Researchers are pulled in various, sometimes contradictory directions by the multiplication of performance metrics and new incentives to align with societal needs. Management structures, funding systems, and publication practices are increasingly influenced by pressures to promote only the highest quality…

What development pathways support teaching faculty members in research-intensive universities in becoming informal educational leaders?

One of the holy grails of drug research is to be able to assess the safety of chemicals and pharmaceuticals without using laboratory animals. Researchers from Leiden University, among others, now receive a grant from the National Science Agenda to pursue that goal.

NWO is funding three partnership projects with the industry sector. The projects relate to speeding up the search for new medicines, studying the changes in proteins as medicine and developing analytical techniques for research on the building blocks of life.

Arco Timmermans, Professor by special appointment Public Affairs at Leiden University, brought sience to practice by designing an “ideal” academic education programme on public affairs, to be embedded and taught at the graduate level.

What mechanisms shape faculty members' perspectives on their teaching role in research intensive universities?

Central in this thesis are the various forms the research-teaching nexus can take in the university, especially in the Faculty of Humanities. The importance of a strong relation between research and teaching is advocated by many academics, but debate is going on about the forms this strenghthened relation…

The current projects of the Molecular Physiology group focus on proteins of the endocannabinoid system, kinases and antibacterial targets. MSc- and BSc-students can contact Jessica van Krimpen-Kraaijenoord to apply for research internships.

For the first time in the 441-year history of Leiden University, students will be the keynote speakers at the opening of the new academic year. Their talks will focus on refugees.

On the 3rd of September, Adrian Stenton successfully defended a doctoral thesis. Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Adrian on this achievement!

Gerard van Westen and his group, together with pharmaceutical company Galapagos, start on developing software that invents new effective molecules. They will receive an NWO LIFT grant of 280,000 euros, of which 63,000 euros will come from Galapagos. The company will also bring its expertise in biology,…

In the search for new medicines against diseases such as cancer, a Leiden team has developed a new workflow. This approach combines artificial intelligence (AI) with molecular modelling and is suitable for finding unknown and innovative drug structures, the researchers proved.

Improving healthcare with our scientific discoveries: that is the goal of pharmaceutical research at Leiden University. And there’s a lot involved in that. Our research starts with the discovery of the effect achieved by a particular substance, and sometimes continues all the way through to the development…

Meet the scientists within the LED3 community

How can you ensure that more experimental drugs reach the finish line? At the moment, only one in twenty cancer drugs that are tested on humans makes it to the market. This is an enormous loss for patients and society. With a grant from the National Growth Fund, Oncode-PACT aims to efficiently select…

As a result of the current corona measures, attendance at the Opening of the Academic Year on 6 September will be restricted to a maximum of 75 persons. The ceremony can, however, be viewed online by taking part in a video wall.

The project “Optimizing the responsible researcher” (see below) has enriched the knowledge base about the shared values of responsible biomedical research and the various ways in which these ideals are (or are not) put into practice.

Student cooperativeness underlies high quality teacher-student relationships, and has been positively associated with students’ school engagement. Fostering cooperative rather than oppositional student behavior might be especially helpful for protecting at-risk students against academic failure.

Is my cap on straight? Where in the cortège will I be walking? These are some of the questions asked by professors joining the Dies Natalis procession for the first time.

Feedback from fellow students on academic writing is as informative as that of teachers. That is one of the findings in Bart Huisman's (ICLON) dissertation. Defence on 12 September.

Cancer research generates massive amounts of data, but traditional tools often fail to fully harness their potential. How can we unlock this data to provide better treatments for cancer patients? PhD candidate Marina Gorostiola González explored this by using advanced data analysis techniques to guide…

Two professors from China joining the research and education in Leiden, two Leiden professors going to China to share their knowledge and experiences in return. This is the exchange professorship between the Faculty of Science and Xi'an Jiaotong University (XJTU). This week, all four professors got…

An overview of research projects at the Predictive Pharmacology group.

An overview of awards and prizes granted to our staff and students in 2020, as well as special appointments at Leiden University and other institutions.

Andreas Bender, Assistant Professor for Medicinal Chemistry in the Medicinal Chemistry Division of the Leiden / Amsterdam Center for Drug Research, received the

One in two people will be diagnosed with cancer. World Cancer Day on 4 February raises awareness of the impact of this devastating disease. Leiden University is conducting various studies aimed at preventing and controlling cancer. Below are just a few examples.

Media in the Netherlands and abroad reported extensively about the drug research led by Leiden chemist Mario van der Stelt. In this research, Van der Stelt shows which unwanted side-effects a French drug candidate has.

What happens in the brains of people with psychiatric illnesses? With a €23.23 million gravity grant, scientists from different fields will search for biological causes over the next decade. ‘By joining forces, we hope to improve diagnosis and treatment for patients with these diseases.’

What does academic freedom mean? And how do we give shape to it in Leiden? The Academic Freedom Core Team considered these questions and presented its final report on 17 June.

Computers are capable of making incredibly accurate predictions on the basis of machine learning. In other words, these computers can learn without intervention once they have been pre-programmed by humans. At LIACS, we explore and push the borders of what a revolutionary new generation of algorithms…

Discover the outstanding researchers and educators recognised by our faculty. This page gives an overview of all prize winners.

The ability to collect and interpret huge quantities of data has become indispensable to society and academia. Leiden University is a knowledge and expertise centre for data science that places the emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation.

Every student learns about science, but those of the Master Honours Class ‘The Academic Life’ went an extra mile. They learned all the ins-and-outs of academia and rounded off this successful lecture series with a final session on evaluating scientific research.