30 Years of Pale Blue Dot - 14 February 2020, Kaiserzaal, Old Observatory - The Pale Blue Dot Symposium is an event to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the iconic picture showing the Earth as a tiny speck in the vastness of space and to discuss its impact on humankind. At the end of the symposium,…

The present market regulations make it extremely risky to invest in green energy, and this is impeding the fight against climate change. This is what Oscar Kraan writes in his dissertation. PhD defence on 25 April.

Master's student Thalia Luden receives an NWO grant for her research proposal about a gene that brings flowering plants back into a growth phase. Companies in floriculture and vegetable seed breeding also contribute to the research.

The effects of sustainability projects on poorer, marginalised people should be considered at a much earlier stage. This is the opinion of Marja Spierenburg, Professor of Anthropology of Sustainable Development and Livelihood, who will give her inaugural lecture on 25 February.

A large new campus square on the Leiden Bio Science Park will be used for a range of activities for students, staff and Leiden residents, a knowledge festival, shows and sporting activities, for instance.

Leiden University has taken 14th place in the UI Green Metric, a global sustainability ranking for universities.

Leiden University has climbed to 24th place in the UI Green Metric, an international sustainability ranking for universities. This puts Leiden University among the top 6% of high-scoring universities worldwide. 719 universities from 81 countries took place in the ranking.

Leiden University and Stadslab Leiden invite you to improve the Leiden and The Hague environment with 450 extra trees – a living reminder of 450 years since the Relief of Leiden and the foundation of Leiden University.

The National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden features a small photo exhibition on Mark Driessen's fieldwork research project in Southern Jordan. In this small exhibition you will see a selection of nine photos, made in Udhruh. This ancient Jordanian settlement lies fifteen kilometres east of Petra,…

For the first time, Leiden University has made it to the top 10 of the UI Green Metric, a global sustainability ranking for universities. Of the 780 participating universities, Leiden has taken seventh place.

More than 30 members of Programme Committees, Faculty Councils and the University Council met online on 27 November with a mission: how can university co-participation work towards a more sustainable university in terms of education, research, and operations? The Leiden University Green Office and the…

De Universiteit Leiden staat op de twaalfde plek in de UI Green Metric, een wereldwijde duurzaamheidsranglijst voor universiteiten.

Two students from the Leiden-Delft MSc Industrial Ecology programme have made a carbon footprint calculator for the website www.doemaarduurzaam.nl; the website where the Dutch public broadcasting organisations collect everything broadcasted about sustainability. The carbon footprint calculator allows…

Biology PhD student at Leiden University Kevin Groen and his identical twin brother Marvin Groen (a biology student as well) will be on Dutch Television from Tuesday 5 September in the programme called Vroege Vogels every week (NPO 2, 19:20).

Giovanni Gruni, Assistant Professor European Law, will take part to the International Law Association committee on international trade law, sustainable development and the Green economy. The meeting will be held at King's College, University of Cambridge on the 11th of November.

On Tuesday 11 January 2022, the Meijers Lecture and the New Year's reception took place at 16.00 hrs.

Front-of-pack nutrition labelling, origin labelling, regulation of voluntary green claims made by food business operators: the EU is currently looking into various reforms of the legal framework for food information to consumers. The goal: healthier and more sustainable diets.

Leiden University will install over 30 tap water stations in the autumn of 2017 at the various University buildings. The first is already in use.

Leiden University is demolishing a number of old laboratories of the Faculty of Science in a sustainable way. The Dutch Green Building Council, an organisation that seeks to ensure sustainable construction and demolition, awarded this approach four stars.

In a newly published book chapter, Transparency and information: Factors needed to promote ethical investments, ELS lab member Sarah Vandenbroucke discusses why information and transparency are needed to promote ethical investments.

With the University Council elections approaching, the Leiden University Green Office (LUGO), with the support of LU's Central Sustainability Team and the D&I Office, contacted all seven candidate parties to inform our community about their views on sustainability and diversity. We asked each party…

‘Over the last few years we have focused much more on our environmental policy and have got better at telling the world what we do,’ says Jan van der Boon, Director of Administration at the Leiden University Administration and Central Services Department. This is how he explains Leiden’s impressive…

For many people spring is associated with the awakening of nature. The trees begin to paint the backdrop green again, welcoming the beginning of a new season with the chorus of frogs and bees, and the scent of flowers in the air. For Jaqueline Henrot, researcher at Naturalis Biodiversity Center and…

In some university restaurants and cafés, you can already order them and, come January, you can enjoy them everywhere: the Pure products. Sustainable, healthy and/or vegetarian. The beautiful lime green, also the colour of the plates and bowls, is the vibrant symbol of these products. And Pure is even…

Neat strips of grass and perfectly manicured flowerbeds may look green and inviting, but they’re often not the best for nature. That’s why Leiden University is prioritising a comprehensive biodiversity plan over conventional greenery at the Leiden Bio Science Park (LBSP).

Around 1,300 Leideners found 2,265 species during the Expeditie Stadsnutuur urban biodiversity inventory. ‘It’s been a huge success’, says scientific coordinator Frederic Lens.

Leiden University is in third place in the SustainaBul sustainability ranking. Students from eleven research universities and nine universities of applied sciences took part in the ranking.

Imagine we could do what green plants can do: photosynthesis. Then we could satisfy our enormous energy needs with deep-green hydrogen and climate-neutral biodiesel. Scientists have been working on this for decades. Chemist Chengyu Liu will receive his doctorate on 8 June for yet another step that brings…

10 October is the Day of Sustainability. What is the current status of sustainability at Leiden University? Things are moving ahead. Professor of Environmental Biology and Dean of the Faculty of Science, Geert de Snoo, outlines a new prospect: biodiversity.

Leiden and The Hague have an extra 450 trees thanks to a special campaign to mark the 450th anniversary of the Relief of Leiden and Leiden University’s foundation. Over the past few months, Stadslab Leiden has worked on an initiative to plant young trees with the residents of the two cities.

The jade vine (Strongylodon macrobotrys) is flowering at the Hortus botanicus in Leiden. The plant started producing multiple flower clusters three weeks ago and the first ones are now in full bloom.

How will we generate energy without further contributing to global warming? Industrial ecologist René Kleijn tells about low-carbon energy in tv and radio show Focus, and in VPRO Magazine.

Have you had a busy week at work? If so, it’s better to take a walk in a natural environment than to go shopping in the city.

Plants not only sense when they are touched, but they can also adapt to it. For example, by strengthening or defending themselves. But how do plants do this? The Green TE (Green Tissue Engineering) consortium has been granted a Gravitation grant of almost 23 million euros to investigate exactly this…

On 16 May 2024, EU Talks?!, a student-based initiative, was delighted to organise its first session with the following theme: ‘Rule of Law in the EU: Beyond Poland and Hungary'.

Students for Palestine – a group of students from Leiden and The Hague – are holding a panel discussion in the Leiden University in The Hague Wijnhaven building on Tuesday 24 May entitled ‘Silencing Palestine’.

As most of you are well aware of, Climate Change has been an ongoing and pressing topic, and therefore deserves our close attention. What and how exactly happens during Climate Change? What are the effects of it? AND possibly most importantly, what can WE as students do about it?

The Sustainable Business Battle was launched less than a year ago, but it has already won several prizes. Last week, the organisers received the Green Trophy and now they can also add the Van Bergen Prize to their awards.

On 8 April 2022, researchers of the seed grant project on 'How to Finance Climate Change Policies' presented their work to the Leiden Political Economy Group (L-PEG) and GTGC's Economy and Ecology thematic areas during a research seminar. The title of the presentation was 'How to Finance Green Investments?…

In ancient times, the desert in the Udhruh region in Jordan was transformed into a green oasis. An intricate network of underground water channels was part of an ancient system of water management, storing water and preventing loss through evaporation. Archaeologist Mark Driessen found a new way to…

They are often little more than a square metre of plants, yet pavement gardens are a source of life. PhD candidate Joeri Morpurgo conducted research in the centre of Amsterdam and The Hague and discovered how important small green spaces are, especially for cities.

The Sustainability Monitor 2023 shows that Leiden University is taking its sustainability efforts seriously.

Researchers from the Leiden Institute of Chemistry show proof of principle that live-cell structural changes and metabolic processes can be followed in real time with NMR spectroscopy. They performed their study on photosynthetic green algae that are metabolically flexible and can sustain energy generation…

In the Leiden Municipality Challenge, 25 students investigated how Leiden could become more sustainable. In doing so, they enlisted the help of the city's citizens. 'When citizens themselves participate in the research process, they have a better understanding of how science works.'

This blogpost reports on one of these conversations, which Alessandro Pisano, political science student at the University of Turin, and I had with regards to the transforming neighbourhood of Mirafiori Sud.

Grass, nettles, dandelions: we should banish them from our gardens, right? Wrong! Weeds can help cool, fertilise and increase biodiversity in your garden. In this episode of The University of the Netherlands, biologist Nienke Beets lists the advantages of more green in our villages and towns.