On 6 November, FSW colleagues gathered for the latest Food for Thought lunch meeting, focusing on “Politics and Society in the Aftermath of the 2025 Dutch Elections”. The event was opened by Joop van Holsteyn, who highlighted the purpose of the Food for Thought series: to create space for informal academic…

Framing Poland through the lens of post-socialism, as is common in the social sciences, has become outdated. This label no longer captures the rapid changes that have taken place since the fall of the Iron Curtain. Ola Gracjasz's research shows that people are redefining their national identity, blending…

How unique is the human capacity for learning and adapting to an environment? In field research – in the rainforest and Artis Zoo – primatologist Karline Janmaat is studying how humans and other primates adapt to their environment in their search for food. She will give her inaugural lecture as Professor…

Research

Violent conflicts and civil wars in Chad impede most rural households' access to food security, agricultural activities and access to essential services such as health care. In her dissertation, Nakar Djindil Syntyche denounces this issue. She obtained her PhD on 24 November.

Sterre ter Haar has won the Rachel Carson Graduation Prize for her thesis on how rising levels of CO₂ affect the nutrient content of plants. For the Industrial Ecology student, the award is a crowning achievement after a difficult period of recovering from long COVID.

During the Food for Thought lunch meeting on 2 December, colleagues from across the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs gathered for the SSH Sectorplan theme Resilience in Youth to exchange insights and strengthen interdisciplinary collaboration.

On 3 March 2021 Zuzana Vikarská presented some of her work in progress research at the Europa Institute's "Food for Thought" session.

On Friday June 2, the Liveable Planet event 'Interdisciplinary Collaborations - Food, Sustainability & Health' will take place. Here, researchers can learn everything about how to set up successful interdisciplinary collaborations. Why should you attend this event? We’ll give you three reasons.

National Meat Free Week (Nationale Week Zonder Vlees, 7–13 March) is an initiative to reduce meat consumption. Assistant professor Paul Behrens is studying what impact a change in our food consumption would have on the world. What, according to him, are the main reasons to switch to a (mainly) plant-based…

On May 8, the Faculty of Archaeology celebrated its yearly End of Academic Year Event. The event was a chance for staff and students to mingle, while enjoying a nice meal together.

PhD candidate Sulakhana de Mel discusses the link between geography, trade and food in Sri Lankan newspaper The Examiner.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science Annual Meeting is one of the largest and most influential interdisciplinary scientific conferences in the world. Held annually, it serves as a global forum for presenting new research, discussing pressing societal challenges, and fostering collaboration…

Maurijn van der Zee searches for insecticides that protect crops without harming wildlife or leaving residues in our food. His GREENSHIELD project received funding from the NWO Open Technology Programme.

Green cities and a well-protected food system: Roy Remme and Oliver Taherzadeh study ways to achieve these. But how can their scientific findings lead to societal change? They share their experiences with science-policy initiatives.

The ‘Schijf van Vijf’ is the Dutch official dietary guideline, similar to a food pyramid, that shows what a healthy daily diet looks like. The updated version places more emphasis on plant-based eating. But how big is the impact of that shift really? We asked environmental scientist Joran Lammers.

Lecture, Food for Thought

The results of the 2026 University elections are in. Who will represent us on the participation organs?

Staff Association

Arts and culture

Arts and culture

Lecture

Lecture, Food for Thought

Arts and culture

Arts and culture

Arts and culture

Arts and culture

Arts and culture

Paul Behrens and his team have won the Frontiers Planet Prize of half a million euros for their research into the effects of switching to a plant-based diet.

Masses of hamburgers, steaks, cheese and a lot of eggs: Americans love their animal products. But researcher Oliver Taherzadeh discovered that only a relatively small group of high-volume consumers need to modify their diet to achieve an enormous environmental gain.

‘The climate crisis is the greatest threat we face,’ says Leiden University environmental scientist Paul Behrens. ‘And yet, there is hope. In the near future, I think we will wonder why we didn’t make these changes earlier.’

Lecture, Food for Thought

Banquets for the rich, porridge for the poor and a standard diet of bread, olive oil and wine. Just a few assumptions about the Roman diet.

Leiden University, Delft University of Technology and Erasmus University Rotterdam have been collaborating intensively for many years. In 2012 this collaboration was formalised in the Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Universities strategic alliance. This has allowed us to approach important and complex societal…

Leiden University values participation: the participation organs are the ears and eyes of the university. They identify issues of concern among staff and students and help advise and decide on the future of our organisation. Something for you? Then stand as a candidate! This year, elections will…

This year, there are elections for the student section of the University Council and the Faculty Councils and the staff section of the University Council. Also ther are by-elections for the Faculty Council of Archeology and Social and Behavioral Sciences and the Employee Council of SEA. What topics…

During an evacuation, all employees and students gather at the coffee corner at the front of the University Library. Keep the road and the square clear for emergency services.