ICT

The Dutch universities are shocked by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and empathise with all those affected by this act of aggression. Leiden University also calls for solidarity with and support for all those affected by the war.

Leiden University has joined the Hague Climate Agreement. This comprises 38 climate deals aimed at making The Hague climate neutral by 2030.

Leiden University's Pre-University College is celebrating its 20th anniversary. The programme introduced hundreds of secondary school pupils to science and the university. We asked those involved how PRE became so popular: ‘The students are the reason it still exists today.’

Graphic Novels and Comics have developed from pulp status to an entirely self-contained medium. This form of storytelling is not limited to stories of superheroes but has been used, molded and reshaped to display historical events, classic stories and autobiographical memoirs. But where should you begin…

Social

Social

Every year around 8 February, Leiden University, the oldest university in the Netherlands, is celebrating its birthday. Why does the King still receive a telegram on the day of the Dies Natalis? 4 questions on the origins of Leiden University and its traditions for celebrating its foundation day.

Emeritus Professor of Theoretical Physics Wim van Saarloos received an honorary doctorate from the University of Twente last Friday. In addition to his work at Leiden University, Van Saarloos was president of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) until June 2020 and he led The Dutch…

Education, Organisation, Research

ICT

From choosing the right tools to locking your screen when you go to get a coffee: it’s often the little things that help you work securely. With our campaign ‘Check it: work privacy and security smart’, in the coming month we are focusing on protecting our information and data, including personal data.…

Organisation

Leiden University and the Municipality of The Hague signed a collaboration agreement on sustainability on 1 November. Their main goals are to build a network, share knowledge and explore the possibilities of a Climate Centre for the people of The Hague.

From sponsored runs to festivals and from open days to concerts: Leiden University hosts lots of events each year. We are highlighting six of them for 2023.

Since the demonstration over a year ago on the Wijnhaven campus, Leiden University has developed plans and initiatives to create the safest possible work and study environment for our university community. The Executive Board would like to explain what has happened since and what else we can expect…

Historians recently started preliminary research on Leiden University’s role in colonialism and historical slavery. Our knowledge about this is too limited and fragmented. They are looking with fresh eyes at Leiden’s archives and collections. An interview with historians Alicia Schrikker and Ligia G…

Security

Gianclaudio Malgieri, Associate professor at eLaw, was invited to present his research on human Vulnerability and EU digital ecosystem at the University of Westminster in London.

Education

Leiden University contributed to colonialism and slavery through its research and teaching. And governors and residents of Leiden had an active role in colonial networks. These are the findings of two explorative studies presented on 3 April.

From March 1, Alenka Prinčič will be the new Head of the Centre for Digital Scholarship (CDS) at Leiden University Libraries. Her expertise in the areas of Research Support, Research Infrastructures and Open Publishing as well as her longstanding experience as a manager are excellent starting points…

BRAIN Biotech and the Leiden University will jointly develop an Aspergillus based production strain with high yield and thus contribute to a bio-based circular economy. The cooperation is based on BRAIN´s molecular tool BEC.

Organisation

Michael Kowalski has been appointed as part-time Professor by special appointment of Applied Ethics in Intelligence and Security at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) at Leiden University.

The more than 370 sensors that have been hung up in Leiden University buildings to count the people present will not be switched on again. The equipment will eventually be removed from the buildings.

On 22 November, Leiden scientist Jan Vonk received an ERC starting grant for his research on the building blocks of mathematics. This grant is not his first this year: in fact, this July Vonk also received a Vidi from NWO. Four questions to the scientist who got two grants this year.

Would you be more likely to take the train for your next work trip, instead of flying, if you automatically got a first-class ticket? For many Leiden University academics, the answer is yes – according to research looking at what motivates academic staff to choose trains over planes.

Leiden University is publishing a list giving an overview of its research collaborations with the fossil fuel industry.

Library, Security

On 3 April 2024, the University L'Orientale in Naples will hold a full afternoon conference to discuss a book written by Dr Gianclaudio Malgieri, Associate Professor at eLaw. The title is 'Vulnerability and Data Protection Law', published with Oxford University Press in April 2023.

The Leiden University interdisciplinary program Liveable Planet is working on a ‘Liveable Planet Academy’ as a follow-up to its activities. The coordinating team visited the transdisciplinary Leuphana University (Germany) to get inspiration for the setup of the academy.

More papers, more grants, more students: constant growth is still the gold standard at universities. Neuroscientists Anne Urai and Claire Kelly argue that this mentality obstructs us in resolving such complex societal problems as the climate crisis. Their alternative? The university as a doughnut.

Leiden University Libraries has been elected to the Executive Committee of the IIIF Consortium. The term of office is two years starting from January 2022.

Organisation

Leiden and The Hague have an extra 450 trees thanks to a special campaign to mark the 450th anniversary of the Relief of Leiden and Leiden University’s foundation. Over the past few months, Stadslab Leiden has worked on an initiative to plant young trees with the residents of the two cities.

On Friday 11 March (16.00 hrs.) Minister Dijkgraaf (Education, Culture and Science) will give a speech at Leiden University entitled ‘When knowledge becomes critical’. In the speech, he will address several critical challenges in science and society. The livestream will be open to all.

This year, in a three-part symposium series, we are exploring how interdisciplinary collaboration can be promoted at the university. In the second session in March, the attendees discovered that understanding your rhythm and perspective is essential when embarking on an interdisciplinary project.

In the week of 22-26 September, we celebrate the national Open Science Week at Leiden University. What is your next step towards openness?

The international Planetary Health Alliance network is a consortium of more than 450 organisations committed to addressing the health impacts of global climate and environmental change. Planetary Health education coordinator Laura Warmerdam explains why our university recently joined and how this will…

Lenses from Christiaan Huygens’ telescope, instruments used to demonstrate Newton’s laws, and equipment that led to the discovery of superconductivity—around 3,000 scientific instruments from the Faculty of Science at Leiden University are now officially part of the Rijksmuseum Boerhaave collection.…

Library, Research

The Steering Committee of the European Network on Teaching Excellence (ENOTE) is delighted to announce that Professor Hester Bijl, Rector Magnificus of Leiden University, will deliver the opening remarks for ENOTE’s first Academic Training Week.