The mission of our group is understanding how science communication works to improve the interaction between science and society. We believe better science communication can improve our society and engage many different groups with science, also improving science.

The Research in Physics, Classical/Quantum Information specialisation is an excellent stepping stone for pursuing a PhD degree in projects that involves Physics and Data Science This specialisation also prepares you for a broad array of career prospects in research and industry, including software engineer,…

Promotores: Prof.dr. H.J.M. de Groot, Prof.dr. J. Matysik (Universitaet Leipzig)

Research at the THEOR group is comprised of the following research themes:

'Technology, law and justice' is one of Leiden Law School's four research focus areas.

We review the state-of-the-art in the theory of dissociative chemisorption (DC) of small gas phase molecules on metal surfaces, which is important to modeling heterogeneous catalysis for practical reasons, and for achieving an understanding of the wealth of experimental information that exists for this…

Combining different disciplines, researchers work together to formulate innovative solutions to societal problems.

The long term goal of the Biophysical Organic Chemistry/SSNMR group, headed by Prof. Huub de Groot, is to reach an understanding of structure, dynamics and functional mechanisms of membrane proteins and self-organized biological assemblies and to translate this knowledge into new concepts for nano-devices,…

The War and Peace Studies track offers you a comprehensive understanding of the historical, theoretical, and practical dimensions of war and peace, while addressing the complex challenges of conflict and peacebuilding in the contemporary world.

The documentary Einstein’s Light by director Nickolas Barris shows in a dazzling manner what scientific breakthroughs resulted from the special friendship between Albert Einstein and the Leiden physicist Hendrik Antoon Lorentz. The documentary premiered at the Leiden International Film Festival on 2…

This summer, Leiden University will be setting up camp at Lowlands with two research projects. Participants are invited to explore their fears and feelings, and in doing so, contribute to scientific research.

The Leiden Institute of Physics (LION) offers bachelor and master level education in physics at Leiden University.

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…

Computers are becoming ever more powerful and are taking on more complex tasks. The Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS) contributes to revolutionary scientific research and applies the latest inventions in the field, offering answers to today’s questions of society.

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…

Research at the Leiden Institute of Physics (LION) is foundational and curiosity driven. All our scientists share a desire to increase the knowledge of the world around us, in an open atmosphere of inquiry from which innovative ideas emerge that provide applications and value for society.

Heterogeneous catalysis is one of the fundamental processes of modern life, being common in industrial refinery and hydrogen vehicles, all the way to the living cell. The dissociation of H2 on Cu(111) is an important benchmark system for studying heterogeneous catalysis, with a large and varied amount…

A full overview of THEOR PhD theses.

Promotor: D. Bouwmeester, Co-promotor: D. Kraft

This thesis aims to improve the detection from ultra-weak single emitter by enhancing their emission properties with plasmonic nanostructures. We exploit the wet-chemically synthesized single crystalline gold nanorods (GNRs) as our basic frameworks in the whole studies, simply because of their unique…

Promotor: E.R. Eliel, Co-Promotor: M.J.A. de Dood

Leiden University is an international, broad-based university. We distinguish five core domains for our research and teaching activities.

Single-molecule spectroscopy has become a powerful method for using organic fluorescent molecules in numerous applications.

Promotor: Prof.dr. J. Zaanen, A. Parnachev

The specialisation consists of 120 European Credit Transfer System (EC) points and includes mandatory courses and electives (60 EC) and two research projects (60 EC).

The programme offers you the ability to combine experimental research with theoretical courses. The programme helps you grow into an independent and skilled physicist.

The specialisation consists of 120 European Credit Transfer System (EC) points and includes mandatory courses and electives (60 EC) and two research projects (60 EC).

Do you have any questions about the master’s programme Research in Physics: Classical/Quantum Information? Please contact us.

Metals surfaces form a group of effective catalysts for the reaction of small molecules such as hydrogen (H2).

Lysosomal acid glucosylceramidase (GBA1) is a lysosomal enzyme that degrades glucolipids with its main substrate being glucosylceramide (GlcCer). Defects in the GBA1 gene lead to glycosphingolipidosis Gaucher disease (GD), in which the hydrolysis of GlcCer is impaired and therefore, it accumulates in…

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.'

Research truly comes to life when it contributes meaningfully to society. By sharing our findings, advising policymakers or contributing to community projects – we can make a real impact. Scroll down and discover how Science and society can mutually benefit from each other.

On Wednesday September 26th, theoretical physicist Sean Carroll will give an Ehrenfest colloquium. It is part of a lecture series that has been running since 1912 and was founded by physicist Paul Ehrenfest.

Promotor: Prof.dr. A. Achucarro, Co-Promotor: J.W. van Holten

We explore the particle physics and quantum world at the time of the big bang.

Leiden has a strong tradition in theoretical physics, thoroughly linked with experimental disciplines.

The portal for prospective Indonesian Students contains information about the possibilities to study at Leiden University in the Netherlands.

On this page, you will find the recordings of the Tuesday Talks since April 2025. Recordings of the precursor to the Tuesday Talks, This Week’s Discoveries, are also available here.

What is the most effective way to eliminate tumour cells? The DNA repair mechanism could play an important role in increasing the effectiveness of chemotherapy in the fight against cancerous cells. If we are to influence this mechanism, we need fundamental knowledge about how the mechanism works.

On 3-4 December 2024, HIAS Greece and the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung organised a roundtable that took place in Athens to discuss strategic litigation in the area of migration and refugee law.

Mechanobiology is a major area in biology, however, mechanics is currently a missing element in drug development pipelines. This has led to a high cost for the society. Mechanotoxicity of drugs often appears as a long-term side effect of drugs, and has led to removal of drugs from the market. Furthermore,…

The MSc programme Physics offers 5 research-oriented specialisations where you can focus on Theoretical Physics, Quantum Matter and Optics, Biological and Soft Matter, or Cosmology. You can also combine Physics with education, management or science communication.

This thesis discusses the discovery potential of Intensity Frontier experiments.

What did we do over the past year? Well, we played quantum games, helped develop an instrument for the Extremely Large Telescope and started a new bachelor's programme. Oh, yeah, and we officially opened our brand new Gorlaeus Building! Warm up the fingers and get ready to click and scroll through…

In this thesis we use Josephson and noise scanning tunneling microscopy for the study of conventional, unconventional (iron-based) and disordered superconductors. On the one hand, Josephson scanning tunneling microscopy allows us to directly visualize the superfluid density with high spatial resolut…