Who determines what is wrong with children and how they develop? Educator and sociologist Annemieke van Drenth wrote a book about this that will be released on 10 June. In it, she uses the history of the school for ‘idiotic children’ in The Hague to investigate how special children were identified in…

Research grant awarded to Armin Cuyvers for innovative research combining EU law and social psychology. In an age where identity often trumps economic rationality, the EU struggles for legitimacy. Brexit of course provides a rather spectacular example of the EU failing to counter a deeply emotional…

Op woensdag 27 augustus vond de jaarlijkse Levenbachdag plaats, een ontmoetingsdag voor docenten en onderzoekers in het arbeidsrecht en socialezekerheidsrecht. De dag is vernoemd naar Marius Levenbach, de eerste leerstoelhouder arbeidsrecht in Nederland.

Unemployed people often need not only a financial safety net but also a stimulus to look for work. PhD candidate Heike Vethaak researched the effects of incentives used by benefit agencies, such as compelling people to widen their job search.

Our world may seem unpredictable and uncertain, especially when others are involved. When interacting with others, we cannot know for sure what they may be thinking or planning to do, but we do a good job guessing. This may not be so easy for everyone…

Individuals suffering from social anxiety disorder (SAD) consistently avoid eye contact. However, in a non-clinical population, gaze avoidance in socially anxious individuals depends on social situations, Jiemiao Chen saw in a series of experiments, for which she used wearable eye-trackers. On 25 April…

Young people are particularly susceptible to misleading information on social media. Yet insights from developmental psychology show that they also have unique strengths to build resilience. In new research led by developmental psychologist Ili Ma, scientists, schools, parents and policy makers are…

Before patients can take a pill, scientists often spend years in the lab developing and testing a candidate drug. That often includes experiments with laboratory animals. As head of the rodent facility, Ilze Bot and her colleagues ensure that these experiments are conducted in an ethically responsible…

This question was discussed on the Dutch NPO Radio 1 broadcast with Barend Barentsen, Professor of Labour Law. On 4 September, Americans celebrate Labor Day, a day on which the hard-working American takes centre stage.

A study of early medieval reopened graves

Valedictory lecture

As young people’s friendships improve, their mental resilience also increases. This is according to research conducted by Anne-Laura van Harmelen, Professor of Brain, Safety and Resilience at Leiden University.

From 3 to 5 September 2025, the project Governing and Building the City will organize the conference 'Good Governance and the Built Environment of Late Medieval Cities (ca. 1200–1600)' at KBR in Brussels. The deadline for the call for papers is 7 April.

Anne-Laura van Harmelen, professor Brain, Safety and Resilience will give her inaugural lecture ‘Resilience does not exist’ (in Dutch) on Monday 27 June. In her inaugural lecture she will discuss resilience after childhood adversity.

Positive emotions are important for our health and sense of well-being - they make our lives meaningful. Now, Henk van Steenbergen and his colleagues have published an authoritative new volume on the latest scientific research on positive emotions.

Groupcard provided prepaid cards to Dutch municipalities for welfare recipients, informal carers and volunteers. Now it is bankrupt, the cards are worthless and consumers and municipalities have lost money. Associate Professor Jessie Pool is investigating whether vulnerable people need better protection…

From the influx of migrants to the Ukraine referendum: Europe is playing an ever bigger role in our lives. Leiden scientists shed light on developments in Europe and examine the impact of the Union on the lives of its citizens. Read more in the new research dossier on Europe.

Two consortia led by Leiden researchers have been awarded over one million euros by the Dutch Research Council and the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport to find solutions to antimicrobial resistance.

Economic law, environmental law and human rights are important fields of law for sustainable development. But they do not interact sufficiently, which makes it difficult to implement sustainable development.

Master's students of Vitality & Ageing work together with older individuals in the so-called ‘Living Lab’ to combat loneliness. You can watch four brief video’s that show their creative solutions for the course ‘the older individual’ that is coordinated by health psychologist Sandra van Dijk and former…

Researchers of eLaw, the Center for Law and Digital Technologies at Leiden University, published their research in Nature Machine Intelligence. The publication, written by Eduard Fosch-Villaronga, Pranav Khanna, Hadassah Drukarch, and Bart Custers, focuses on the legal and regulatory implications of…

Donderdag 7 februari is prof. mr. dr. P.F. van der Heijden benoemd tot Officier in de Orde van Oranje-Nassau. Hij kreeg de koninklijke onderscheiding uit handen van minister Koolmees van Sociale Zaken.

Lecture

The Leiden Greek and Roman History Team concentrates on the study of the economies, societies and cultures of the large empires of the Graeco-Roman world, starting with the empires of Alexander the Great and his successors.

The issue of how to deal with a development such as digitalisation in the public domain raises difficult questions for the municipality: who is responsible and when do you intervene?

Last week the leaders of the ethical, legal and social (ELS) Working Group of the COST Action16116 on Wearable Robots visited the University Complutense of Madrid.

De Nationale ombudsman en verschillende experts, waaronder Fatma Capkurt, universitair docent staats en bestuursrecht, uiten voor de NOS felle kritiek op kabinetsplannen om te bezuinigen op de Wet proactieve dienstverlening SZW. Met name door het onderdeel algemene bijstand te schrappen worden de allerarmsten…

In their recent blog, Marieke Liem and Jolien van Breen reflect on the representation of immigrants amongst homicide victims - is there evidence that people from immigrant groups are over-represented amongst homicide victims? And if so, can we discover the reasons why? Find out more through the link…

In the academic year 2022-2023 the Social Resilience and Security interdisciplinary programme will offer a new minor for students who are interested in studying interpersonal violence and who are entering the third year of their Bachelor's degree. You can register for this minor (from 2 May) in your…

In the academic year 2021-2022 the Social Resilience and Security interdisciplinary programme will offer two courses for interested students who are entering the third year of their Bachelor's degree. You can sign up for these courses in your elective (minor) space. The courses are available to students…

Political parties want to reduce labour migration, but without harming the Dutch economy. Is that actually possible? Olaf van Vliet, Professor of Economics, spoke to public broadcaster NOS about the pros and cons of restrictive measures.

The European Commission sees increased labour migration as a solution to the growing personnel shortages, but the Dutch Labour Inspectorate argues that this is not a tenable business model. Professor of Economics Olaf van Vliet discusses the advantages and disadvantages of labour migration for the economy…

The Dutch Government recently announced measures to limit the loss of purchasing power. These include, for example, raising the minimum wage and healthcare benefits. Another way for households to maintain purchasing power is to work more. Olaf van Vliet, Professor of Economics, explains the effects…

Technological developments never stop. Machines can already perform many tasks and in the future they will probably take over even more of the work we do. Which jobs could disappear and which will remain in the future? Olaf van Vliet, Professor of Economics at Leiden Law School, commented on these issues…

In Dutch the public arena, there’s talk of curbing labour migration. Which options do the Dutch have? Olaf van Vliet, Professor of Economics at Leiden University, discusses this issue in Dutch daily newspaper NRC.

A recent study shows that immigrants in the Netherlands earn 15 per cent less on average than their colleagues without a migrant background. Olaf van Vliet, Professor of Economics, comments on this pay gap in ‘de Volkskrant’ newspaper.

Labour migration is an important theme in the Dutch general election to be held this month. Olaf van Vliet, Professor of Economics, spoke to public broadcaster NOS about policy options related to migrant workers.

Youth unemployment in the Netherlands has risen sharply in recent years, though many vacancies cannot be filled. Olaf van Vliet, Professor of Economics, spoke to NU.nl about the issue: ‘Youth unemployment has consistently been higher than the overall unemployment rate.’

Of the 3,750 participants from 100 schools, only 75 students made it to the final stages of the Economics Olympiad in The Hague. On 1 April, they gathered in the new Spui Campus to compete in the national final.

PhD defence

This year’s University elections will be held from 25 to 29 May. You get to choose who will represent you this coming year in the University Council as well as the faculty council of the Science Faculty. This week, the various student parties will introduce themselves. Today: Christelijke Studentenfractie…

The Dutch government chairs the EU council this year. Researchers from Leiden took this opportunity to reflect on the future of the European Union and to give recommendations where possible. The book will be presented on Friday 29 April, 10.15 AM in Nieuws Poort (Den Haag). Attending the event are Ankie…

Ava Bauer’s successor has been announced. From September 2023, Nalani Verwoord will be the new assessor of Leiden Science. Nalani is a third-year Biology student.

Over 1600 pupils from primary schools in Leiden and The Hague were taught by a professor of Leiden University on the 444th anniversary of our university. Three professors from the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs, visited several classes of group 7 in The Hague.

Prof. Ton Liefaard has been appointed as member of the Council for the Administration of Criminal Justice and Protection of Juveniles.

The Minister has requested urgent advice from Sombroek-van Doorm in relation to the vaccination of children aged between 5 and 12 years against COVID-19.