Despite the rapid progress in solar and wind energy, a completely clean energy supply remains a huge challenge. Heavy industry, aviation, shipping and road transport are not yet able to do without carbon-based fuels. To reach the climate goals, in these industries energy consumption should be CO2 neutral. In…

This project aims to situate the current policy concept of ‘valorization of scientific knowledge’ in historical and epistemological perspectives. Conceptual understanding of the utility of scientific practices is developed in dialogue with historical analyses of the politics of knowledge in European…

Criminology and Security Policy is a challenging Dutch-taught master's programme at the renowned Leiden Law School of Leiden University. This programme – with its multidisciplinary perspective - focuses on the security issues in society and the development of effective and legitimate policy in order…

One of the objections to the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between Canada and Europe (Ceta) is that countries would be surrendering national sovereignty to multinationals which will obstruct effective climate policy. But compared to other trade agreements, CETA is an improvement.

The NWO-funded Vidi project “American foreign policy and liberalism” challenges the idea that the United States has created and sustained a “liberal international order” since World War II. It instead explores the ways in which illiberal ideologies – such as those underpinning racial hierarchy at home…

Understanding the water use of power production is an important step to both a sustainable energy transition and an improved understanding of water conservation measures. However, there are large differences across the literature that currently present barriers to decision making.

Great apes and the right to health

Environmental humility is integral to addressing the climate crisis, but humility can also lead to political domination. How can humans relate to nature more humbly without risking domination?

On 15 February 2024, Alexandros Sarris defended the thesis 'International Law and Governance of the Arctic in an Era of Climate Change'. The doctoral research was supervised by Nico Schrijver and Freya Baetens.

The Dutch Development Bank's new SDG loan fund for green energy in the global south may not be as positive as it seems. Anthropology professor Marja Spierenburg raises concerns about its potential impact on local communities.

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Development of indicators to assess decoupling of economic development and environmental pressure in the EU-25 and AC-3 countries.

EUMOTIONS explores the role of emotions expressed by political elites (at EU- and member state-level) in framing the EU’s policy options during international crises.

Think tanks have proliferated in most Western democracies over the past three decades and are often considered to be increasingly important actors in public policy. Still, their precise contribution to public policy remains contested.

A cross-cut analysis of the ties between university research and fossil industries.

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.

YAL raises its voice on policy matters.

This thesis studied in depth the energy use and CO2 emissions of the industrial sector in China.

European countries struggling how to deal with the issue of returning foreign fighters, women and children from the Caliphate.

This paper aims to understand the most common underlying problems causing strategic surprise in the context of the European Union.

The production of sustainable energy can take up to 1000 times more space than fossil fuels, environmental researcher Paul Behrens concludes in a publication in Energy Policy. Various media reported on this remarkable outcome.

An international comparative study of the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The socio-economic effects of climate change often do not receive enough attention. At the EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF) a group of researchers will provide more insight. How does climate change affect whether people work together or conversely end up as opponents? And what can we learn from societies…

Yuxi Nie defended her thesis on 15 October 2019.

Decarbonizing the building stock is critical for realizing the climate-neutral target for the Netherlands.

In the fight for a liveable planet, we desperately need a fairer distribution of wealth and equal rights for all, argues anthropology professor Marja Spierenburg. ‘That will also generate broad-based support for sustainable development.’

This project investigates the role of art in the public and academic debate on biosolar energy

How is Indian foreign policy made? This special issue of the journal India Review, edited by political scientists Nicolas Blarel (Leiden University) and Avinash Paliwal (SOAS University of London) features a number of interesting case studies that bridge the gap between Foreign Policy Analysis and India’s…

Leiden University is part of a Dutch consortium that will receive 4.7 million euros from NWO to build a facility that makes controlled, thin layers of material. The facility can produce small and large films, something that is globally unique. And that is key to scaling up, for example, new catalysts…

Psychologists Emma ter Mors, Christine Boomsma and other research partners will share results from their work on the crucial issue of societal support for delivering carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) in Europe. You're welcome to watch the free webinar.

The 14 universities, brought together in the Association of Universities in the Netherlands (VSNU), have expressed their support for the open letter on the climate that has already been signed by almost 1,300 staff members. The letter calls on the universities to pursue an ambitious climate agenda of…

The debate in Europe about digital sovereignty, technological sovereignty, data sovereignty and strategic autonomy has been building over recent years at both the EU level and the level of individual Member States. The different concepts – and their diverse interpretations – cover the sovereignty concerns…

The Master’s specialisation in Sociology of Policy in Practice teaches you to think along with organisations to help them respond to the challenges they are facing in our global and quickly changing societies.

Time-series forecasting through modelling sequences of temporally dependent observations has many industrial and scientific applications. While machine learning models have been widely used to create time-series forecasting models, creating efficient and performant time-series forecasting models is…

‘It became very clear that Brazilian legislative policy was frail, obsolete and unreliable,’ says Felipe de Paula. He defended his dissertation on the limits and possibilities of legislative policy in Brazil on Tuesday 27 March 2018.

Plants and their pollinators form complex interaction networks. Within these networks, species differ widely in the number of species they interact with.

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.

Lecture

This thesis addresses the problem of designing performance and energy efficient embedded streaming systems, that is, systems which process a stream of input data coming from the environment and generate a stream of output data going into the environment.

Researchers from the Institute of Public Administration study the mechanism of lobbying and influencing political parties and the behaviour of these parties to see how solutions are found to problems. This enables them to reach conclusions as to how best to effect changes in political focus and poli…

A radical reduction in the amount of meat, dairy and other products sourced from animals is possible in the coming decades, as people turn to an increasing variety of alternatives. This would unlock vast amounts of land that we could use to produce energy and remove carbon from the atmosphere. Leiden…

Leiden University offers its students a wide range of bachelor's, master's and minors that explore sustainability or climate. Here, you find an overview of those programmes in the academic year 2020-2021.

Leiden University’s new ‘Europe Hub’ is an interdisciplinary platform that showcases the university’s research and teaching expertise and capacities on Europe’s societal and governance challenges.

Diversity and inclusion are core values of Leiden University. Leiden University has committed itself to a policy that aims to become an inclusive community which enables all students and staff to feel valued and respected, and to develop their full potential. The Diversity & Inclusion Expertise Office…

Harm reduction in practice: a comparative analysis of the Dutch and Brazilian approach towards drug users.

In this article, Martin Sievert and Jonas Bruder investigated whether and how administrative burdens influences citizens' perceptions of welfare policies and attitudes towards beneficiaries.

This thesis examines the impacts and challenges of water use of electric power system. This thesis found that there are large differences in water use of electricity technologies, with hydropower and thermal power being two large water users.

Storing energy is one of the biggest challenges in the energy transition. Hydrogen could be a solution. Chemist Daan den Boer is researching how to make the chemical reaction needed to store energy in hydrogen as cheap and efficient as possible.