In zoos, at festivals and in a mobile lab at the market: everywhere, Mariska Kret tries to understand human and animal emotions with her distinctive behavioural research. Now she has received the Mercator Sapiens Stimulus of €1 million for her efforts.

External PhD candidate Liselore Tissen (Leiden University/Delft University of Technology) has been blogging on the Faces of Science website since March about her daily work as a researcher. ‘Academia is anything but stuffy.’

On Friday 30 November 2018 more than 70 students became acquainted with the large range of companies that Leiden Bio Science Park has to offer. In addition to the companies with eye-catching façade names along the cycling route to the faculty, like CHDR, BaseClear and Astellas, there is much more to…

Study information

PhD defence

Debate, Lunch

On Thursday 23 May, Carlotta Rigotti, postdoctoral researcher at eLaw, gave a guest lecture on the regulation of image-based sexual abuse (IBSA) in the European Union at Kyoto University.

As of 1 July 2019, Bart Custers is appointed as Professor of Law and Data Science at Leiden University. The chair is established at eLaw, the center for Law and Digital Technologies at the Faculty of Law. Bart Custers will focus on the intersection of law and digital technologies, on the one hand on…

Sustainability researchers can play an important role in the energy transition. But what if their partners are not (yet) sustainable and science itself has adverse effects? This is the subject of an online talk by researcher Thomas Franssen on 16 December with a discussion afterwards. ‘Clean energy…

Universe in a Box has been recognised for its educational value by Scientix — the European Network of Science Education. Universe in a Box is the low-cost, inquiry-based astronomy education resource of Universe Awareness (UNAWE). On Friday 22nd May this resource was awarded the Scientix Resources Award…

All students receiving their bachelor diploma in Political Science last week had a reason or two to celebrate. Two of them especially so: they won the annual award for the best thesis in the International Relations and Organisations and the Politicologie/Internationale Politiek programmes. Congratulations,…

All Political Science graduates have good reasons to be proud of themselves, having successfully completed their studies and having demonstrated considerable personal growth. This October, fifteen bachelor students can be extra proud: their theses were nominated for a thesis prize. In the class of 2023,…

For the first time in the history of the Van den Berg prize, there are two winners: the ‘traditional’ one for the best thesis by a student in the Dutch bachelor’s programmes in Political Science, and, as of 2020, one for a graduate from the International Relations and Organisations (IRO) specialisation.…

In the 2020 presidential elections, voters in several, mostly southern, electoral districts of the United States saw ‘their’ polling stations closed by the local authorities. In order to cast their vote, they had to travel further or use the mail ballot. Media reports and civil rights activitsts often…

Two Leiden University science communication projects have been awarded a WECOM grant through the Dutch Research Agenda (NWA). One project is a study of the history of the deaf community in the Netherlands and the other is of a condition that causes people to lose their way.

This practical guide is aimed at PhD candidates, Research Master Students, and early-career researchers from all academic disciplines. The instructions in the guide intend to inspire young researchers and to help them practice Open Science, by sharing all aspects of research as open possible.

On December 10, Kazakh pianist and composer Rakhat-Bi Abdyssagin will perform at the Stadsgehoorzaal in Leiden. A remarkable event where music and modern physics come together.

An impressive speech by Dean Jasper Knoester, a lecture by top researcher Mario van der Stelt about brain messengers, and the presentation of the faculty awards. 2025 begins on a hopeful and festive note, with a toast to a year of fruitful collaboration within and beyond the faculty.

The Minister of Education, Culture, and Science Ingrid van Engelshoven revealed on Thursday 13 June 2019 which projects will receive funding from the Students-4-Students Campaign. She made the announcement at Pulchri Studio in The Hague. Leiden University College The Hague was one of the seven educational…

On 26 and 27 September 2024, Leiden University's Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies hosted the H2OLAW conference entitled 'Law-science interfaces within the law of the sea and fresh water law’. The conference marked the launch of a multi-year research project led by Dr Hilde Woker and Dr…

Han de Winde will step down as a member of the faculty board of the Faculty of Science from 1 September 2018. De Winde had been vice–dean at the faculty since 2013. As director of education he was responsible for the bachelor's and master's programmes at the faculty.

Some children start life with a disadvantage. Sometimes even before they are born. A new research project involving Professor Wessel Kraaij of Leiden University investigates how data science can help give these children a good start in life.

Vincent Bakker has won the 2017 Thesis Prize of the research master’s programme Political Science and Public Administration. His study of labour market effects of social investment policies is the crowning achievement of Bakker’s work as a MSc student. It also marks the start of his academic career.…

More than 700 visitors got to know the Science Faculty during the Leiden Science Family Day. People of all ages could enjoy fascinating experiments, tours, interesting lectures, spectacular nitrogen shows and various workshops. It was an informative day with many (future) scientists, amazement and,…

Rijpma was invited by the 'Netherlands Education Support Office' of the Dutch Organisation for the Internationalization of Education (Nuffic) to speak in Russia within the framework of their Dutch Science Talks.

Eleven researchers of the Faculty of Science are on the 2021 Highly Cited Researchers list of Clarivate Analytics. Only 0.1 per cent of researchers are included in this list, literally making them one in a thousand.

LUC is honoured to announce that its Liberal Arts & Sciences: Global Challenges programme is one of the highest ranked Liberal Arts and Sciences programmes in the Netherlands and has been awarded the ‘Top Rated Programme’ quality seal by the Keuzegids Universiteiten 2017!

Rawi Ramautar will be the new Programme Director of the bachelor of Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences starting September 1. The appointment is for four years. Ramautar succeeds Erik Danen, who has held the position since 2019.

Have you ever seen your friend smiling, and suddenly you started grinning too? PhD student Chris Riddell is researching how and why we copy body language. As a new Face of Science, he will take us along on his research journey for the coming year.

The Faculty of Science launched the new Academic Year on 21 September with a special We Are Science talk show. Dean Paul Wouters starred in his role as talk show host and received a wide variety of guests.

During the annual graduation ceremony, not only were the Bachelor's students in Political Science honoured, but also those students who had written exceptional theses. The thesis prizes reward work that excels in originality, social relevance and academic quality. This year's winners are Ronny Wijling…

It has been just over a decade since the first students graduated with Leiden University’s unique Liberal Arts and Sciences Bachelor degree. We caught up with one of those pioneering graduates.

Festival

Political scientist Matthew Longo (Leiden University) takes a detailed look at the evolution of border security in the United States after 9/11. Far from the walls and fences that dominate the news, he reveals borders to be thick, multi-faceted and binational institutions that have evolved greatly in…

This dissertation explores Aristotle’s use of teleology as a principle of explanation, especially as it is used in the natural treatises.

This dissertation is a study of the view of the Neoplatonist Proclus (Athens, 411-485) on to what extent and how the changing and unreliable world of sense perception can itself be an object of scientific knowledge.

Promotor: H.V.J. Linnartz

This article explores how the meaning of the rule of law has evolved over the past century in UK and US parliamentary speeches, focusing on procedural (thin) and substantive (thick) conceptualisations.

October and November not only bring a number of proud Political Science graduates, it is also the season to determine who wrote the best bachelor’s thesis. For 2021-2022, fifteen theses were nominated. During the various graduation ceremonies the two final winners were announced: Essi Maria Teresia…

As of 1 August, Anika Bexkens has been appointed Professor of Evidence-Based Clinical Practice for Child and Adolescent Mental Health. Her research focuses on the optimal application of scientific knowledge in practice. ‘Scientists and practitioners often speak past each other.’

Students searched for MSc Internships under the following topics: 1. Understanding temporal variability in functional biodiversity and 2. Characterization of engineered nanoparticles in aquatic organisms: Gold nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes

For the twelfth consecutive year, Leiden University College The Hague has been awarded the 'Top Programme' quality label by the Keuzegids Universiteiten 2025. With an impressive overall score of 89 out of 100 points, the Liberal Arts and Sciences: Global Challenges (BA/BSc) programme has earned five…

Sustainable biotechnology, new insights into genome evolution and combining forces in mathematics. The NWO has awarded grants to these three innovative Leiden research projects in the ENW-M Open Competition.

In a full lecture hall C1 the Faculty of Science started off the new academic year on Tuesday 5 September. The theme of the meeting was, just as it had been at the university's opening the day before, sustainability.

On 5 September, spaceEU was launched at the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, one of the world’s largest science, technology and media art festivals. This 1 million euro European-funded project is coordinated by Leiden Observatory. SpaceEU fosters a young, creative and inclusive European space community…

Cultural Anthropology graduate Tommie Lambregts conducted fieldwork in the Slaaghwijk neighbourhood in Leiden as part of a Policy in Practice research internship commissioned by the municipality. Leiden Science City nominated his research as one of four 'most impactful student projects'. Award ceremony…

Leiden University has taken eighth place in this year’s SustainaBul, the sustainability ranking for universities and universities of applied sciences in the Netherlands. It was in 18th place last year.

The United Nations has declared May 22 the International Day for Biological Diversity. A moment of global reflection on everything on Earth and its indispensability. Anthropologist Marja Spierenburg stresses the importance of the interaction between natural and social sciences in addressing sustainability…