Future users of the Aleida Nijland building were recently the first to have the opportunity to admire the design plan for the new building. During a user meeting, architectural firm De Zwarte Hond presented the design, and future users of the building were able to share their wishes and ideas for further…

The National Chamber of Student Associations (LKvV) launched a coronavirus campaign today: ‘That’s why.’ The campaign was launched together with Ingrid van Engelshoven, Minister of Education. The aim of this national campaign is to get students to follow the coronavirus rules. The virus is still spreading…

Dark matter represents around eighty per cent of the total mass in the Universe. Yet, we still don't really know what it's made of. Astronomer Pavel Mancera Piña is looking for answers. With a Veni grant from NWO and the most advanced telescopes, such as the James Webb Space Telescope, he will investigate…

More attention to the needs of PhD Candidates who are not employed at universities, but combine their research with a professional career outside the academic world. That was the main wish expressed at the workshop Supervision of dual PhD candidates, organized at the Wijnhaven building in The Hague…

In 2023, it will be fifty years since Vietnam and the Netherlands established diplomatic relations. This will be commemorated in both countries. At the beginning of November, outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte visited Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. On that occasion Leiden University Libraries will launch…

For many years, he was active in various management positions at the LION and even after his retirement he is still very involved. Professor Jan Aarts leads the Leiden hub of the Quantum Delta NL growth fund and is now temporarily responsible for national educational activities. In this way, he is helping…

As of November 1st 2019, Professor Anthonya (Thony) Visser will become Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Groningen and will leave LUCAS.

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.

On 11 and 19 April, the International Leiden Leadership Programme students got together to participate in a Business Game: a simulation game where the participants get a business case-study they have to solve. The goal? An agreement between all stakeholders – but most importantly: to employ the different…

As eLaw Postdoc researcher exploring the multiple intersections between law, gender, and technology, Carlotta Rigotti has recently participated in a groundbreaking international workshop focused on combatting image-based sexual abuse (IBSA) at the CAIS premises in Bochum, Germany.

The Centre for Innovation has launched a new podcast series called What if Education… In each episode, the host Monika Theron invites students, teachers and experts to think differently about education.

What do refugees use their mobile phones for? And what does it mean for aid workers in reception camps? The Leiden Centre for Innovation studied this issue together with researchers from Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and Data & Society.

Would you like to do collection-oriented research, but do not have sufficient resources? Every year, the Museums, Collections and Society (MCS) research group makes several research scholarships available for this purpose. Researchers Elizabeth den Hartog and Marika Keblusek previously received an MCS…

A month’s break from your studies, ten days of intensive rehearsals and then a concert tour: the Netherlands Student Orchestra is based on a simple formula. Leiden student Daphne Biron tells us about the orchestra and the concert in Leiden on 20 February.

Australian cell biologist Melissa Little and Dutch physicist Robbert Dijkgraaf will each be awarded an Honorary doctorate at the Dies Natalis of Leiden University in February 2019. They are receiving these awards for their services to science.

It's much easier to learn something if you're interested in it. But students' interests are often diverse and wide-ranging, says Sanne Akkerman, Professor of Educational Science. How do you cater for this in your teaching? Inaugural lecture 6 October.

Leiden University College The Hague received the 'Top rated Programme' seal from the Keuzegids Universiteiten 2022 (Dutch University Guide). It is the ninth consecutive time the Liberal Arts & Sciences programme focusing on Global Challenges is awarded the honorary seal.

In the Malian Dogon region, various militias have been fighting for power since 2015. Land resources play a major role in this, doctoral student Ibrahima Poudiougou discovered. 'Power in the area is intrinsically linked to control over land and its resources.’

A unique multicenter study, including about 3,500 youth between 10 and 25 years old from across the globe, shows that artificial intelligence - specifically machine learning - is able to identify individuals with anxiety disorders based on their unique brain structure.

Maria Moser, Mischa de Jong, and Ander Damiano Delliturri are the newly appointed student representatives on the Programme Committee (OLC). This committee provides advice to the Executive Board and the Faculty Board on various educational issues, including the development of Course and Examination Regulations…

Each year, the Jaap Doek Children’s Rights Thesis Award is presented to the student who has written the best master’s thesis in the Netherlands or Belgium in the field of children’s rights. The award was established by Defence for Children and Leiden University's Department of Child Law.

What should we do about litter in the countryside? Can you tell from camera images if someone is guilty? And what does your heart rate really look like? Get answers to these questions and more at the free ‘Wijsneus Festival’ on Friday 16 September at Leidse Hout Park.

Eline van Slijpe wrote her Master of Philosophy thesis on intergenerational justice: does the current generation have obligations towards future generations? With this thesis she won the biannual J.C. Baak Prize.

Leiden bachelor's student of International Studies Thomas wrote a text that was read out this year in the UN Security Council by the Netherlands representative. How did he manage that?

Wayang is a centuries-old Javanese tradition, but this style of puppet theatre is undergoing serious change. Kathryn Emerson shows this based on the work of Purbo Asmoro. PhD defence 28 June.

The energy transition is already a huge challenge for society, but sustainable use of resources is even more complicated. Yet it is at least as urgent. Ester van der Voet has been working on it for decades, for example within the United Nations. Since February, she is a professor at the Centre for Environmental…

Wolves in the Netherlands mainly feed on wild animals such as wild boar and red and roe deer. But in areas such as Drenthe where these are scarce they also prey on free-roaming cattle used for nature conservation

The largest galaxies in the Universe feed off cosmic oceans, which helps them grow. This is the presumption of an international team of scientist with two Leiden astronomers, based on observations of the ‘Spiderweb’ galaxy. The researchers published their evidence in Science on 2 December 2016.

For her internship at the Textile Museum, master's student Evi van Stiphout researched the Surinamese cloths of the Leiden Cotton Company. Leiden and Suriname have a closer relationship than many people think. ‘Not much is written about Suriname’.

Professor Peter Bisschop has been awarded an ERC Advanced Grant. He will invest the 2.5 million euros in his research into puranas: ancient texts, commonly written in Sanskrit, that are up to fifteen hundred years old.

Experiencing what it is like to attend a lecture, asking professors questions and even trying your hand at homework: Experience Days help prospective students learn more about all the programmes offered by the Faculty of Humanities.

Where does Dutch come from? Newly appointed Professor Alwin Kloekhorst looks for an answer to that question in millennia-old languages from Anatolia, the Asian part of present-day Turkey. 'A new interpretation in one of the Anatolian languages can have consequences for dozens of other languages.'

A friendly chat is more complicated than you might think. As soon as the other person finishes talking, you already have an answer ready. But how do we know when it's time to change turns? University lecturer Johanneke Caspers has been awarded an NWO Open Competition grant to investigate the role of…

How do forensic scientists deal with complex DNA-evidence found at crime scenes? Giulia Cereda developed new statistical models to analyse them. PhD defense 12 January.

The impact of war extends beyond destroyed buildings and torn families. In bilingual Ukraine, the ongoing war with Russia is a major driver for increasingly discarding the Russian language. What does this mean for the position of Russian in Ukraine?

The 21 universities of the League of European Research Universities have an enormous economic impact: more than 900,000 jobs and 71.2 billion euros in 2014. Each job at a member university results in 6 jobs elsewhere. Leiden University is a member of the League.

A new chair has been added to the partnership between Leiden University and the Royal Conservatoire The Hague. Richard Barrett has been appointed Professor of Research in Creative Music (ACPA) as of 1 December 2020. 'For me it is important that music and academia are not placed in an ivory tower.'

The enormous adaptability of the cholera bacterium explains why it is able to claim so many victims. Professor Ariane Briegel from the Leiden Institute of Biology has now discovered that this adaptability is due to rapid sensory changes in the bacterium. Publication in PNAS.

On September 12, Michel Orrit received his Spinoza prize in the Royal Theatre in The Hague from OCW Secretary of State Sander Dekker. With the award comes a budget of 2.5 million euro, to be spent freely on scientific research, and the coveted Spinoza statue. Orrit shared the honor with Eveline Crone…

Heavy rainfall can cause streets to flood and basements and tunnels to overflow. Jan van Rijn investigated, together with Christiaan Lamers (formerly of Leiden University) and Ton Beenen (STOWA, RIONED), how data science can help to predict which areas are at greater risk of flooding. Van Rijn presented…

From a Tuscany escape room to scientific illustrations of flowers, and from Chinese movie subtitles to innovative education methods for children, every subject imaginable was covered at the first ever Honours College Conference. ‘You get the chance to break away from the standard study path.’

‘Ordinary citizens’ are featuring more prominently in foreign policies which has already resulted in some unexpected outcomes such as Brexit. Jan Melissen, Senior Fellow at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) conducts research into the societisation of diplomacy. He is interested in…

What actually goes into the development of a massive open online course, a MOOC? University lecturer Tijmen Pronk developed the course 'Introduction to Comparative Linguistics of Indo-European Languages' independently. He talks about his motivation and experiences.

On the 6th of December, Buurtlab 070 and the Leiden University Green Office (LUGO) hosted an event at the Spinozahof in the Stationsbuurt, bringing students and local residents together to explore energy (in)justice through the serious game Sunjust.

Yra van Dijk obtained a NWO 'Internationalisation in the Humanities' grant. Together with Ernst van Alphen she will collaborate with 8 European and Israelian partners in researching 'Digital Memory of the Holocaust'.

Students from Leiden University will be able to study in the Stadsgehoorzaal on Breestraat in Leiden from Saturday 5 to Tuesday 15 December. The main auditorium of this city centre concert hall has been transformed into a unique pop-up study area that will provide temporary study spaces for over 200…

When new features are being written into software code, errors can easily be made. This causes bugs, which leads to software appearing later and being more expensive. Michiel Helvensteijn, a PhD student from CWI and the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science, studied how to prevent these kinds…

Social impact and circular economy. Two topics focusing on the future and bringing forward many concrete problems. Two Master Honours Classes, in which students tackle societal challenges, will start this fall.

Professor of Law and Society Maartje van der Woude is searching for innovative ways to facilitate dialogue about topics that are usually experienced as ‘difficult to talk about’ – such as racism, ethnic profiling, exclusion, crimmigration – with a wide audience.

The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded a prestigious Starting Grant to Leiden archaeologist Dr Nathalie Brusgaard. With this €1.5 million grant, Brusgaard will investigate how the transition to farming in Western Europe affected the relationship between humans and wild animals. A theme that,…