This thesis focuses on the role of chemokine receptors CXCR3 and CCR2 in the inflammatory process and infection control using the zebrafish model.

Ben Wielstra studies hybrid zones, regions in which distinct populations of organisms meet, mate and produce genetically admixed offspring. In the journal Current Biology, he introduces hybrid zones in an accessible way.

Ben Van Rompuy, assistant professor of EU competition law, was an invited expert at the 23th Latin American and Caribbean Competition Forum (LACCF) organised in Quito, Ecuador on 28-29 September 2023.

We showed that constitutive and inducible chemical and morphological defenses against Western flower thrips differ between tomato and chrysanthemum plants.

Ben Wielstra studies balanced lethal systems, in which half of the offspring die before birth. In the journal Current Biology, he explains in an accessible way how such a disadvantage can originate in nature.

The Ben Pauw thesis prize for the best Master’s thesis in the area of Public Affairs was won by student Esther Mangelsdorf of the Institute of Public Administration.

Intensive public debates have erupted about integration of immigrants in Europe. The influx of refugees from the middle east during the summer and autumn of 2015, the increasing visibility of immigrants throughout European societies, but also the widely publicized occurrences on New Year’s eve in Cologne…

On 12 September 2025, Dr. Ben Van Rompuy participated in the conference “Playing by the Rules: the Intersection of Competition Law and Sports”, organised by the University of Lausanne.

To argue that people can control the relative contributions of goal-driven and stimulus-driven processes to decision-making and action selection.

On 24 October 2018, the European Competition and Regulatory Law Review (CoRe), the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel jointly organized the second “Competition Policy and Online Markets” conference in Brussels.

Although it is often assumed that the stereochemistry in Ugi multicomponent reactions is determined in the final Mumm rearrangement step, experimental and computational evidence that Ugi reactions on hydroxylated pyrrolines proceed under kinetic control is reported.

Governments in parliamentary democracies have limited time in office to fulfill their policy agendas. So, how do they optimise the timing of legislative bills to assure their passage and avoid lengthy parliamentary scrutiny? This question is especially puzzling under coalition governments, in which…

This thesis describes how different colours of light affect various aspects of the growth and development of Arabidopsis and tomato plants⁠.

Promotores: H.S. Overkleeft; G.A. van der Marel Co-Promotor: B.I. Florea

Power and money are not enough for big tech entrepreneurs who are investing billions in digital nations. Reijer Passchier, Professor of Digitalisation and the Democratic Rule of Law (OU) and Assistant Professor of Constitutional Law, and Wim Voermans, Professor of Constitutional Law, share their concerns…

China is a one-party regime, yet elections are held for the local congresses. PhD candidate Wang Zhongyuan investigated how the Communist Party uses this democratic instrument to strengthen the authoritarian regime. PhD defence 31 January.

Promotor: Prof.dr. S. Haring

PURPOSE: The aim of the study was to develop a cheap and fast method to produce hollow microneedles and an applicator for injecting vaccines into the skin at a pre-defined depth and test the applicability of the system for dermal polio vaccination.

In this article, Gerrit Dijkstra and Jos Raadschelders from the Institute of Public Administration, argue that Bosnia-Herzegovina survives so far on the basis of negative legitimacy.

Striga hermonthica, commonly known as witchweed, infests major cereal crops in Sub-Saharan Africa causing severe yield losses and threatening the livelihood of millions of resource poor farmers.

At two recent events, Ben Van Rompuy, Assistant Professor of competition law at the Europa Institute in Leiden, discussed current developments in the application of EU competition rules to regulatory aspects of sport.

We found that, next to the effectiveness of the intervention, it’s also very likely that the intervention is cost-effective compared to attention only.

Ben Van Rompuy participated as an invited expert in the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Association of European Competition Law Judges (AECLJ), which took place in Berlin between 30 May and 1 June 2024. The event was co-organised by the European Commission.

On 19 November 2018, the American Bar Association (ABA), Section of Antitrust Law organized a teleconference “Sports and Antitrust: Breaking the Ice”.

A memorial stone honouring professor and resistance hero Ben Telders was unveiled on 12 September at the site of the former concentration camp Bergen-Belsen.

On 27 September the European Commission informed the International Skating Union (ISU) of its preliminary view that its eligibility rules under are in breach of EU antitrust rules.

When the plans for a breakaway Super League in European football were announced this weekend, governing body UEFA threatened to ban all participating clubs and players.

On 10 January, Ben Van Rompuy spoke at the New Year's meeting of the Dutch Competition Law Association in Amsterdam.

On 8 December 2017, the European Commission decided that the International Skating Union (ISU)’s eligibility rules, which impose severe penalties on athletes participating in speed skating competitions that are not approved by the ISU, are in breach of EU competition law.

Ben Van Rompuy was a guest speaker at the 138th Lunch Talk of the Global Competition Law Centre (College of Europe), which took place in Brussels on 15 January 2024.

On 25-27 June the Academic Society for Competition Law (ASCOLA) organized its 15th yearly conference discussing the most recent developments in the context of competition law policy.

The new scholarly journal ‘Voetbal- & Sportjuridische Zaken’, published by Boom Juridische Uitgevers, will focus on current legal aspects related to sport with particular attention for football.

Dr. Ben Van Rompuy participated as an invited expert in the annual Congress of the International League of Competition Law (LIDC), held this year in Vienna from 9 to 12 October.

On 12 September 2019, Michiel Rhoen defended his thesis 'Big Data, Big Risks, Big Power Shifts: Evaluating the General Data Protection Regulation as an instrument of risk control and power redistribution in the context of big data'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. G.J. Zwenne and Prof.…

The STAP study examines the cost-effectiveness of Written Exposure Therapy (WET) for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in primary care settings.

Shortly before Remembrance Day, a new film was launched about the life and legacy of Ben Telders. Telders was professor of Dutch Law at Leiden University at the start of the Second World War; he was imprisoned in a concentration camp on account of of his protest against the Nazis.

Nematic liquid crystals form the key ingredients of most tv screens. The active version of these complex fluids forms a useful model for physicists to research the responses of active matter—like bacteria or traffic flows—to mechanical and geometrical cues. An international research team publishes their…

Promotor: P.J.J. Hooykaas, Co-Promotores: P.B.F. Ouwerkerk, M. Wang

Dit proefschrift beschrijft een collectie aan alternatieve strategieën voor het begrijpen, ontwerpen en toepassen van lipide nanosystemen, waarin de rol van de bio-nano interacties centraal staan. In het bijzonder wordt gekeken naar de interactie van RNA-lipide nanosystemen, bekend van de toepassing…

Irna Hofman defended her thesis on 10 January 2019.

On Friday 7 March 2025 Adam Knight successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

The transition period in which men become fathers might provide an important window of opportunity for parenting interventions that may produce long-term positive effects on paternal care and, consequently, child development. Existing prenatal programs traditionally focus on maternal and infant health…

Actinobacteria are Gram-positive bacteria that have a complex multicellular life cycle and are well known for their ability to produce a wide range of bioactive natural products (NPs).