It is a warm day. The sun is shining brightly while biologist Marco Roos makes his way through the bushes towards a peculiar little plant. Insects buzz, birds chirp. In the background rises the LUMC: at the Bio Science Park in Leiden, people and nature come together in a special way.

Ward Hoskens started ten years ago as an intern at one of Leiden's most iconic buildings: the Pieterskerk. Now he is doing his PhD on the question of how the function of this 'church that is no longer a church' changed over recent centuries.

The Hague has positioned itself as a vibrant student city, and with its growing student population is well on its way to becoming one. But the student housing market is struggling to keep pace.

For 125 years, Leiden University and the Leiden Instrument Makers School (LiS) have worked together on science and technology. This partnership is more important than ever today, as demand for skilled high tech professionals is growing fast: by 2030, an additional 40,000 people will be needed.

Protest is a human right and an important way to hold the authorities to account. But how does the right to protest relate to academic freedom and the right to education?

During the summerbreak the opening hours will be changed for the Wijnhaven building.

Professor Jan Aart Scholte delivered an inaugural lecture, entitled “Governing a (Better) Global World” on Friday 4 February 2022 in the Groot Auditorium of the Academy Building, Rapenburg 73 in Leiden.

On 14 April 2022, the GTGC and LUCIR co-organised/sponsored an event about Preventing Future Ukraines at Wijnhaven building. The event was organized by Arlinda Rrustemi and it was attended by several speakers.

Many University buildings will be closed on Thursday 25 and Friday 26 May in connection with Ascension Day.

‘We’re going to see each other again on campus. We’re so pleased, but we do have to say safe.’ Rector Magnificus Hester Bijl is looking ahead to the new academic year, which begins on 6 September. No more 1.5m distancing, but we do have to take responsibility for other people’s safety.

After ten years and one day, Leiden Observatory has a new director. As of 1 September, Ignas Snellen will set the course for the astronomical institute. In this interview, you will get to know Ignas. Or at least a little. That is why we gave him five dilemmas and asked the people around him who he really…

On 21 January, the Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML) has released two reports on circular economy and urban mining in the Netherlands. In them, together with Statistics Netherlands, they take stock of part of the Dutch ‘urban mine’: how much raw material can we reuse from the electricity grid,…

From 13 to 15 October, first-year students of the Advanced MSc in International Relations and Diplomacy (MIRD) travelled to Brussels, the heart of the European Union, to visit key EU and UN institutions.

This Justice for Children Call to Action offers a new starting point to place children at the heart of an emerging global movement for justice. It strives to ensure that, in collective efforts to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, no child is left behind.

2020 was an eventful year. You can see that in our photos: one and a half metres distance, an empty university, attending ceremonies online and working from home. The image editors have selected the twelve most eye-catching photos of the past year..

Recently, the BAIS Alumni Association organised their yearly reunion. Due to the current circumstances, there was a twist: the reunion – as many events that are currently being organized – took place online. This was a perfect solution for a Bachelor programme that finds its students from all over the…

SAILS started the new year with a new professor. Joost Batenburg will join the SAILS team with his expertise in Imaging and Visualisation. This makes him the second professor appointed for the SAILS programme.

Research often theorizes about young adults and their social media use. John Boy wants to investigate social media platforms by talking to users rather than talking about them

The Leiden wall formulae, Einstein's sink or the signature wall of Ehrenfest. It are just a few of Leiden's hidden science treasures. Alumnus from the Leiden Observatory Alex Pietrow described a few of these places on travel website Atlas Obscura.

The future is digital. That is why the new Humanities Hub for Digital Research Skills, and Media (in short: Humanities Hub) will soon open its doors in the Johan Huizinga building. This Hub brings together a number of innovative labs that are in line with the development of the new Humanities Campus,…

From BBC film shootings to a video of snowy Leiden and from bikes in the canal to our birthday, the Dies Natalis. This was our year in 12 Facebook posts!

Mayke Kaag has been appointed Professor of the Anthropology of Politics and Governance in Africa at the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (CADS) on behalf of the African Studies Centre Leiden (ASCL).

On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Dutch group of the Francophone comparative law Association Henri Capitant the Dutch group organises a symposium on Thursday 21 September 2017 in Leiden.

Late June EP Nuffic awarded a capacity building project in the field of Transnational Law, Asset Recovery and International Investment Arbitration at the Faculty of Law at Universitas Indonesia in Jakarta. The successful consortium brings together experts from VU University Amsterdam, Leiden University…

In the Dutch tv-programme 'NOS Amalia and the Dutch Caribbean' Stacey shows the impact of climate change on the coast, coral and culture.

No more smelly lorries disposing of building waste or delivering building materials to the centre of Leiden. That’s Leiden University’s ambition for its future renovation or construction projects in the city centre. Electric boats should make the process cleaner and less inconvenient for the people…

On 11 November 2022, a number of (internal and external) PhD candidates in the field of civil procedural law presented their research. The seminar took place in the building of the Supreme Court of the Netherlands.

Minister Silvania of Curaçao has announced that Germaine Rekwest, who was awarded a PhD from Leiden University in September, will support him on treaty policy for Curaçao. The minister announced this in his travel report.

You can follow the construction of the Wijnhaven quarter in The Hague, where the Faculties of Governance and Global Affairs and Humanities will hire the 2nd, 3rd and 4th floor, live via webcam.

From 3 to 5 September 2025, the project Governing and Building the City will organize the conference 'Good Governance and the Built Environment of Late Medieval Cities (ca. 1200–1600)' at KBR in Brussels. The deadline for the call for papers is 7 April.

The municipality of Leiden is starting the construction of six bridges along the Singelpark route. The construction of these six pedestrian bridges will create an interconnected walking route of more than six kilometres long along the canals. On the Arsenaalplein, the preparatory construction work for…

Do you practice public engagement? The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has just released a unique set of open-source materials designed to be used in public engagement training workshops.

From painted pottery to tattooed mummies, art has always been essential in human culture. Exploring the human past, archaeologists study art in the widest sense; from the technical aspects, to decrypting meaning. The new exhibition ‘Art-chaeology’, however, turns the tables and gives the pencil and…

Vice-chairman of the Executive Board Martijn Ridderbos will leave Leiden University at the end of this year.

On 1 and 2 December 2022, Vincent Delhomme and Carina van Os participated (Europe Institute) in the workshop ‘The European Health Union - Setup, challenges and global outlook’, held at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg. Vincent had the opportunity…

Nederland en Europa liggen ver achter op de VS in de AI-markt. Beljaarts doet de oproep dat Nederland een supercomputer moet bouwen, om zich stevig te kunnen positioneren. Reijer Passchier, universitair docent Staatsrecht en hoogleraar Digitalisering aan de OU, waarschuwt in EenVandaag voor de dominantie…

On the occasion of the Women & Girls in Science Day, BBC Science Focus Magazine highlighted 6 prominent female chemists. Among them is Leiden professor Ewine van Dishoeck: 'Astrochemist investigating the building blocks of life'.

This year’s University elections will be held from 25 to 29 May. You get to choose who will represent you this coming year in the University Council as well as the faculty council of the Science Faculty. This week, the various student parties will introduce themselves. Today: Lijst Vooruitstrevende…

150 new Biology students have arrived in Leiden. This is more than ever and we seem to settle among the big three Universities for Biology in the Netherlands.

Leiden University opened its doors on Leiden Museum Night, with a whole host of things to see and do at the Academy Building, Hortus botanicus and Old Observatory. Take a look at the photos and see.

Language is a little bit like owning a mobile phone. We use it all the time, but we don’t really understand how it works. Where is language located in our brain? Do all humans have language? These and many other questions will be answered by professor Marc van Oostendorp in the MOOC Miracles of Human…

What do you build with when trees are scarce and winters are brutal? For hunter-gatherers living in current-day Ukraine some 18,000 years ago, the answer was simple: mammoth bones.

Jacqueline Hylkema, a cultural historian at LUC, will be appointed at Princeton University from January to June 2026. There, she will conduct research on the concept of truth in Dutch political forgeries from the 17th century.

Pavel Durov, CEO of chat and messaging app Telegram, was arrested in France last week. The Russian tech billionaire flew into Paris by private jet and was arrested on suspicion of cybercrimes. Telegram allegedly facilitates criminal activities such as money laundering. This raises the question of how…

You can eat for charity in 2017 at Happietaria in Leiden. This pop-up restaurant, located in the New Energy building, is run by volunteers from different Christian student associations.

In the theme of Big Cat Month, National Geographic interviewed Professor Hans de Iongh, guest researcher of the Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML) about lion conservation in Africa.

Last Tuesday, the Herta Mohr building was filled with secondary school pupils. During the profile choice afternoon, they were introduced to various aspects of language studies. 'It’s really exciting to be here.'

On Friday 25 November 2016 the daughter of Professor Cleveringa, Mrs Ten Kate-Cleveringa, presented Leiden Law School with a magnificent bronze bust sculpture of her father.