Veel mensen denken dat zware metalen giftig zijn en mens en natuur altijd schade aanbrengen. Dat beeld moet genuanceerd worden, vindt hoogleraar Sylvestre Bonnet.

He is occupied with the home stretch of his promotion. But in between, there is another challenge: Michael Meijer is going through to the finals of ‘The Smartest Chemist of the Netherlands’. On Tuesday 9 October, he and five others fight for this title during the Evening of Chemistry. ‘I was dragged…

Overview of all dissertations published by PhD candidates from CML.

A catalyst: normally a substance that speeds up a chemical reaction, without adding molecules to this reaction. Scientists from the group of Prof. Marc Koper of Leiden University and Prof. Yang Shao-Horn of MIT now discovered that in specific reactions that need oxygen, catalysts called metal oxides…

The availability of natural resources, the energy transition, the importance of circularity and our dependence on China. This and more is what Professor of Industrial Ecology René Kleijn's inaugural lecture is about.

An indian stepwell on a nanoscale. That is what postdoc Nakkiran Arulmozhi calls the pattern he saw when he corroded a special kind of platinum crystal. The unique images show the destructiveness of the process, but also show how predictable it is.

European dependence on Russian gas, earthquake damage in Groningen and the changing climate: the call for an energy transition is getting louder. This transition will be accompanied by an increasing demand for 'new' raw materials. The Geo-Resources for the Future minor looks at exactly that developm…

The chemical industry must continue to innovate for a more sustainable, healthier society. The reseachers from the Leiden Institute of Chemistry (LIC) contribute by applying their knowledge to themes such as sustainability, energy and health.

Throughout all domains of life, from bacteria and archaea to eukaryotes, genomes adopt well-organized three-dimensional structures that can change in space and time to accommodate preferred transcriptional programs for environmental adaptation, the maintenance of cellular identity and differentiation…

The Leiden Science Young Talent Award is awarded yearly to a student who completed their bachelor’s degree with an excellent thesis.

Research and education at the Leiden Institute of Chemistry is overseen by the Institute Board. The Board and representatives of the two research themes form the Management Team. The Scientific Council (WERA), the Institute Council (I-Raad) and the platform for PhDs and post-doctoral co-workers (LIC73)…

This research aims to fully recall these lost sound aspects of the eighteenth century and is, therefore, a study that passionately advocates the diversity of musical experience in the context of historical performance practice.

The oldest university in the Netherlands has produced many well-known scientists. Some of them are known to the wider public; others are perhaps less well known, but their achievements are no less impressive.

CML’s education programme aims at training (under)graduate and graduate students for integrated and multidisciplinary sustainability research and for better decision making in managing the world’s natural resources, environmental quality and biodiversity.

In the master’s programme in Archaeology, you can follow courses on the archaeology of Europe, deepening your understanding of the continent’s long history.

Using N2 dissociation on Ru(0001) as a representative showcase (for catalysts employed in the Haber-Bosch process), we have shown for the first time that non-adiabatic effects can substantially reduce a molecule’s dissociation probability on a metal surface. These effects are currently completely unaccounted…

Interested in the BSc Science for Sustainable Societies at Leiden University? Please check our admission requirements.

‘Fighting for health’ is the title of Professor of General Practice Hedwig Vos’s inaugural lecture – and for good reason. Public interest is at the heart of everything she does, from advancing knowledge about women’s health to reducing health inequalities.

Measurements on a superconducting material show an abrupt transition between a normal metal and a 'strange' metal. The really strange thing, however, is that this abruptness disappears when the temperature falls. 'We don't have any theoretical machinery for this', says theoretical physicist Jan Zaanen,…

The European FET-Horizon2020 LMCat project of Dr. Irene Groot has released a promotional video showing the role graphene could play in our daily lives, how LMCat's production technique works, and how the consortium is capable of taking graphene production to the next level.

The Dick Stufkens Prize 2019 for the best PhD thesis of the Holland Research School of Molecular Chemistry (HRSMC) will be awarded to Thom Hersbach. In his thesis, Hersbach presents a thorough analysis of cathodic corrosion. His comprehensive research, on which he graduated with the distinction cum…

Surface Reaction Barriometry: Methane Dissociation on Flat and Stepped Transition-Metal Surfaces.

With its Green Deal The European Union has set itself much-needed ambitious climate goals. But the energy crisis and geopolitical tensions are making these difficult to achieve. Seven researchers from the Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Universities (LDE) alliance have written a white paper offering solutions.

Mirjam Sombroek van Doorm, Professor of Law and Health, became a member of the Netherlands Sports Council in September 2024. This council is an independent advisory body that focuses on bolstering high level sport, grassroots sport and exercise for Dutch society.

Leiden physicists use a new method to measure so-called surface plasmons. Researching these particles could lead to new light-based technology, including faster internet.

A recent collaborative paper between researchers from the Theoretical Chemistry & Catalysis and Surface Chemistry groups has been chosen by the renowned Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics journal as a

Leiden physicists have been awarded 1.5 million euros for developing a hybrid microscope that provided nanometer-resolution. 'The idea is to combine the resolution of electron microscopy with the pros of optical microscopes.'

What happens to the different waste streams?

PhD defence

The Spanish Society of Soil Science has chosen as the best thesis of 2015 (call 2016) in Spain to the CML-researcher Daniel Arenas Lago, for his research at the University of Vigo that expands and deepens in new knowledge about adsorption and retention of heavy metals in soils, an issue increasingly…

Leiden chemists Marc Koper and Ian McCrum have discovered that the degree to which a metal binds to the oxygen atom of water is decisive for how well the chemical conversion of water to molecular hydrogen takes place. This insight helps to develop better catalysts for the production of sustainable hydrogen,…

If you look closely, you may recognise the metal beams from the skeleton of the Circular Pavilion near Leiden Central Station: they come from the demolished Gorlaeus Highrise. The same beams have also been used for the circular construction of BioPartner 5 at the Leiden Bio Science Park, which will…

Detecting molecules with temperature instead of chemical reactions: that’s what scientists from the Leiden Institute of Physics want to do. They are developing a sensor that utilizes special nanoparticles to keep track of certain molecules. In this way, they can for example see how well new drugs do…

Leiden scientists have discovered a new plant genus with two new species at a potential nickel mine site in Indonesia. Remarkable characteristic of the plants: they store manganese in their leaves.

Archaeology can help us reflect critically on our European identity. This is what David Fontijn will claim in his inaugural lecture on 18 March.

Chemist Sylvestre Bonnet has received a Proof of Concept grant from the European Research Council (ERC). With the grant of 150,000 euros, Bonnet will investigate whether chemotherapy that is activated by light can be used against eye cancer.

Former Chemistry PhD student Tiddo Mooibroek is one of the 25 nominees for the title New Scientist Science Talent 2017. Nobel prize winner Ben Feringa will announce the winner at the New Scientist Live: Nobelprijs event on June 22, after a rating of the candidates by a jury and a public vote.

CML-Leiden University has developed a user-friendly tool that improves the risk assessment of heavy metals in surface waters. The tool was developed in cooperation with Deltares and the National Institute of Health and Environment (RIVM).

‘Children’s rights are somewhat of a poor relation’, says Professor of Law and Health Mirjam Sombroek-van Doorm. In her inaugural lecture, she will emphasise how more attention needs to be paid to children’s rights in current thinking on law and health.

The Joan van der Waals colloquium is an ongoing bi-weekly lecture series.

What if particles don’t slow down in a crowd, but move faster? Physicists from Leiden worked together and discovered a new state of matter, where particles pass on energy through collisions and create more movement when packed closely together.

The behaviour of strongly correlated electron systems, such as high-temperature superconductors, defies explanation in the language of ordinary quantum theory. A seemingly unrelated area of physics, string theory, might give physicists a better understanding of the weird behaviour of these kinds of…

Today, ESA’s Gaia mission releases its new treasure trove of data about our home galaxy. Astronomers, led by the Leiden astronomer Anthony Brown, describe strange ‘starquakes’, stellar DNA, asymmetric motions and other fascinating insights in this most detailed Milky Way survey to date.