At this week’s EU summit in Brussels, Dutch Prime Minister Rutte will try to get support for his plans to combat migration. He proposes tighter border controls at Europe’s external borders and returning rejected seekers to their country of origin more often. But how feasible is the latter proposal?

On Wednesday 24 August 2016, Leiden University and UNICEF in the Netherlands extended their successful cooperation for another five years. During this period they will work together on an international centre for expertise on children’s rights supported by the UNICEF Chair in Children’s Rights.

With her background in Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology, Leonie Siepmans brings a unique perspective to the corporate world. Find out what an anthropologist does in a big company.

For a certain period the municipality of The Hague collaborated with the Salafist Quba mosque. The reason for the collaboration was to keep an eye on for radicalised youngsters. But as the collaboration progressed, the mosque became a breeding ground for Jihadists.

The Institute of Environmental Sciences of the Leiden University has, together with its European partners, presented the new MULTIPLY platform, during a workshop at the European Space Agency (ESA). This platform makes it for the first time possible to combine different data stream’s of ESA’s newest…

Alongside the incredible devastation brought by Hurricanes Irma and Maria in the fall of 2017, the storms have had an extremely damaging effect on the archaeological site of Sauteurs Bay on the North coast of Grenada. This unique and important site is now left exposed and vulnerable to the elements.

Developing a better treatment for patients with head and neck cancer, that is what Binanox, The 2022 iGEM Leiden team, want to achieve. They hope to raise at least 10,000 euros for this cause. Support their crowdfunding campaign today.

Chuan Zha from China studied International Relations at Leiden University. He comes from Chengdu, a city of more than 14 million inhabitants, but regards the relatively small town Leiden as ‘more cosmopolitan’.

The touring exhibition 'Presenting with the city' has touched down in the Lipsius Building. In the presentation, students and researchers show how their research has contributed to the city.

The academic year of Leiden University's Honours Academy opened on 9 October. The opening ceremony was held in the Hooglandse church in Leiden.

The Netherlands aims to have open and responsive government. As part of the ‘Actieplan Open Overheid’, Ymre Schuurmans, Annemarie Drahmann and Louis Honée from the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law are researching how citizens' information position in administrative law proceedings…

In totaal hebben 21 Leidse onderzoekers succesvol een aanvraag ingediend voor de NWO SGW Open Competitie XS. Twee van de beloonde projecten komen van onderzoekers van FGGA: Silvia D’Amato en Jaroslaw Kantorowicz.

Political parties want to reduce labour migration, but without harming the Dutch economy. Is that actually possible? Olaf van Vliet, Professor of Economics, spoke to public broadcaster NOS about the pros and cons of restrictive measures.

The ‘Amorphophallus titanum’ at the Hortus botanicus Leiden is blooming. This Titan Arum, also known as the ‘giant penis plant’, last flowered in 2009.

The symposium will be held on 11 June 2025 from 10.00-17.00 and is organized as a starting point for the publication of an edited volume – a selection of symposium attendants will be invited to submit book chapters.

A new analysis of the king cobra genome by Michael Richardson, Christian Henkel (IBL) and collaborators at the IBL and Naturalis, Helsinki and Singapore has been published in

On 11 and 12 April, the kick-off conference “The role of law in Libya’s national reconciliation” took place. The conference marked the official start of a research project by the Van Vollenhoven Institute of Leiden University and the Centre for Law and Society Studies of the University of Benghazi on…

The Leiden University Green Office is pleased to announce its Spring Poetry competition, on the theme: (Environmental) Guilt!

The Institute for Philosophy is pleased to host the OZSW Graduate Conference in Theoretical Philosophy on 9 and 10 January 2019

Leiden University will share impactful research and teaching with policymakers, businesses and the general public at the Impact Fair in Utrecht on Thursday 3, Friday 4 and Saturday 5 April. Visit our stand, meet over a hundred inspiring exhibitors.

The MOOC Terrorism and Counterterrorism: Comparing Theory & Practice by Prof. Edwin Bakker, co-developed by the Centre for Innovation, has now attracted over 100,000 participants. It is the first MOOC of Leiden University to reach this magic number.

Leiden University political scientist Daniela Stockmann has been awarded the 2015 Goldsmith Book Prize for best academic book in the field of media, politics, and public policy. Stockmann's 'Media Commercialization and Authoritarian Rule in China' (Cambridge University Press, 2013) was acknowledged…

No, this isn’t about a Star Wars Alliance that wants to suppress The Resistance. Rather, the EPIC Alliance brings together scientific experts from seven countries to address the growing threat of antibiotic resistance. Leiden professor Nathaniel Martin is part of the 11-member consortium.

Marja Verstelle has received the SURF Education Award 2020. This prize is awarded each year, to five education professionals who have contributed to innovation in education, both within the Netherlands and beyond.

The book 'Darwin comes to town’ by Menno Schilthuizen has been awarded the best nature book in the Netherlands. The Leiden biologist received the Jan Wolkers Prize, awarded annually by Dutch TV and radio show 'Vroege Vogels'. In his book Schilthuizen describes evolution in one of the newest and most…

For the first time in the Netherlands this summer: the Space Studies Programme - an international summer university for those who aspire to a space career. In parallel: the Sizzling Summer of Space, which is a public programme for both young and old.

It was with great sadness that on 17 May 2021 we learned of the death of our dear colleague Paul Valk. Paul died from the consequences of COVID-19, having been diagnosed with coronavirus over three weeks ago. Soon after this he was admitted to intensive care, where he was kept in an induced coma on…

Professor emeritus Leonard Blussé of the Leiden University Institute for History has won the ‘Special Book Award of China’. The Chinese government awards this prize to translators, writers and editors who have contributed to making China better known among non-Chinese.

The Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA) has announced that 27,000 data leaks were reported in 2019, a huge increase compared to previous years. Bart Custers, Professor of Law & Data Science at eLaw ¬- Center for Law and Digital Technologies, claims in Dutch newspaper Trouw (22 February 2020) that…

The Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC) is concentrating increasingly on research into the role of the brain in language development. The institute has now set up the LIBC Language website that brings together all the information on this research.

An international team of astronomers has shown that a white dwarf and a red dwarf orbiting each other every two hours are emitting radio pulses. Through the discovery, astronomers now know that the monopoly on bright radio bursts is not solely held by neutron stars. The team of international scientists…

A mother who is far from the romantic ideal image of the mother as we know is the murderous mother. Genevieve Lhermitte, the mother who killed her 5 children, or the neurosurgeon who killed her 14-year-old daughter whose trial recently ended are examples of shocking stories. It goes against every thought…

Scientists have detected a neutrino with the highest energy ever measured. Leiden physicists Maarten de Jong and Dorothea Samtleben were involved in this project, which was widely covered in newspapers and online media last week.

From children’s inability to identify animals to a big protest at the opening of the academic year: below are some of our most popular articles of 2019.

It appears that interest groups are increasingly finding their way to court or other ways of making use of the legal system as a means for societal change. Over the summer, Rowie Stolk, PhD candidate at the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law was one of the speakers at the workshop ‘Legal…

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has formally approved the withdrawal of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso from the regional body. The approval comes just days after President Bola Tinubu promised German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier that ECOWAS would handle the three countries'…

During the week of 15 November, Little Amal, the larger-than-life doll visited The Hague. Naturally she received a warm welcome by Leiden University during her visit. Little Amal (art project The Walk) was invited by Amare.

The Dutch State is set to challenge The Hague Court of Appeal's ruling that the Netherlands must stop exporting arms to Israel at the Supreme Court. The government believes that foreign policy falls within the political domain and not within the judiciary. Geerten Boogaard, Professor of Constitutional…

Leiden University researchers have discovered by chance a note from 1783 in Papiamento. They are working on a linguistic study on confiscated Dutch letters. The ‘Letters as loot’ project is headed by Professor Marijke van der Wal.

On 1 November 2018, Rina Visser-Rotgans obtained her doctorate with her thesis on ‘Veranderend kunstenaarschap. De rol en betekenis van de kunstenaar in participatieve kunstpraktijken’ (Artistry evolving. The function and definition of the artist in participational practices of art). Rina’s research…

Pauline Schuyt, Professor of Penal Law and Sentencing, spoke on Dutch current affairs programme ‘EenVandaag’ about the stark rise in combination punishments that include penal hospital orders (in Dutch: terbeschikkingstelling, TBS) and custodial sentences. Since 2019, the number of combination punishments…

On Monday 29 April, Liesbeth van der Heide, researcher at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs of Leiden University, was a guest on the Dutch television programme ‘Nieuwsuur’. She reflected on the interview with Jason Walters, a former member of the Dutch Hofstad terrorist group. The ‘Hofstad…

Which teacher knows best how to inspire their students? Carmen van den Bergh (Humanities), Egbert Koops (Law) and Arjan Louwen (Archaeology) have been nominated for the 2025 Leiden Teaching Prize.

In an academic workshop at University of California, Davis School of Law on 26 April 2019 Jelle Nijland and Tim Verdoes presented the preliminary results of the research they conducted in cooperation with Thy Pham and Maaike Lyklama a Nijeholt. The aim of the workshop was to facilitate an in-depth comparative…

The Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research (LACDR) has received a €750,000 grant from ZonMw for QPharmNL. This is a continuing education programme that trains professionals in computational techniques in pharmacology for innovative drug development.

The European Commission sees increased labour migration as a solution to the growing personnel shortages, but the Dutch Labour Inspectorate argues that this is not a tenable business model. Professor of Economics Olaf van Vliet discusses the advantages and disadvantages of labour migration for the economy…

Biology student Britt van Kasterop has received a Holland Society Young Talent Award for her excellent results in the first year of study. The online awards ceremony took place on 30 November.

Anchrit Wille, Associate Professor at Leiden University's Institute of Public Administration, wrote together with Mark Bovens, Professor of Public Administration at the Utrecht University School of Governance the book“Diploma Democracy”. The Economist wrote a review “This fascinating book shows that…

On 28 January 2025, Philip Purnell successfully defended his PhD thesis at Leiden University, titled

Recently, a large number of Dutch MPs announced they will leave the political arena. They are - even if they leave voluntarily - entitled to redundancy pay, a kind of benefit.