries work better together? To answer this question, Professor of European Law Armin Cuyvers works, among others, with social psychologists. Inaugural lecture on 9 Decem…

Did he dare take a gamble with his PhD research? Jeroen Methorst didn’t have to think long about it. It could fail or turn out very well. The latter is the case. Methorst developed a computer system that helps researchers find the protein they need. ‘Our whole group is now using this program.’ Methorst…

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.

Search engines are getting better at answering our questions. And chatbots are increasingly likely to search the internet for relevant sources. ‘Search engines and chatbots will become more closely entwined’, says Professor Suzan Verberne.

Due to the increasing resistance to certain antibiotics, the life-threatening condition sepsis is becoming harder to treat. For her PhD project, Leiden pharmacologist Feiyan Liu used mathematical modeling to find out how antibiotics can be used more effectively to cure sepsis.

In het Leids Universitair Medisch Centrum wordt gewerkt aan de ontwikkeling van een nieuw malariavaccin dat effectiever is dan de huidige vaccins.

How can we improve the everyday sounds of the city? In his inaugural lecture on 28 November Marcel Cobussen, Professor of Auditory Culture, advocates using the expertise of sound artists to raise the quality of acoustic environments in cities.

50 years ago Lauterbur published the basic principle of MRI. Sine then MRI has become more expensive. Professor Andrew Webb describes what is needed to make MRI available for everybody.

How do you set up a successful collaboration between science and practice? That was the main theme of the final meeting of a triptych of symposia on how Leiden University can improve inter- and transdisciplinary collaboration.

There have been indications for decades that there is a link between increased iron levels in the brain and Alzheimer’s disease. Leiden physicists find this connection as well, thereby now making a distinction between different forms of iron. They identify specific iron forms that increase in Alzheimer’s…

Leiden researchers from different disciplines look together at complex social problems. What happens when they join forces with artists? The results could be seen on Tuesday 11 June during a unique exhibition. Take a look for yourself:

Researchers at Leiden University have created a unique model that mimics how disease develops after a dengue infection. This 'dengue-on-a-chip' model helps them study the virus more effectively. The timing is crucial, as climate change is causing dengue to spread worldwide.

Eiko Fried has been appointed professor of Mental Health & Data Science. This combined chair neatly fits the view that understanding complex mental health issues require the integration of statistical methods. ‘The idea that mental health problems are monocausal entities with simple etiologies is no…

What is the best living environment for dementia patients? To answer this question, Daniela Gawehns is using data mining methods to search through different types of data source. Her research is inadvertently building a bridge between two disciplines that are sometimes somewhat wary of each other.

Horizon2020 is the European Union’s research and innovation programme. Now that this programme has almost ended, it is time to think about its successor. Excellence must be at the forefront of this new programme, says the League for European Research Universities (LERU).

Mini organs-on-chips allow us to study how diseases develop and how drugs work. Although the technology is not new, it is becoming increasingly advanced. PhD candidate Bart Kramer hopes it will eliminate animal testing in the future.

Global challenges require global governance answers. For that reason, between 5 and 7 June, the interdisciplinary research programme Global Transformations and Governance Challenges (GTGC) has selected 'Emerging trends in global governance' as the theme of its annual conference. Researchers, students…

PhD candidate Manon Wintgens is using an algorithm to trawl through thousands of international tax treaties. She hopes to detect a system in the dizzying interplay between countries, businesses and documents. It is a unique research project.

Patients with certain diseases discuss their experiences and support one another on specialised internet forums. With the right data-science methods, these forums can be a goldmine of information for researchers. PhD candidate Anne Dirkson is researching these methods.

The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) has awarded Veni funding to two researchers from the Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology. Anke Ramakers and Hilde Wermink. This award offers these criminologists the opportunity to develop their own ideas over a period of three years.

Dutch influencers like Romy Boomsma and Nina Pierson have a huge following on Instagram and are increasingly sharing book tips there. Researcher Aafje de Roest wants to find out more about the reading culture they are promoting and its effect on the reading habits of their mostly young female follow…

Archaeologist Hayley Mickleburgh has already appeared in the Dutch papers a few times already due to her unusual work: the study of decomposing bodies. She studied at Leiden University, where she is now a researcher.

Professor Kurt Deketelaere (KU Leuven and LERU) will receive the first Scaliger Medal, a new award offered by Leiden University to honour people or organisations that uphold the University’s values in a unique manner.

No, this isn’t about a Star Wars Alliance that wants to suppress The Resistance. Rather, the EPIC Alliance brings together scientific experts from seven countries to address the growing threat of antibiotic resistance. Leiden professor Nathaniel Martin is part of the 11-member consortium.