A wind turbine near your home? The energy transition is not seen as just by all parties concerned. It’s essential to involve local residents, argues Emma ter Mors, social psychologist. As a researcher, she focuses on identifying factors that influence public acceptance of energy technologies. Isn't…

Submissions are sought for a special issue with Frontiers in Political Science that explores the conceptual and practical aspects of a ‘just’ energy transition both within and beyond Europe. In particular, contributions to the theoretical and interdisciplinary foundations of just transitions, as well…

Even with state-of-the-art technology, it is almost impossible to see: a cosmic neutrino. Yet scientists have managed to image this particle with a deep-sea telescope. And that could help to better understand our universe. Leiden particle physicists collaborated on this ambitious project, published…

Recently the WTO panel report on India – Solar Cells (DS 456) was distributed. Under India’s Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM), solar power developers were required to use certain types of solar cells and modules manufactured in India for power generation projects in order to ultimately…

They can play a role in metabolic disorders and can break down tough plant fibers: β-glycosidases are enzymes that play many roles in nature. Fredj Ben Bdira changed these enzymes in order to enhance the production of clean energy and to improve the treatment of patients with metabolic diseases.

The research group headed by Leiden chemist Marc Koper has discovered a catalyst that minimizes the production of chlorine gas during salt water electrolysis. The invention can enable the direct production of hydrogen from seawater. The article has been published in the Journal of the American Chemical…

Erik Danen is the new Dean of the Graduate School from 1 January. He is a professor at the Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research and conducts research into cancer drugs. Danen is really looking forward to it: ‘PhD candidates are a special group: that's what I like to dedicate myself to.’

Understanding the water use of power production is an important step to both a sustainable energy transition and an improved understanding of water conservation measures. However, there are large differences across the literature that currently present barriers to decision making.

Two things are needed to produce fuel from sunlight: an antenna that harvests light, and a light-driven catalyst. The most efficient antennae contain bacteria. An international team headed by Huub de Groot imitated them and discovered how they function.

By 2050, we can obtain 40 per cent of our demand for scarce earth metals from old smartphones, batteries, and wind turbines. This is crucial because otherwise, we may not have enough to accomplish the energy transition. An international team of researchers from China, the UK, and Leiden's Tomer Fishman…

Studying surfaces of solid materials: it may not seem relevant to energy consumption, but it is. Marcel Rost studies how platinum electrodes wear out. Those electrodes are a crucial component in the fuel cells of hydrogen-powered cars. ‘We need to make the switch from fossil fuel energy to hydrogen.…

For the first time, scientists have traced back a high-energy neutrino to its source in space. It was produced by a so-called blazar—a supermassive black hole. Researchers from neutrino detector IceCube report this in Science. ‘This is a milestone for neutrino science,’ says physicist Dorothea Samtleben…

Charlotte Vrendenbarg is Assistant Professor intellectual property rights (IP) at Leiden University. She was recently sworn in as deputy judge at the District Court of The Hague, exactly 30 years after her mother was installed as a judge in Breda. ‘Following in her footsteps was not a goal in itself,…

At the largest scales, two ingredients dictate the distribution of matter in the Universe. The first is dark matter, acting as an invisible scaffolding held together by gravitational forces.

On Tuesday 10 March 2015 - 10h Ernst Worrell, professor at the University of Utrecht with a chair on

The gas prices now exceed 300 euros per megawatt hour – a record. The transition from fossil (natural gas, coal, oil) to renewable energy is needed and soon. But how do you get a society (and its citizens) to switch to sustainable energy?

Magnets for electric cars and wind turbines contain only a small amount of the rare earth metal dysprosium. Yet, this metal is responsible for a large share of the environmental impact and costs, according to research by environmental scientists Stellina Samuel, Robert Istrate and René Kleijn.

Could we stop cancer cells by cutting off their energy supply? That’s what Dione Blok, a bachelor’s student in Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences, aimed to find out during her thesis research. She investigated a compound that affects the tumour cells’ energy metabolism. ‘Hopefully, these insights will provide…

Leiden University is working hard to make its buildings more sustainable, also on the Humanities Campus. An important step in this context is the construction of a Thermal Energy Storage (TES) system. Following the successful completion of the first phase, in which the Herta Mohr building was connected…

How do you combine the growth of wind energy with the protection of vulnerable seabirds? With her master’s thesis on this delicate balance, Sofie Hajer won the 2025 Unilever Research Prize. Her work provides new insights into how ecology and policy can strengthen each other.

Following in the footsteps of Professor Jan Zaanen, visiting fellow Louk Rademaker is exploring quantum effects in so-called strange materials. His research is paving the way for new materials that could be used in emerging technologies.

Decarbonizing the building stock is critical for realizing the climate-neutral target for the Netherlands.

HomininSpace is an agent based modelling and simulation system in which fluctuating carrying capacity is the key attractor for hominin dispersal. A parameterized and spatially explicit reconstructed palaeo-environment models available energy in the form of secondary biomass using reconstructed climate…

A radical reduction in the amount of meat, dairy and other products sourced from animals is possible in the coming decades, as people turn to an increasing variety of alternatives. This would unlock vast amounts of land that we could use to produce energy and remove carbon from the atmosphere. Leiden…

Plants and their pollinators form complex interaction networks. Within these networks, species differ widely in the number of species they interact with.

Africa is seen as a potential leader in green hydrogen production for domestic consumption, export and greening industry. One key barrier to realising this potential is the mismatch of skills between those required by industry and the capability of local workforces.

CML-researcher Rene Kleijn has spoken about metals scarcity in relation to the energy transition in a new Dutch popular scientific TV show called

Henk Hoekstra and Alessandra Silvestri work on the astronomy and theoretical physics in the Euclid mission. These Dutch researchers are part of the mission.

RAWCLIC’s main goal is to develop knowledge on the future raw materials (RMs) demand, supply and associated environmental impacts induced by the energy and digital transitions in the EU, and to support fact-based industry- and policy- decision-making enabling these transitions.

Can a robot perform a religious ritual just like a monk? And what exactly is a religious ritual? Robots and religion seem to be two different subjects, but according to university lecturer Elpine de Boer, both can make us think about what it means to be human and what we consider to be of value. Together…

A public symposium was held at Leiden University on 20 February on a hot topic: renewable energy. This is the second time in a year that the University has organised such a symposium. The previous one, about Artificial Intelligence, was a big success.

In this thesis, we consider various (electro)chemical phenomena at surfaces and nanoparticles and their underlying atomistic processes, which we studied using first-principles methods such as density functional theory.

Getting to know all his colleagues as fast as possible, and learning about the faculty’s strengths: these will be Jasper Knoester’s first challenges. Jasper became the new Dean of the Faculty of Science on 1 January, and he is optimistic about the corona restrictions. ‘Obviously, this isn’t the start…

Can students help make our cities more sustainable and resilient? The Resilient Cities Hub thinks so: during its knowledge café on 16 January, passionate students talked to municipal officials and pitched their master’s research. ‘In this way, the students learn to step out of the academic world and…

The focus of the dissertation

Metal production is not only energy-intensive and a major source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but is also associated with other impacts affecting human health and ecosystems.

Promotor: Jelle S. Kaastra Co-promotor: Jelle de Plaa

Nowadays, it is well known that hydrogen and helium (and small traces of lithium and beryllium) were created shortly after the Big Bang, while the heavier elements are created in the cores of stars at different evolutionary stages. When these stars explode as supernovae, they expel metals synthesised…

On the 6th of December, Buurtlab 070 and the Leiden University Green Office (LUGO) hosted an event at the Spinozahof in the Stationsbuurt, bringing students and local residents together to explore energy (in)justice through the serious game Sunjust.

Supply risks are not new. But the aggravation of power conflicts on the international stage coupled with global shifts towards energy transition and digitalization has triggered the next supply risk research era.

This thesis comprises the development of reproducible synthesis procedures for two-dimensional materials (composed of boron, nitrogen and carbon) on different metallic surfaces.

The glycosylation reaction is a pivotal reaction in creating new and complex oligosaccharides.