After your graduation, Leiden University would love to stay in touch with you. Alumni are an important part of the university; with your experience we can improve the education, and you can be part of a valuable network full of knowledge and experience. Find out what options you have to stay in touch…

The soil ecosystem consists of the largest reservoir of biodiversity on Earth.

In Voices on Birchbark Jos Schaeken explores the major role that writing on birchbark – an ephemeral, even ‘throw-away’ form of correspondence and administration – played in the vibrant medieval merchant city of Novgorod and other cities in the Russian Northwest.

This work analyzes ritual practices and knowledge related to the Mesoamerican calendar with the aim of contributing to the understanding of the use and conceptualization of this calendar system in the contemporary K’iche’ community of Momostenango, in the Highlands of Guatemala.

What is and should be the role of universities in supporting business? How can business benefit more of relationships with science? And what is the role of policy makers in supporting a productive relationship between science and business? Professor Simcha Jong Kon Chin examines the interactions between…

Two Leiden legal scholars have been awarded funding from the KNAW pilot fund 'Science communication by scientists: Appreciated!'. The fund supports scientists who have demonstrated a continued commitment to science communication.

On 21 September 2022 H. Hu successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

Mattias Brand defended his thesis on 10 April 2019

In this interview, Karlijn Hermans, the university's Open Science coordinator, introduces herself and the Academia in Motion programme.

How can we quantify the density of species within a community through environmental DNA concentrations?

On 14 May 2020, Pieter Rustenburg defended his thesis 'Een algemene normtheorie toegepast op open normen in het belastingrecht'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. A.O. Lubbers and Prof. J.L.M. Gribnau.

We are living in an information era where the amount of image and video data increases exponentially.

Exploring metabolomics-based biomarkers for diagnosis and treatment response monitoring of community-acquired pneumonia

We aim to create an innovative e-learning and virtual reality training that helps healthcare providers to optimize placebo effects and minimizes nocebo effects via their communication.

The extensive use of electronic communication channels and other devices has opened new possibilities for collecting data on human behavior. This information is sometimes openly accessible, but largely part of administrative registration systems that are not open to the broader public. The data provides…

New funding instrument to stimulate Open Science

The treasure houses of Leiden's University Library and Naturalis house wonderful historical collections with dried plants and botanical drawings. Tinde van Andel, extraordinary professor of History of botany and gardens, studies these collections.

This special issue of Politique européenne 2019/4 (N° 66) contains, among others, a contribution by Astrid Van Weyenberg.

Today, everybody and everything produces data. People produce large amounts of data in social networks and in commercial transactions. Medical, corporate, and government databases continue to grow. Sensors continue to get cheaper and are increasingly connected, creating an Internet of Things, and generating…

SRON, the Netherlands Institute for Space Research, is holding an open day on Sunday 25 September. It has had a branch at the Leiden Bio Science Park since 2021 and works closely with Leiden University.

How do museum visitors interpret the authenticity of museum objects? How can we support visitors' meaningful interactions with real objects?

Seminars, workshops

Research and design are becoming more and more important in international science education. In The Netherlands, two recently introduced subjects focus on research and design activities in the classroom: O&O (research and design) and NLT (nature, life and technology). This research aims to look at what…

From where litter ends up to which languages are spoken in Leiden and The Hague: over 50 interesting, surprising, complex and entertaining questions were sent in for the Citizen Science project to mark our 444th anniversary. Not one but two Citizen Science projects will be starting this year in Leiden…

Why obey the state? Dorota Mokrosińska presents a fresh analysis of the most influential theories of political obligation and develops a novel approach to this foundational problem of political philosophy, an intriguing combination of the elements of natural duty and associative theories.

Citizen science has recently become a widely used term, but what does it mean exactly? How does citizen science compare to crowdsourcing? And where does community archaeology stand in this discussion?

Curiosity and a passion for science - that’s what connects the people at FWN. Our Faculty is international and diverse, and together we create a great place to work. Check out this site to see what we do and how you can get involved.

The majority of scientists, from archaeologists through to zoologists, collect enormous volumes of data. Their massive databases contain large amounts of information which is difficult for humans to filter. With a solid grounding in statistics and computer science, we can develop algorithms for analyzing…

Watch and talk along with today’s science of the past during weekly Let’s Plays of popular games and vodcasts on the livestream platform Twitch.

Are you thinking about studying Biomedical Sciences? Learn more and watch a short promo video.

The Institute of Political Science is a vibrant department with nearly 70 academic staff in Leiden and nearby The Hague.

Computational thinking, programming, and algorithms form the basic of many of the things that are shaping our world, the way we work, interact, organize ourselves, and even spend our free time with social networks, streaming media, and games. And this transformation is far from being complete, it is…

At Leiden Bio Science Park (LBSP) Leiden University works together with the business community, the LUMC and the Municipality of Leiden.

The Leiden University’s Program for Cyber Norms, a research platform to investigate the development and implementation of law and policy applicable to uses of ICTs, in cooperation with the think-tank ICT4Peace conducted a global open consultation on how to implement the UN Group of Governmental Experts’…

Are you thinking about studying Political Science? Watch the introduction video’s and learn more!

We perform multidisciplinary research at molecular, cellular, and organismal levels of animal biology to increase fundamental understanding of health and disease.

At the Institute of Political Science we value our alumni. We can learn from you, and would like to contribute to your further development. And, of course, we want to lend a hand in connecting ‘our’ political scientists all over the world.

... together our steps make the journey!

Rector Magnificus Carel Stolker will retire on 8 February. If there’s one theme running through his career, it’s the links between the University and society. In this series of pre-retirement discussions, Stolker will talk one last time to people from within and without the University. This edition…

A screaming wind, a dark grey sky and unexpected rainfall. The visitors of the Master's Open Day of the Faculty of Science had a hard time, but nevertheless came en masse to the Gorlaeus Building: about 750 prospective students and supervisors.

The majority of scientists, from archaeologists through to zoologists, collect huge volumes of data. Their massive databases contain large amounts of information which is difficult for humans to filter. With a solid grounding in statistics, we can develop algorithms for analysing and identifying patterns…

Are you thinking about studying Computer Science? Learn more and watch the videos. Note: As of September 2025 you can also combine this master programme with the Business Studies specialisation.

In Microbial Sciences, we perform multidisciplinary research to understand the structure and function of microbes at all levels of biological organization, from small molecules and cellular structures at atomic resolution to multicellular communities.

The two-year master’s programme in Computer Science at Leiden University offers seven specialisations ranging from AI to Bioinformatics and Data Science. The programme combines excellent theoretical teaching with possibilities for applied work with industrial relevance.

Leiden University will be recording a brand-new series of podcasts in 2019: Science Shots. Our top scientists will talk about their research in less than 15 minutes. Tip: something to enjoy on the train journey between Leiden and The Hague, our two University cities!

Leiden University's Citizen Science Lab supports and organizes initiatives where anyone can get started with scientific data and research. This is how we enrich research with insights from the community, make science accessible to all, and tackle important local issues together.

In his dissertation Michiel Hooykaas outlines the results of six empirical research projects focused at biodiversity awareness in the Netherlands, specifically people’s knowledge about animals.