In a landmark ruling, the International Court of Justice says that states are obliged to protect the climate. Jolein Holtz, a climate and human rights expert, believes the Court is too vague about the impact for future generations: ‘A missed opportunity’.

Leiden University, along with other Dutch universities, it taking legal action against the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science in response to its decision to cut funding for starter and incentive grants.

The Dutch public broadcasting organisation NPO has asked State Secretary for Culture and Media Gunay Uslu to revoke the licence of Ongehoord Nederland. Wouter Hins, emeritus professor of media law, explains how unique the NPO’s request is.

Darinka Piqani and Moritz Jesse, both from the Europa Institute at Leiden Law School, each gave two lectures as part of the advanced course 'European Constitutionalism' hosted by Professor Helena Hoffmanová of the Department of Constitutional Law at the Faculty of Law of Charles University, Prague.

Nicolette Heijkant is our guest on the latest episode of Leiden Lawcast. Heijkant is an experienced lawyer who won her spurs working in the legal profession in Amsterdam’s business district, the Zuidas, and is now working for a legal-aid practice in Brabant. In this episode, we speak to her about her…

In what circumstances can EU competition law impose on a dominant firm a duty to supply a competitor? On 19 May 2021, the Europa Institute organised a virtual Leiden Law Exchange (LLX) Roundtable to discuss the European Court of Justice’s recent clarifications on the matter.

Deadline approaching: Applications are still open for the Summer School ‘The European Union, the United Nations and Global Governance’ (16 - 20 June 2025) for Master-level and PhD students. Application deadline: 15 May 2025.

The master’s programme 'Jeugdrecht' (Child Law) at Leiden Law School has been awarded the gold medal by EW Beste Studies. It is the only degree programme at Leiden University to have earned this top award. Professor Mariëlle Bruning says, 'it’s the best compliment you could ever get in your career'.

We have just had an evacuation in the Pieter de la Court building, fortunately because of a false alarm. We would like to thank everyone and especially our Emergency Response Team colleagues for cooperating in a smooth evacuation.

Leiden University is featured by French magazine L’Express as one of Europe’s leading ‘schools of power’, highlighting its Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs and the Institute of Security and Global Affairs in The Hague and its role in training future leaders in politics, diplomacy, and securi…

In een goedgevuld Teldersauditorium vond op maandag 24 juni het symposium ‘Het Erfgoed van Meijers: 70 jaar waardering en inspiratie’ plaats. Vanuit verschillende perspectieven werd gereflecteerd op de omvangrijke nalatenschap van de Leidse hoogleraar Eduard Maurits Meijers, die precies zeventig jaar…

Not everyone benefits from the increased flexibility in the labour market. EU migrant workers engaged at the lower end of the employment spectrum are falling behind. According to Daniel Carter, the legal system is at fault and in his PhD thesis he explains the reasons why.

What once began as an assignment for a master’s course and continued as a master’s thesis, has now culminated in a substantial book. Or has it finished? Actually, for Hendrikx, this is just the beginning: ‘I can finally reap the rewards of my research.’

From 16 to 20 June 2025, the Institute of Security and Global Affairs of Leiden University hosted the annual Summer School The European Union, the United Nations and Global Governance in The Hague. The programme brought together recent graduates, PhD students, and young professionals from a variety…

When deciding what to study you undoubtedly read a lot of information about your study programme. Leiden University employs various systems to provide information about programmes and courses and to facilitate communication between lecturers and students.

Leiden Law School alumnus Dave Wesselink began his career as a lawyer in 2022. He’s also a professional bobsledder. ‘When you’re tearing round a bend at 130km/hour, you need to be able to stay calm and focused on what you’re doing.’

Applications are now open for the Summer School ‘The European Union, the United Nations and Global Governance’ (12 - 23 June 2023) for Master-level and PhD students. The activity is supported by the European Union’s Jean Monnet programme (Erasmus+).

The Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies, Leiden Law School is inviting applications from suitable candidates for 2 positions of Student Assistant for the period of 15 March – 15 July 2022 and for the period of 1 May – 31 August 2022.

Cathalijne van der Plas will become Professor of Private International Law (0.4 fte) at Leiden University as of 1 October 2021. She succeeds Prof. Sierd Schaafsma who has become a judge at the Supreme Court as of 1 May 2021.

Global Transformations and Governance Challenges (GTGC) will hold its first international conference on 8-10 June 2022 in The Hague. Deadline submissions: 22 April 2022.

Facility

On Thursday 9 September, Lord Martin Richardson (Scottish Supreme Court judge) gave a keynote speech to the new group of Advanced Master’s students.

Three directors of PostNL have been arrested in Belgium, suspected of human trafficking among other things. Abuses also exist in the Dutch parcel delivery sector. Why does the Netherlands act less firmly?

Following our Leiden Brussels Alumni Event, I (external officer M. Blaauw, ed.) met our very own Leiden Law alumna Helena-Loutas Paraskeva. An Australian who works for the European Commission. Interesting, how did she get this job, what does she do and how did her Master in Leiden affect or influence…

This month we interview alumna Dominique Mars who made an interesting career choice: she tells us how she chose to be a teacher at a primary school whilst having obtained her Master in Child Law.

Behind the scenes people are working hard on the vision and strategy plan of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences: a manifest of our priorities and ‘a pamphlet for change,’ according to Dean Paul Wouters and Board Secretary Jordi Kerkum. The faculty-wide conversation about our collective future…

On 11 January 2022, the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences opened the new year during a livestreamed reception. Dean Paul Wouters and Executive Director of Studies Kristiaan van der Heijden were the hosts. After several faculty prizes were awarded, our Dean expressed a new year’s resolution…

Examining cybercrime from criminological, legal, administrative, and technical perspectives. The new Bachelor's programme in Cybersecurity & Cybercrime addresses the growing demand for versatile cyber professionals..

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,…

Why do vulnerable groups fail to make use of benefits that they are entitled to? This is what Max ten Velde researched in his Master’s in Management of the Public Sector thesis, which has been nominated for the Netherlands Court of Audit’s thesis prize.

When politicians claim they can make major differences with their migration policies, they’re raising false expectations. The opportunities for the government to restrict migration are in fact very limited. And what about the little room they do have? Mark Klaassen’s advice is to make use of those opportunities…

During a festive meeting, the In-house Emergency Service (IES) team of the Pieter de la Court Building was pampered by the Faculty Board FSW and the UFB management on 10 February 2022. It was high time to thank the team for their service, drive and commitment. Symbol of this gratitude is the statuette…

Welcome to Leiden University

Welcome to Leiden University

Welcome to Leiden University

The new academic year will get underway in just two weeks’ time. In recent weeks, this summer series has looked back on studying at home, shared hotspots in Leiden and provided tips for the new academic year. This final contribution will reflect on the past academic year for the last time by featuring…

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

Helping new students find their way at our faculty, organising visits to the court in The Hague, perhaps even teaching a course for a group of new students about the ins and outs of their study programme. The faculty is looking for new student mentors for the academic year 2024/2025. What does it mean…

Over a thousand women ended up in a State workhouse between 1886 and 1934. This was a place for vagrants, beggars and drunkards: people who were said to be too lazy to work. Who were these women who were sent there? PhD candidate Marian Weevers found out.

Amsterdam-based bicycle company VanMoof was declared bankrupt in court this week. The company had been struggling with financial problems for some time and recently closed its doors, causing great concern among customers. Several affected customers whose newly bought or repaired bikes were still being…

Starting 1 January 2023, Matthias Haentjens has been appointed as Professor of Civil Law at Leiden University. His expertise lies in the field of property law, insolvency law, and private international law.

There was a lot of interest. In front of nearly a hundred researchers, supporting colleagues and Martijn Ridderbos, the Vice-Chairman of the Executive Board, Lotte van Dillen, Research Director of Psychology and Saskia Goedhard, Director of Humanities Operations jointly opened the new lab with a classic…

The selected candidates will assist us in the organization of our moot courts and summer schools. You will mainly be tasked with organizational and administrative tasks.

The first study block is already over and hopefully you are getting used to having physical lectures again.

A deliberate attack on a tangible element of a culture, such as a temple, is often also an attack on intangible elements: the religion or religious customs. Equally, the intangible can be attacked without the involvement of the tangible, for example the brutal curtailment of rights. How are these reflected…

On 20 May 2022, eLaw - Center for Law and Digital Technologies of Leiden University organised the Hans Franken lecture for the third time. This year the lecture was delivered by Aleid Wolfsen, chairman of the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens (Data Protection Authority (DPA)), the privacy watchdog of the…