An extra-long cortège, three honorary doctorates, a quiz about 450 years of university history, a Dies Natalis rap and a call to defend academic freedom: these all featured in Leiden University’s 450th Dies Natalis celebration and the official start of its jubilee year.

In the Surveillance and Security Threat Monitor 2022-2023, the research project thematically examined threat developments.

On September 29th LUC celebrated its 6th birthday. Lieke Schreel, the Educational Director of LUC has been involved with the programme from the start. She reflects on the growth and the development of LUC in those six years.

The last decades it is increasingly recognized that acute as well as chronic postoperative pain is an important problem. Treatment and prevention of postoperative pain is a challenge, especially in special patient populations where there is only limited guidance on how to optimally use opioids.

No procession of professors, just a handful of people in the church and snowdrifts outside Leiden’s Pieterskerk: 8 February 2021 was no ordinary Dies Natalis. Carel Stolker transferred the rectorate to Hester Bijl, and Annetje Ottow became the new President of the Executive Board. With an honorary doctorate…

Historian Frank Dikötter will receive an honorary doctorate from Leiden University for his work on the history of the Chinese Republican period and the People's Republic of China under Mao. He will be awarded the honorary degree during the university's Dies Natalis celebrations on 8 February 2017.

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Every year around 8 February, Leiden University, the oldest university in the Netherlands, is celebrating its birthday. Why does the King still receive a telegram on the day of the Dies Natalis? 4 questions on the origins of Leiden University and its traditions for celebrating its foundation day.

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Terrorism only poses a small risk to people but tends to be a major source of public fear. Through fear, terrorism has far-reaching implications for public governance.

Leiden University will award two honorary doctorates at its Dies Natalis on 9 February 2026. They will go to internet studies scholar Safiya Umoja Noble and philosopher Catherine Malabou.

From ransomware to Citrix traffic jams: over the past few months Dutch organisations were regularly brought to a standstill by serious cyber attacks. We can only face these threats by standing as one, and universities and government should take the lead. These are the words of Leiden professors Bibi…

If we want to solve global problems, we need to know about both the theory and the practice. How does the international community make decisions about military intervention, for instance? Why is it such a complex process? Professor Herman Schaper has represented the Netherlands at the United Nations…

American anthropologist Rosemary Joyce will be awarded an honorary doctorate from Leiden University on its Dies Natalis on 8 February. Joyce has delivered important new insights into the ancient Mayan cultures of Central America.

This article describes that although the use of the concept of energy justice is new, normative interpretations have long been part of energy policy.

On Thursday 29 January 2026 Uğur Derin successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

Our information activities can help you make the right study choice. Throughout the year you can get to know Leiden University, our bachelor's programmes and student life in Leiden and The Hague in various ways.

How interest groups, differences in policy issues and institutional differences between countries affect whether public opinion is translated into policy?

In this article, Dimitrova, Gürkan and Koops presents a general framework for capturing and systematicallyanalysing critical junctures and degrees of change in EU policies.

Leiden was ‘European City of Science’ in 2022. Leiden University looks back on a fantastic year with activities, lectures and workshops full of science and curiosity.

In 2022, Leiden will be the European Capital of Science. An enthusiastic team from our Faculty is already busy planning the activities. Today we speak with Marin Visscher. As a project coordinator, he seeks the connection between university and society.

Each year, the Leids Universitair Fonds (LUF) awards grants to research and educational project in various academic fields. In 2019, dr. Tanachia Ashikali received a grant to conduct an in-depth study into the determinants of inclusive leadership in public organisations: What does it take to be an inclusive…

In 2022 Leiden will host the Euroscience Open Forum, Europe's biggest multidisciplinary scientific meeting. Leiden University, the Municipality of Leiden and The Hague Convention Bureau joined forces to organise the conference and bring it to Leiden.

Emotions play a key role in EU politics. This article examines how emotions influence the EU’s response to international crises and norm violations.

The title of European City of Science was officially handed over to a delegation from Leiden in the Italian city of Trieste on 6 September. Leiden will be the science capital of Europe for the year 2022. The EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF), the largest interdisciplinary science conference in Europe, will…

Portraits of six Leiden professors for whom 8 February 2016 was the first time that they took part in the procession of Leiden professors at the Dies Natalis.

Opportunities and challenges of digitalisation, the platform economy, and flexibilisation of European labour markets.

Smartphone behaviors are so common but how does the brain generate this behavior? The Cognition in the digital environment laboratory (CODELAB) investigated the brain activity surrounding smartphone interactions with the help of Artificial Intelligence. According to their research, the brain fluidly…

De Contactgroep Signum organiseert haar jaarlijkse symposium in 2022 in Gouda, op zaterdag 27 augustus 2022 (Streekarchief Midden Holland, Steenlandzaal). Het thema betreft de 'De parochiekerk in de middeleeuwen en vroegmoderne tijd'.

The Abbey Library of Saint Gall and the Chair for Mediaeval and Renaissance Latin at Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg organize their third Summer School Medieval Writing Culture (V to XV century), which will be held from 16 till 20 May 2022. Deadline for applications: 3 March 2022.

In the new Annual Report 2022 we report on not only research and teaching at Leiden University but also ICT, real estate, personnel, finance, impact and knowledge transfer and more.

Amici Cantus Gregoriani is organizing the second edition of the Gregorian Summer Course, in close collaboration with the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague. This course will take place from August 29 to September 2, 2022 in the Kloosterkerk, also in The Hague.

On 8-10 June 2022, the GTGC international conference was organized. The conference included high-level roundtables regarding the International Criminal Court (including opening remarks by the ICC President), climate change, and the global Internet in a divided world. Further plenary sessions revolved…

It’s starting to become a real Dies Natalis tradition: on 8 February professors from Leiden University teach a class at primary schools in the region. This introduces children to academia and teaches them more about conducting research. ‘Had you expected me to be a woman?’

At the Dies Natalis Willem Otterspeer, Professor Emeritus of University History, presented the fourth and final volume of Groepsportret met Dame, his series on the history of Leiden University. De 'Strategie van de Aanpassing' covers the period 1876-1975. Otterspeer talked about his book in a podcast…

On 8 February 2016, Dr Jennifer Tour Chayes, Director of Microsoft Research in Boston and New York, will be presented with a Leiden honorary doctorate by Frank den Hollander, Professor of Probability Theory and Statistical Physics.

Psychology teacher of the year is Roy de Kleijn. The Master Thesis Awards are for Roosmarijn Goldbach en Matija Čuljak. Jeffrey Durieux receives the PhD Publication Prize; Maedeh Nasri the PhD Wild card: Team Science Award. Wilma van Velzen earns the OBP Prize and Jos Brosschot wins the Leiden Psychology…

In the online panel discussion of ESOF 2022 ‘The effect of the online world on adolescents’, together with Amy Orben, Professor Eveline Crone, Sterre van Riel, Professor Anne-Laura van Harmelen and Professor Jan Sleutels, Professor Ton Liefaard shared his research on adolescents and the online world…

How can we explain that Caribbean small states have the most stable two-party systems in the world, while Pacific small states have either very weak parties or no parties at all? Matthew Louis Bishop (University of Sheffield, UK), Jack Corbett (University of Southampton, UK) and Wouter Veenendaal (Leiden…

Over 1,200 children from junior schools in Leiden and The Hague were taught by a real professor on the university's anniversary.

The theme of the Research School for Medieval Studies' Medieval Studies' Day 2022 (UvA, Amsterdam, 4 November 2022) is Reflections. We welcome 15-minute papers on topics connected to the theme, with a medieval focus, in all humanities disciplines. We particularly invite proposals from PhD students and…

The Graduation Ceremony 2022 of the master's Law & Society took place on 7 September 2022 in the Telders Room of the Academy Building in Leiden.

When I am working with master's students, I often hear myself or my colleagues praising the importance of establishing good relations with collaborators in the field