The specialisation combines one year of Computer Science research (60 – 80 EC) with one year of science communication courses, internships and research (40-60 EC).

The Computer Systems, Imagery & media (CSI) research programme performs research on methods and techniques for the design, implementation and application of advanced computer systems, in particular parallel, distributed and embedded computer systems.

The two-year Artificial Intelligence programme (120 EC) includes mandatory core courses and electives, as well as a Master's Thesis Research Project.

On 23 April, Andreas Häuselmann defended the thesis 'EU privacy and data protection law applied to AI: unveiling the legal problems for individuals'. The doctoral research was supervised by Gerrit-Jan Zwenne and Bart Custers.

Interactive exploration of large volumes of data is increasingly common, as data scientists attempt to extract interesting information from large opaque data sets. This scenario presents a difficult challenge for traditional database systems, as (1) nothing is known about the query workload in advance,…

On the 16th of December, Yachan Liang successfully defended a doctoral thesis. Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Yachan on this achievement!

Data Science (DS) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are omni-present and have the potential to be incorporated in various fields. However, in order to live up to this expectation, a good understanding of the techniques, their implications and limitations is required. In this minor you develop insights…

When should you plan to arrive in the Netherlands? Find out what to take into consideration when making your travel plans.

Lecture

The programme guarantees a thorough experience on the frontlines of physics research AND data science. It focuses on research areas where these fields overlap and in the process provides practical training of communicative and computer skills.

The two-year Bioinformatics programme (120 EC) includes mandatory core courses and electives, as well as a Master's Thesis Research Project. PLEASE NOTE: The specialisation Bioinformatics will no longer accept new students after February 2026. If you're starting date is September 2026 or later, we…

PhD defence

PhD defence

When you want to analyse big quantities of archaeological data, you run into the issue that searching through excavation reports is extremely time-consuming. If only there existed a search engine specifically focused on querying these reports… But wait, work on an archaeological search engine focused…

By making two final network connections and entering a command, Martijn Ridderbos (Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board) , Geert de Snoo (Dean of the Faculty of Science) and Bart Hoogervorst (Head of Department Operations ICT Shared Service Centre) ceremonially booted up the university’s latest supercomputer,…

By making smart use of available data, the health and care of people can be substantially improved. Marco Spruit wants to use language and machine learning in the coming years to identify and solve the biggest care issues in the region of The Hague. He has been appointed Professor of Advanced Data Science…

Europe's latest quantum computer is set to arrive in the Netherlands. The Dutch IT cooperative, SURF, which supports education and research institutions, has secured funding from the European EuroHPC programme to make this possible. Researchers from Leiden University will play a key role in the project,…

Each month we will be spotlighting material we have been reading, or that have been recommended to us that relate to AI and a particular theme.

Beowulf clusters looking for new frontiers.

Leading computer scientists from a variety of fields share their expertise and insights. Dive into the minds of these researchers and learn about real-world applications, the future of AI and related technologies and cutting-edge research. From chatbots to cybersecurity, from quantum to children's stories,…

How can we understand the drum-set – and thus drummer – as technological? How have technological developments affected change in drum-set performance and drum-set construction? Are the relationships between new technologies and the drummer symbiotic, or one way? To what extent are instruments and (reactive)…

Research on quantum computers and Islamic charities: two Leiden researchers have received a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council.

Multi-objective optimization is an effective technique for finding optimal solutions that balance several conflicting objectives. It has been applied in many fields of our world, because practical problems usually have more than one desired goal. For example, developing a new vehicle component might…

Less than 1 in 10 drug candidates that enter phase 1 clinical trials actually gets approved for human use.

The Astronomy and Data Science master’s specialisation at Leiden University combines advanced Astronomy courses with relevant courses from the Computer Science programme at Leiden University.

OSTrails is a Horizon Europe project enhancing how scientific knowledge is managed and assessed through a FAIR, open system. The Dutch pilot, led by SURF and CWTS, focuses on improving machine-actionable Data Management Plans and linking them with scientific knowledge graphs to boost research interoperability…

Are you curious about how science and technology contribute to a sustainable and innovative future? At Leiden University, you’ll explore the world of data, natural laws and living systems. From mathematics to artificial intelligence, from climate challenges to high-tech innovation: you’ll learn to analyse…

Embedding ethical legal and societal aspects for responsible military AI.

On the 26th of January, Alex Reuneker successfully defended a doctoral thesis. The Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Alex on this achievement!

Over several decades, a variety of computational methods for drug discovery have been proposed and applied in practice. With the accumulation of data and the development of machine learning methods, computational drug design methods have gradually shifted to a new paradigm, i.e. deep learning methods…

The High-Tech Innovation specialisation consists of a 60 EC track alongside the students' core MSc programme: Astronomy, Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics and Physics.

How do humans construct their self?

Synthetic cells, also known as artificial cells or protocells, have wide ranging applications from drug delivery vectors to cell models. In biotechnology they can function as micro- or nanoreactors with possible applications in biocatalysis and photocatalysis. Phospholipids are by far the most commonly…

Antibiotics are a class of medicine most people take for granted. But pathogenic bacteria are becoming more and more resistant to our antibiotics, and this poses a great challenge for future treatments. There is thus a great societal need to identify new molecules that can address new targets and be…

Synthetic or artificial cells are vesicles, often lipid vesicles, with wide ranging applications from drug delivery to nanoreactors in biocatalysis. We are developing polymer-lipid hybrid vesicles for applications in compartmentalised biocatalysis, in which the polymer has been shown to greatly enhance…