There are thousands of stories to tell about our alumni. How they experienced their student days. Where they ended up and what they still dream about. We provide an overview of Leiden alumni with our newsletters and the alumni magazine Leidraad.

Ineke Bussemaker studied Maths at Leiden University and now works as a banker in Tanzania. In an interview in alumni magazine Leidraad she brings those two worlds together and looks back on her time in Leiden.

At Leiden University’s Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences we keep in touch with our alumni in various ways.

Alumni event, Brussels

As a Faculty of Law graduate you are part of a valuable network. Discover how you can remain in contact with other alumni and the University!

Alumnus Sam van Raalte followed his passion into freelance journalism.

On Tuesday 16 April 2019 study association JSV Liberi and the Department of Child Law welcomed alumni of the master’s programme Jeugdrecht to a careers afternoon and alumni evening.

Sunday, March 25th, the LUC alumni network organised a meet up in London for the large group of alumni living, working and studying there. Special guest Dr Kai Hebel, assistant professor in International Relations at LUC, was in London to present a paper at a forum on Contemporary International History…

Andrew de la Haije is Director of the Dutch branch of Xebia Consultancy Services, an internationally operating consultancy agency that coaches companies through digital transformation. He followed the executive master’s programme in Cyber Security and graduated with distinction.

With the municipal elections in the Netherlands just around the corner, an intensive period is beginning for council adviser Kirsten van Adrichem. Behind the scenes, this political science alumnus and her colleagues work to ensure a smooth political transition.

Alumni event, New York

Leiden University would like to stay in contact with its alumni. That is why we try to keep contact info up to date, but we would also like to stay informed about where you are working after graduation and how your career is progressing.

Alumnus Vincent Renken studied Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences in Leiden and is now co-founder of an outdoor escape room company. ‘I asked myself: do you want a standard life or an adventure?’

Gerard Soeteman (1936) created a furore as a screenwriter of films that became classics (Dutch films: Turks Fruit, Soldaat van Oranje, de Aanslag), but personally he is much more attached to his critical documentaries for television. He studied Dutch in Leiden. How did that help him?

Merijn Tinga hit the headlines in 2016 as the Plastic Soup Surfer. In force six winds, the Leiden biologist ventured across the English Channel on a hydrofoil kiteboard made from plastic bottles. Interview with this Leiden artist who is fighting the mountain of plastic waste and finding his feet as…

Alumni who live and work in Brussels met on 18 February at the annual Leiden Alumni in Brussels Event. As well as celebrating Leiden University’s 450th anniversary, they also looked at the challenges Europe faces.

Representatives from the Leiden University Alumni Association in Indonesia (IKALI) were honored to have a discussion with Dutch Prime Minister H.E. Mark Rutte during his visit to Jakarta on 7 October 2019.

Patients who can’t afford medicine. Refugees who need help. Expats who are ill. All alongside research into obesity. Having trained as a doctor, Dennis Mook-Kanamori chose the hard reality of life as a GP together with a job as a researcher at the LUMC.

Alumnus Peter Burger – along with his colleague Alexander Pleijter – is the face of fact-checking in the Netherlands. ‘My degree led straight to this.’

As a former (PhD) student of the Faculty of Archaeology, your relationship with the Faculty doesn’t end when you graduate. You will join an international community of Archaeology Alumni, working in a wide range of careers including academia, commercial archaeology, heritage policy, museums, the media,…

If you would want to set up an alumni network after you graduated in Leiden and returned to your home country, how would you go about it? Seven Leiden alumni in China did not hesitate and decided to just do it! Last year they launched the Leiden Alumni Chapter in China, an initiative which was met with…

We are extremely proud of our alumni Nandini Paliwal (LLM 2016) and Valentina Vecchio (LLM 2017) for winning first and second place, respectively, for their essays in the EALA Prize this year.

She stands out for the moderate tone she takes in discussions on Dutch talk shows. Without judgement you can have an open conversation, criminal lawyer Natacha Harlequin learned in her student days in Leiden. ‘What I personally think of the alleged act doesn’t matter so much.’

As an enthusiastic nature lover, Maaike Kempes began studying biology at Leiden University. Now, she is extraordinary professor of Forensic Neuropedagogy at the faculty of Social Sciences. She is researching how neurobiology plays a role in delinquent behaviour among young people. ‘They’re like Ferraris…

Alumnus Francis Farrell (International Studies, 2018) works as a reporter at the Kyiv Independent, where he covers Russia's war against Ukraine. 'I experienced some crazy moments on the front line'

Marlon Titre (1982) studied at Royal Conservatoire The Hague, did his PhD and studied at Leiden University, earned several other qualifications and is now, among others, Director of Filmhuis The Hague. Who is this multi-talent?

‘To be honest, I knew very little about the Netherlands when I arrived in 1998. But studying law in Leiden was a very enriching experience.’ Nathalie van den Berge grew up in a number of different European countries, and now works at a UN office in Tanzania, where she lives with her Dutch husband and…

Every other year, Leiden University participates in the National Alumni Survey (NAE): a national survey of all recent graduates from Dutch universities. At the end of October 2017, anyone who received a master between October 1 2014 and September 30 2016, will get an email or letter with the request…

With cultural anthropology alumnus Jeroen Windmeijer, Leiden has added another writer to the fold. Following the success of his religious-historical thrillers, he has been able to call himself a full-time writer since 1 January 2019. ‘Not a true story but still true.’

‘People talk at the coffee machine about what’s on the front page of De Telegraaf.’ Kamran Ullah took office as deputy editor-in-chief of De Telegraaf on 1 January this year. Ullah began studying Public Administration at Leiden in 2002.

Recently, the BAIS Alumni Association organised their yearly reunion. Due to the current circumstances, there was a twist: the reunion – as many events that are currently being organized – took place online. This was a perfect solution for a Bachelor programme that finds its students from all over the…

On a sunny Saturday on June 9th, the first Alumni Reunion of the BA International Studies took place in The Hague. Organised in Café Schlemmers, a stone’s throw away from a Plein buzzing with students trying to enjoy to the comfortable temperatures, approximately 40 alumni and BAIS staff got together…

The Republic of Indonesia celebrated its 75th Independence Day on 17 August 2020. As a gift to celebrate this, on the initiative of a group of Leiden alumni*), a biography will be written of Leiden and Indonesian scholar Hoesein Djajadiningrat.

One of the good things about my job is that I come into contact with so many different alumni. It’s incredibly important that we build good relationships with our alumni from a young age already. We can help our graduates develop skills and grow their network, and they in turn can help our organisation…

Students get free advice of Leiden alumni about their career, applying for a job, social networking and more. The Mentor Network is an online platform on which more than 650 alumni offer to help students.

On a stormy Tuesday evening in June an Alumni Seminar was held for alumni and students of the (International) Leiden Leadership Programme for which a special international guest had been invited: Dr. Anna Dolidze.

Leiden University opened its doors in 1575 – the very first university in the Netherlands. The law faculty was involved from the start and so in 2025 we, too, celebrated our 450th anniversary.

Jaïr van Rhenen studied Medicine in Leiden and is now a GP in the largely religious Veenendaal. Before this, he worked as a tropical medicine doctor in Lesotho. ‘If you have the prospect of an afterlife, you often respond differently to illness.’

Carolijn Brouwer and ambitious are synonymous. That has got her a long way. She was the first woman to be part of the winning team of the Volvo Ocean Race, the toughest of sailing races. 'Would I take part again? Only for a bigger challenge - as skipper, for example.'

Robert Ietswaart does research into gene regulation at the famous Harvard Medical School in Boston. He developed an algorithm to better predict whether a candidate medicine is going to produce side effects. He studied mathematics and physics in Leiden, and gained his PhD in computational biology in…

Clinical Child and Adolescent Studies graduate Gillian King has two different jobs. Together with a partner, she runs ‘Het Leerhuis,’ a support centre for children with learning difficulties. But she also writes books, chick lit to be precise. This is how she has made something of a name for herself…

Having flirted with Egyptology and Italian, Dieuwertje Kuijpers found her true calling in the Master’s in European Union Studies. She is now a freelance journalist specialising in politics, security and defence. But she is also at home writing columns for ThePostOnline and hard-hitting articles for…

Wouter Moerland is on a two-year secondment as ecology adviser at the Municipality of Leiden. This biology alumnus talks animatedly about his work. ‘We’re working hard to increase nature’s chances in town.’

Wow! Between September and November, six alumni of the Media Technology MSc program defend their PhD thesis. Five at Leiden University, one at Delft University of Technology. It is quite special how these all coincide within a short time.

There are many tributaries to Rosalin Kuiper’s story and they all lead to the sea. The 28-year-old sailor was one of the five-person Team Malizia in the world’s most prestigious sailing competition: the Ocean Race.

You've earned your degree and you’re ready to start your career. But where do you end up?

Alumnus Anoma van der Veere did Japanese studies and talks in this interview about his studies in Leiden and his work as a researcher at the Leiden Asia Centre and as Japanese correspondent in Tokyo.

It doesn’t take long before Tim van Lit has told us what interests him: problems that shake the nation. This 28-year-old Criminology alumnus heads a team of 25 at Royal Netherlands Marechaussee. Location: Schiphol Airport.