Cognitive biases affect how we perceive the world every day, but do they influence animal perception too? In my PhD project, I will study the cognitive biases in the acoustic perception in multiple species, to understand their origins and which role they play in the species-specific communication.

After researching inequity aversion in dogs and bonobos during her bachelor’s and master’s projects, Kia Radovanović conducted a study on cross-species pupil mimicry in dogs at the CoPAN Lab.

Simon Otjes is assistant professor Dutch Politics.

Bianca Boyer is an associate professor in the unit of Developmental and Educational Psychology. She studies the effectiveness of treatments for children and adolescents with neurobiological developmental disorders, particularly ADHD and Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Personality is genetic in zebrafish: risk-taking parents have risk-taking children. These are the findings of research by Christian Tudorache and his team published in BMC Neuroscience.

My research focuses on the acoustic diversity of the marine environment, how it shapes the ecology of marine animals, and how sensory pollutants can disturb the behaviour of acoustically active animals.

This summer, political scientist Thijs Vos received the Kaare Strøm prize for his paper ‘Power or Ideology? What structures legislative voting behaviour in Dutch municipal councils, ideology or coalition-opposition dynamics?' He was awarded the prize during the ECPR summer school on parliaments in F…

At the New Year's reception on Thursday 16 January 2025, Bart Krans, as chairman of the jury, presented the prizes for the best master's theses of 2024.

I am interested in coping with stress, on both the behavioral and the physiological level of biological function. I am predominantly working with zebrafish, but also other species in the field. My approach is multi-disciplinary and integrative, including molecular biology, morphology, biomechanics and…

Sarah Giest is a Professor of Public Policy with a focus on Innovation and Sustainability at the Public Administration Institute of Leiden University. She has been developing an interdisciplinary research agenda and teaching on using a policy lens to look at technical, environmental and social solutions…

Tommy van Steen is Associate Professor in the Cybersecurity Governance Group specialising in organisational and behavioural cybersecurity. His research interests include: cybersecurity behaviour of end-users, learning from what goes well, and organisational cybersecurity behaviour.

Maaike Kempes believes more attention should be paid to non-congenital brain injuries in suspects. This may partly explain their criminal behaviour.

Femke E. Bakker is Senior Assistant Professor at the Institute of Political Science.

Nina Komrij works as a postdoctoral researcher at the Developmental and Educational Psychology unit of the Institute of Psychology at Leiden University.

How you think about yourself is important for the choices you make. Adolescents are faced with choosing a study programme that will determine their future, while their self-image is still under development. Tough choice? Research by psychologist Laura van der Aar has shown that taking a training course…

How can chimpanzees, so closely related to humans, have almost no sense of rhythm? ‘The best students ever’ and behavioural biologist Michelle Spierings demonstrated that chimps can actually drum and move rhythmically—each following their own unique beat.

Young people influence one another to take greater risks, although it's not quite that cut and dried. This is what development psychologist Jorien van Hoorn discovered. Peers also have a positive influence on one another, an aspect that has so far been under-researched. PhD defence 12 January.

How do you deal with bullying? How can you motivate young people? At the NeurolabNL symposium a multidisciplinary research team launched an interactive book for teachers and youth workers. This digital book offers the latest insights and plenty of useful tips and advice. Children’s Ombudsman Margrite…

Half the world's population is introverted and comes home drained after an evening of drinks. Their social battery is empty. 'People with autism have a similar experience, but much more intense,' says Boya Li, who researches emotional regulation in children with autism and hearing impairment. Does this…

I received my PhD-degree at Leiden University in 1998, after which I went to San Francisco, California, USA for a four-year post-doc with fieldwork in Cameroon and Colorado. Subsequently, I returned to Leiden for another post-doc and to become assistant professor in 2004 and associate professor in 2…

How can the people of Leiden age as well as possible? And what is needed to reduce health disparities? That is the mission of Leiden Healthy Society Center, a new partnership between the Municipality of Leiden, Leiden University and many other partners in the city.

Geert Wilders and his PVV party have won the 2023 elections. What was the deciding factor for this victory?

Aesthetic attraction plays a big role in orangutans’ mate choice, behavioural biologist and PhD candidate Tom Roth has observed. But to discover just how big that role is, more research is needed into the emotions of the great apes.

On Tuesday 12 January 2021, the annual Meijers prizes and thesis prizes were awarded at the online New Year’s event broadcast from the Old Observatory.

How do you progress from an immense gas cloud somewhere in the universe to a star with planets? Research by Astronomy PhD student Martijn van Gelder sheds more light on the earliest phases of this process. He will receive his doctorate on November 24th.

How do you know if a drug will actually work? The Leiden-based spin-off Omivera is developing a new technology that could provide clearer answers. The young company received a seed investment from the investment fund UNIIQ to support its development.

All five episodes of the first season of 'Breingeheim' are now available to listen on Spotify. The first season of the podcastseries is about the social contexts of adolescent development and how teens become resilient individuals. In every episode, a new Leiden-based behavioural scientist and an adolescent…

A million people in the Netherlands attempt to quit smoking each year, often without lasting success. Health psychologist Kristell Penfornis carried out doctoral research into the role of self-image in smoking cessation. “If smoking is normal in your social circle, it more easily becomes part of your…