With 'The unruly reality of a new government: Navigating between networks and serving in a 'vulnerable' neighbourhood', Mony Klaus has won the FSW Thesis Prize 2023. Written as part of the Master's programme in Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology, the thesis examines how a new government…

An important part of the Leiden Leadership Programme (LLP) is the practical assignment that students are given by a partner organisation. How does this benefit the organisations? Two Leiden partners talk about working with the students.

Is Europe skilling for sustainable food?

On January 7th Minister van Engelshoven of Education, Culture and Science of The Netherlands announced that the project Island(er)s at the Helm: Co-creating sustainable and inclusive solutions for social adaptation to climate challenges in the (Dutch) Caribbean is one of two projects awarded with funding…

Many mosaic stones and potsherds have been excavated, and a Byzantine synagogue is revealing its history layer by layer. The excavations at Horvat Kur are a field school for a young generation of researchers.

Leiden astronomers and ecologists are developing an instrument that lets people measure the quality of surface water with a smartphone.This international citizen science project, MONOCLE, is a collaboration between scientists and local people in Tanzania, Brazil and four European countries.

An international team of astronomers including Leiden professor Ewine van Dishoeck has observed the benzene molecule (C6H6) in a planet-forming disk around a young star for the first time. The observations tell us more about the forming of planets in this disc, like our own Earth. The scientists publish…

A research team from the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) has received over 3 million euros in funding from the Knowledge Centre Surveillance and Protection, a partnership between the Dutch National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security, the Public Prosecution Office, the police,…

Research on flora and fauna with attention for economic interests and partnership with the local population. This is all bundled in a cooperation programme of the Anton de Kom University of Suriname and Leiden University. Working together on the basis of equality is key. ‘A thorny challenge, but one…

According to New York Magazine, the massive open online course (MOOC) ‘The Rooseveltian Century’ by Professor by Special Appointment Giles Scott-Smith is one of the best online courses. We asked him why you should take the course and how it came about.

Wil Roebroeks, Professor of Palaeolithic Archaeology in Leiden, is to be awarded the ‘Academy Professors Prize’ of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW). Roebroeks has drastically changed academic thinking about the behaviour of early hominins and our knowledge of the earliest colonisation…

Researchers from the Institute of Public Administration and the Institute of Security and Global Affairs at FGGA are launching a new research programme: Governing Polarized Societies (GPS). The programme will focus on the way in which governments are dealing with the increasing polarisation in society.…

More than twenty international students have received an ALGANT diploma, the master's in Algebraic Geometry and Number Theory from the Mathematical Institute, in collaboration with other European universities. Anti-bureaucratic creativity was needed to align all the rules with those Brussels.

On 10 December, the Intelligence and Security Research Group of ISGA had the honour of hosting Vice Admiral Peter Reesink for the inaugural Arthur Docters van Leeuwen Lecture.

How do you deal with bullying? How can you motivate young people? At the NeurolabNL symposium a multidisciplinary research team launched an interactive book for teachers and youth workers. This digital book offers the latest insights and plenty of useful tips and advice. Children’s Ombudsman Margrite…

Gerard van Westen and his group, together with pharmaceutical company Galapagos, start on developing software that invents new effective molecules. They will receive an NWO LIFT grant of 280,000 euros, of which 63,000 euros will come from Galapagos. The company will also bring its expertise in biology,…

On 14 May, curator and professor Ruurd Halbertsma will be leaving the National Museum of Antiquities (RMO) after forty years of dedicated service. In fact, it will be a double farewell: Venusval (‘Venus trap’), the last part of his trilogy about Tjalling Kingma, the fictional curator of the classical…

Egyptologist Marleen De Meyer has been appointed the new Director of the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo (NVIC). Dr De Meyer has worked for the institute, which promotes Egyptian, Dutch and Flemish collaboration in the field of education and research, since 2016.

Research on 45 years of legal and economic data for 132 countries by international team shows the addition of one right for LGB people is associated with over $2000 in GDP per capita

How can we use Population Health Management to help the citizens of The Hague get and stay healthier? This was the key question during the 5th Working Conference of LUMC-Campus The Hague on 15 January in The Hague. The issue was debated by more than 150 doctors, researchers, lecturers, healthcare professionals,…

How can ‘Big Data’ be used in development and humanitarian aid, and what are the risks? Leiden University and the United Nation’s Global Pulse are organising an international expert meeting in The Hague on 23 October.

Wearing All Stars and ‘just’ a pair of jeans, with a backpack slung over his shoulder. It was an informal Friday afternoon with Mark Rutte, NATO Secretary General, at Wijnhaven. Perched on a desk, he took questions from students in the audience.

How can the academic world best handle the new political reality in the United States? This is the question that managers, lecturers, researchers and students at Leiden University discussed on Friday afternoon at a gathering in the Kamerlingh Onnes building. ‘Don’t just give in; defend academic free…

Willem te Beest, Vice-Chairman of the Executive Board, is retiring on 1 May. His farewell was celebrated in style in the Pieterskerk on 7 April. And, to his surprise, the celebrations included a royal decoration.

Herman Spaink knows of many substances that may help combat tuberculosis. Lab space to study them safely is very limited in Leiden. A brand-new lab at Universitas Gadjah Mada in Indonesia will soon provide a solution. About time, says Spaink, ‘The disease is on the rise and is becoming less sensitive…

Based upon an academic partnership between the Universities of Birmingham in the UK and Leiden in the Netherlands, Universities and Society at the End of Empire and Beyond (UniSoc) uses these two global seats of learning as a starting point to examine the role of universities in the transition from…

How can universities and research institutions, businesses and government bodies in the Leiden region drive ‘broad prosperity’?

The EU has been negotiating a trade deal with Mercosur, a South American trade bloc, for over 25 years. In recent weeks, significant progress has been made. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met with Mercosur leaders in Asunción, Paraguay, on 17 January to sign the deal.

The radio telescope LOFAR, with a major contribution from Leiden Observatory, has produced the most detailed radio map of the Universe ever made. Never before have so many cosmic radio sources been captured in a single survey: 13.7 million.

Astronomers in Leiden have used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in northern Chile to produce a new detailed image of the centre of our Milky Way. This allows them to investigate the life of stars in the most extreme region of our galaxy. The Leiden scientists, led by Katarzyna…

LERU, the League of European Research Universities, celebrated its fifteenth anniversary on 7 March in Brussels. The network of leading European universities has now grown to include 23 universities.

How do fats and enzymes in the brain contribute to multiple sclerosis? In his PhD research, Daan van der Vliet combined chemistry and neuroscience to gain new insights into how brain disorders develop.

As many as 180 Leiden University alumni met in Brussels last week. A young, diverse and international group, they listened attentively to speeches by Luc Sels, President of the Executive Board, and Geoffrey van Leeuwen, NATO Chief of Staff and Leiden alumnus.

Over the course of eight weeks, twelve law students spent several days at the various sectors of the Court of The Hague where they learned all about the work of judges, judicial assistants and legal advisers. At the final session on 10 March, they shared their experiences.

Astronomers who simulate galaxies do not always get the same result, even when they start from identical conditions. New research from Leiden University shows that this is not a flaw, but a consequence of how galaxies behave — and how they are modelled.

The healthcare system still treats children as though they are small adults. And that approach does not work, says Lissy de Ridder, professor and head of Paediatrics, in her inaugural lecture.

From Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten to American ambassador Joseph Poplo, and from former defence minister Kajsa Ollongren to General Onno Eichelsheim, prominent figures attended the first Next Gen Security Conference in The Hague. ‘The Netherlands and Europe must take more responsibility for their…

Professor Miguel John Versluys of Leiden University has been recognised with the esteemed Humboldt Research Award, a testament to his groundbreaking work in global archaeology, reception-studies and the deep history of globalisation. The award, granted by the Alexander von Humbold-Stiftung, celebrates…

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What happens if you are an academic forced to flee your home country and find yourself here in the Netherlands with practically nothing? The Hestia scheme offered by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) gives refugee scientists the opportunity to resume their academic career in the Netherlands. The scheme…

Before he became Minister of Finance, CDA leader Wopke Hoekstra invested for years in a shell company in the Virgin Islands. This has been revealed in leaked documents known as the Pandora Papers. How exactly does tax avoidance work? And are there other options? Tax lawyers Jan Vleggeert and Tanja…

Scholars from the field of science, technology and innovation (STI) policy have often questioned whether there was substantive difference between international STI policy and science diplomacy. This is hard to answer, but at least we can observe that science diplomacy has had great appeal over the last…