The infection rate is rising again in the Netherlands, which means it may also be rising among Leiden University’s students and staff. How is the University responding? And what dilemmas is it facing? We spoke to our Rector Magnificus, Chief Security Officer and two other administrators.

A very special occasion for the Dual PhD Centre. Vasileios P. Karakasis is the 25th PhD candidate in the history of the Dual PhD Centre, combining work with PhD research at Leiden University. Karakasis will defend his dissertation: ‘Adding Fuel to the Conflict’ on 15 October. In this interview, he discusses…

Niels Laurens (37) has been appointed Executive Director at the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs since 1 October. Because of covid 19, he only saw most of his colleagues within the faculty through a screen. Although the online introductions go well for him, Niels Laurens lacks personal contact…

Our MA student Marie Costers from the University of Antwerp wrote about her experiences as a student at NVIC in Spring 2025!

What is it like to participate in the Erasmus+ grant programme as a Master's student from Ukraine? Yevhenii Radchenko did an eight-month internship at Leiden University in 2018. Soon after, he returned as a PhD candidate. 'You have little to lose, but a lot to gain.'

The Catholics were by no means pitiable victims over the two centuries that they had to practise their religion underground, Caroline Lenarduzzi writes in her PhD dissertation. They managed to keep their faith alive from the mid-sixteenth to the mid-eighteenth century. PhD defence 25 October.

The coronavirus has the world in its grip. Finding a cure has never been more important. Unfortunately, the development of new drugs for treatment of the COVID-19 disease caused by the virus and development of a vaccine are complex, lengthy, and above all costly processes. With the help of computer…

Leiden University College The Hague celebrates a milestone by seeing its 1000th graduate receive their diploma.

In January 2014, the research project The Promise of Organization hosted a fruitful three-day conference:

Politicians in Barcelona are preparing for a new political battle. Nationalists fighting for Catalan independence have announced that they will organize a referendum this autumn, just as they did in 2014. Other parties claim that it will lead to new court cases because the referendum is unconstituti…

After nine years, Mirjam de Baar is leaving as vice-dean of the Faculty of Humanities. ‘It will take some getting used to letting go of this vice-deanship because the education portfolio is very close to my heart and I’ve worked hard for it in recent years in close cooperation with many colleagues.’

The Etymology Calendar for 2020, which was compiled by five linguistics students from Leiden University, has now hit the shops. After the resounding success of the first Etymology Calendar last year, this year’s version is being published by big-name publishing house Brill.

So many interesting programmes, but which one suits me best? It was the Bachelor’s Open Day in Leiden and The Hague on Saturday 12 October. Among the many things to do in The Hague, prospective students could find out more about three new bachelor’s programmes: Science for Sustainable Societies, Cybersecurity…

While the U.S. reconsiders its global commitments, Japan remains a stable partner, having cultivated the roots of its bilateral partnerships in the Indo-Pacific region and expanded its commitment to global health.

Even the Mohawk Indians were talking about Serv Wiemers’ thesis. This Law alumnus, who has been intrigued by the world of American Indians since he was a boy, recently wrote a book about that world.

On Monday, 4 July 2022, the graduation of the two-year Advanced MSc International Relations and Diplomacy (MIRD) programme was commemorated in the iconic Academy Building in Leiden. Students and guests were welcomed by the Program Director, Professor Madeleine Hosli.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force in 2018. It was intended to protect the rights and freedoms of individual citizens from the risks of personal data processing. Meanwhile, the phenomenon known as big data has continued to advance at a fast pace. PhD defence on 12 Septembe…

This summer, from 12 to 21 August, it’s time once again for EL CID: the introduction week for Dutch-speaking first-years at Leiden University and the University of Applied Sciences Leiden. A memorable start to many a student life! This time, because of Covid, the city and students will get to know one…

During the spring of 2021, a group of eight biology students from Leiden set out into the dunes in search of amphibians. Using DNA, they determined the geographic origin of the animals. And guess what? In many cases they discovered exotic populations of animals that do not naturally belong in The Netherlands.…

The digital age offers unprecedented opportunities: information is always accessible, systems are interconnected, and processes are automated. However, these developments also give rise to new threats. During the Night of Digital Security on 26 May at the Wijnhaven building, more than experts shared…

To celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Hazelhoff Centre for Financial Law, the conference ‘Public and Private Regulation of Financial Markets’ was held on the 11th of May 2017 at law firm Stibbe in Amsterdam. The conference attracted an international audience originating from more than five different…

New ways of working like working from home can have a positive impact on a person’s career, but only when their superior supports their choice. Researcher Maral Darouei will defend her PhD thesis on sustainable careers on 9 June 2020.

German alumna Selina Holstein tells us all about the Dutch broodjes & hagelslag, the team diversity and variety in work while working for a large firm and the importance of the Noordwijkse beach.

‘There’s a lot of evaluation in the Netherlands, but this doesn’t always lead to change,’ says Wout Broekema, Assistant Professor of Crisis Governance at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs. Learning from a crisis is complicated, but experts can help.

The importance of science communication and cross-boundary collaboration, and the ‘mantra’ of diminishing social cohesion in society: these all came up at Leiden University’s 448th Dies Natalis. A panel discussion including Leiden’s mayor Lenferink, music and two honorary doctorates completed the special…

Mike Field has been at the Faculty of Archaeology since 2008. As a driven archaeobotanist, he is consistantly contributing to the study of plant fossils encountered in many faculty as well as external projects. ‘Flexibility, spontaneity, creativity, these are all parts of being an academic.’

China is prohibited from using export duties to address any environmental problems. This is unfortunate, according to PhD candidate Fengan Jiang (Richard), as export duties could be useful in tackling global carbon leakage. PhD defence on 19 February 2020.

For five years, Pauline Hutten put her heart and soul into the Faculty Council of the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs (FGGA), but a short time ago, she handed over the baton to Sanneke Kuipers, who is now Chair. We met up with them both for a joint interview about the importance of particip…

Sociologist Aya Ezawa is the new Diversity Officer at Leiden University. What is the University doing well and what could it do better? ‘It’s taken much more for granted that universities should be a reflection of society. But this is also an area where we can still make progress.’

PhD defence

PhD defence

PhD defence

Symposium

Lecture

PhD defence

Lecture

Debate, LUCL Fireside Chat

Within the scope of innovating and connecting – the theme of our new Strategic Plan – I paid a visit to Brussels last week. It is important to give Leiden University a face in Brussels and to show our expertise, on Africa for instance.

Conference

Lecture, Sociolinguistics & Discourse Studies Series

Lecture, Discussion

Lecture | Leiden Lectures on Arabic Language & Culture

Sanjar Golomov is a senior scholar at the Al-Biruni Institute in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. In Leiden he will deliver two lectures and one masterclass for MA and PhD students as part of the Erasmus Mobility Plus project between Leiden University and the Al-Biruni Institute. The project is coordinated and…

Lecture, Book presentation

All manuscripts submitted to Inter-Section need to adhere to these guidelines. Since 01-08-2022 Inter-Section uses APA7 as a reference system. Inter-Section therefore now follows the new Faculty of Archaeology guidelines concerning referencing and bibliography.

Cleveringa Professor Roméo Dallaire led the UN peacekeeping mission in Rwanda in 1994, but was unable to prevent a genocide from unfolding before his very eyes. Eight hundred thousand people lost their lives. In his Cleveringa Lecture on 26 November, this retired Lieutenant-General from Canada speaks…

Lecture

Whilst 2020 has been an unusual and taxing year for colleagues at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA), the Institute nevertheless can look back on an impressive range of successful grant applications during the previous year. This impressive result was achieved on top of excellent results…