PhD candidate Jiangnan Ding explores how you can design a thick slab of rubber in a way that it might act as a mechanical computer bit. This so-called mechanical metamaterial is pushed in a specific way to change its shape. ‘With a very simple material, we might be able to do simple calculations in…

Recently, Dr Gül Aktürk Hauser took up the position as Assistant Professor at the department of Heritage and Society. Originally an architect, she got caught up in the study of historical vernacular buildings in northeastern Turkey. Now her focus lies on the impact of climate change on cultural heri…

A gold carpet welcomed students, staff and curious locals into Spui Campus on Monday 2 February. The V&D department store has been transformed into a unique open knowledge centre.

The death of George Floyd has led to fierce protests against police violence in the United States and beyond. What effects are we seeing in our University community? We discussed the situation with Diversity Officer Aya Ezawa.

We talk too little about silence, thinks university lecturer Gerlov van Engelenhoven. He has been awarded a Veni grant to investigate the role of silence in protest movements. Does silence sometimes really say more than a thousand words?

A new discovery proves that it matters which approach researchers take in analyzing large physical, social or biological systems that have a networked structure. Ever since the early 1900s, scientists have assumed each approach is equivalent. Now many results in statistical physics may no longer hold.…

When do we say violence was used in an incident? The answer may seem obvious at first. But interim results from a study by Jolien van Breen show that Dutch people are labelling events in increasingly broad contexts as violent.

A new NMR microscope gives researchers an improved instrument to study fundamental physical processes. It also offers new possibilities for medical science, for example to better study proteins in Alzheimer patients’ brains. Publication in Physical Review Applied.

Translating poetry is notoriously difficult. Translating poetry in such a way that the humorous nature of a poem remains intact is even more difficult, even though it is precisely jokes that can encourage children to read more, notes PhD candidate Alice Morta.

How often do you consider the impact of your choices? 10 October is Sustainability Day: a good time to introduce the new bachelor's programme Science for Sustainable Societies.

Video projections in contemporary art are convincing not because they depict reality, but because they show new possibilities within that reality. Artist Sophie Ernst demonstrates this in a thesis and an exhibition. She defends her PhD on 8 December.

Alumnus Allard Altena (27) is mentor of the month. He worked at the Public Prosecution Service and is now a regulator at the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM). He wants to share his broad experience with students and young alumni – you too perhaps?

Working for a social client during your studies: this is what happens at Urban Studies. For the course Urban Studies in Practice, third-year students carry out projects for public clients, such as the municipality of The Hague.

The rapid economic development of recent decades has made China a destination for migrants from all parts of the world. What does Chinese migration policy say about the priorities and functioning of this global power? PhD candidate Tabitha Speelman has conducted research on this.

A permanent job or start your own company? After her studies in English Language and Culture and History, Anna Visser (28) was faced with this exact choice and chose the latter. She started working as a freelance translator. How did this go and how did her studies benefit her?

Explore how cultural heritage can proactively respond to global crises, from geopolitical conflicts to climate change, through innovative cross-cultural collaboration between Latin American stakeholders and Una Europa.

When alumnus Jonathan Katzman started his master's programme in Russian and Eurasian Studies, he didn't foresee how useful those skills would be in the near future. Now, he manages a refugee centre for Ukrainians who have fled their war-torn country.

Every year the international leadership course of the Leiden Honours Academy, the International Leiden Leadership Programme (ILLP), attracts master’s students from all over the world. In June, this year’s 25 students will get their certificates, but that is not the most important part, according to…

Receiving a gift is nice, but giving a present also makes you happy. Development psychologist Mara van der Meulen former member of the Leiden Consortium on Individual Development (L-CID) answered four questions about giving gifts.

The Lakenhal depot houses three nineteenth-century sample books in which the cotton company De Heyder & Co kept precise records of who placed which orders. History student Marit Scheepsma used them to find out more about the company's colonial contacts.

An international and interdisciplinary collaborative effort, the Honours Class ‘Sustainability Beyond Frustration: Saving the Planet as an Academic Skill’ aims to present students’ ideas to sustainability experts that know how to bring them to fruition.

The shock wave triggered by one of the five galaxies making up the iconic Stephan’s Quintet appears to be less disruptive than previously thought, with the shock likely being cushioned by dust particles in the surrounding gas. This is according to the analysis of the first scientific observations of…

The jury of the Africa Thesis Award is delighted to announce that the 2025 prize has been awarded to Yonwaba Matshobotiyana of the University of the Free State, South Africa, with a thesis on Black women's poetry in South Africa.

Photonics, quantum research and semiconductor technology: Leiden University welcomed a high-level international delegation from Taiwan, to explore new opportunities for working together on innovations for future photonic quantum computers.

Leiden researchers, led by Sebastian Pomplun developed a new method to screen hundreds of thousands of molecules for drug discovery, using mass spectrometry instead of DNA tags. ‘We wanted to make drug discovery faster and more accessible.’

69% of young Dutch people are struggling financially. They’re more likely to take risks by gambling, investing in cryptocurrencies or paying on credit. Like most Dutch people, the young are turning to family and friends for help and advice, rather than experts.

From the first semester of 2026, Leiden University and Universidad Diego Portales (Santiago, Chile) will launch three online virtual exchange programmes. The themes are: political analysis, tensions surrounding Indigenous peoples in Latin America, and the securitisation of borders.

Master’s student Anna van Ark has landed her dream internship at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. For three months, she’ll be shadowing the curator and conducting research on Japanese prints for the acquisitions team.

A world-famous light experiment from 1801 has now been carried out with sound for the first time. Research by physicists in Leiden has produced new insights that could be applied in 5G devices and the emerging field of quantum acoustics.

For the first time, a group of international and interdisciplinary researchers led by Karline Janmaat and her former MSc Student Chirag Chittar, have tested the several hypotheses on music simultaneously in a modern foraging society during their daily search for tubers – their staple food.

It is more myth than reality that people with migration backgrounds commit more crime. Leiden has successfully tackled anti-social behaviour by Moroccan youths, says former mayor Henri Lenferink. Good education forms the basis of a healthy and safe society, says ‘crimmigration’ researcher' Maartje van…

Annetje Ottow is the first female president of the Executive Board of Leiden University, which means a return to her Alma mater.

‘I already gave a talk about planets when I was five.’ With the theme of the 3 October celebrations being ‘Jong geleerd is oud gedaan’ (meaning something like, ‘You’re never too young to learn’), this year’s 3 October University was especially for children. Many parents came with their offspring to…

In recent years, the term alternative publishing has gained momentum within open science communities - a response to the slow, paywalled, and sometimes opaque world of traditional academic publishing. But what exactly does alternative publishing entail, and why is it needed?

How do we navigate the continuously developing landscape in research integrity, ethics, and open science? Anna van 't Veer and Eiko Fried discuss the underlying principles and values of science with all psychology units in their Responsible Scholarship workshop.

In this flash interview we get a flash introduction of our President and alumna Annetje Ottow.

As University historian, Pieter Slaman researches the University’s past, but he’s equally interested in its present. ‘It’s useful to be familiar with issues from the past. Not to be rooted in the past because some developments from history are things you definitely don’t want to repeat.’

This Sunday, May 27, the Leiden Marathon took place. In the pressing heat, employees of the Clinical Psychology unit participated in the 10 kilometer run. The scientists all set the bar high for next years run (all finished within the hour). Departments that would like to beat the times set by the psychologists…

Call for participation:

A day filled with sunshine and prospective students. On Saturday 2 March, Leiden University's faculties welcomed around 6,000 prospective students and 4,000 parents. Throughout this sunny day, they heard all about what it's like to study at Leiden University. Here's an impression of the event at Leiden…

Utrecht University Library invites researchers, students and other users of their digital collections to complete a survey about this: what material are you looking for (and can you find it), what functionalities do you use, what do you like and what could be improved? The library uses the suggestions…

Eelco de Koning takes us on a journey through time. He explains what type 1 diabetes is, how it is currently treated and what the future for patients might look like.

Maarten Lamers and Peter van der Putten were guest editors of magazine Terugkoppeling, the publication of the NVON (Dutch Association for Education in Natural Sciences), and wrote two articles. On March the 29th 2018 the Media Technology lecturers are opening speakers at the national Bétatechniekdag,…

Since Thursday 19 October, the name Faculty of Science flaunts on the façade of phase 2A! We are getting closer and closer to the completion of the impressive new Gorlaeus Building.

What are International Studies Alumni doing after graduation? Get to know Guido, Paulien and Lennart. They all studied International Studies at Leiden University in The Hague and are now working in three different fields.

Reprohack, an initiative from community members, won the Open Initiative Trophy on 11 February, a prize for the best open science initiative in the Netherlands. A Reprohack is a hackathon-like event where participants repeat research to see whether the results were reproducible.

We would like to welcome Matthijs Westera, who will be joining LUCL as Assistant Professor of Humanities and AI for SAILS.

Unemployed people often need not only a financial safety net but also a stimulus to look for work. PhD candidate Heike Vethaak researched the effects of incentives used by benefit agencies, such as compelling people to widen their job search.

Back in 2020, Dr Maikel Kuijpers started to write for The Correspondent. His articles offered readers a unique long-term insight into the materials that shape our world, from concrete to glass and plastics. His innovative approach piqued the interest of a literary agent, and he was invited to write…

From exercises for working more healthily to practical tips about getting a good night's sleep. Students and staff who take part in the Healthy University Workshops on 18 or 19 October will be given tips to suit their personal situation.