For two decades, language experts were certain that babies were able to learn language rules from as young as the age of seven months. However, recent research carried out by a consortium of four Dutch baby labs led by researchers from Leiden cast doubts on this certainty. We spoke to researchers Andreea…

Young children are not just cheeky monkeys — it turns out they actually laugh like chimpanzees, too. 'That’s because both babies and chimps chuckle while inhaling and exhaling, unlike adult humans who laugh mainly during exhalation', says cognitive psychologist Mariska Kret on Techregister.

Het onderzoeksproject heeft als doel ouders te helpen hun kleuters gezonde eetgewoonten aan te leren door het bevorderen van sensitieve voeding tijdens de fase wanneer peuters kieskeurig met eten worden.

Many children eat too many high-calorie foods and too few vegetables from an early age. PhD candidate Merel van Vliet researched the role of parents in this. ‘Don’t force children to clean their plates.’ PhD defence on 15 June.

Are you pregnant? as your employer, we will do everything in our power to protect your health and that of your baby. Both during your pregnancy and while you breastfeed. Read more about your rights during your pregnancy and after the birth of your child. Read more about lactation rooms (in…

Biopharmaceutical sciences master's student Nicole ter Laak has won the KNMP Studentenprijs 2023. She wins the prize for her research project on dosing guidelines of antibiotics in newborn babies with a very low birth weight for gestational age.

If you are pregnant, you are entitled to a minimum of 16 weeks of maternity leave. You may take this leave at least four and no more than six weeks before your due date. If you stop working four weeks before your due date, you will have 12 weeks of maternity leave after you have given birth. If you…

Leiden University offers several bachelor’s and master’s programmes. For an overview of the degree programmes at your faculty, see the faculty tab below.

If you are pregnant, as your employer, we will do everything in our power to protect your health and that of your baby. Both during your pregnancy and while you breastfeed.

You are entitled to carer’s leave if you have a sick child, partner or parent who requires your care. This also applies to brothers, sisters, grandparents, grandchildren, housemates and friends.

In the Let's Connect toolkit, you'll find articles, videos, training and conversation tools to communicate openly with each other. You will find tips on how to make a connection and how to listen actively. You practice discussing difficult issues and making agreements. You learn to give feedback and…

Jasper Knoester is the dean of the Faculty of Science. How is he doing, what exactly does he do and what does his day look like? In each newsletter, Jasper gives an insight into his life.

Our target group for the recruitment of master’s students is broad: it includes Leiden bachelor’s students, Dutch pre-university and university of applied sciences graduates, and bachelor’s and saster’s students from abroad.

Master

The Faculty of Humanities has appointed a confidential advisor for all PhD candidates. Aside from this, each institute also has one (or two) PhD counsellor(s). On this page you can read who they are and what they can do for you if in your position as a PhD candidate you experience problems for which…

February 8 saw the launch of the Medical Delta ‘Sustainable Hospitals’ Interdisciplinary Thesis Lab. The research projects will touch on different aspects of healthcare. The students hope they will be able to offer practical solutions to make hospitals greener.

If an echo (or ultrasound) shows that a foetus has a heart or other defect, parents face difficult decisions. Then an idea of their child’s shorter and longer-term future is literally a matter of life and death. Haak will argue in her inaugural lecture that the cohort studies of rare diseases that are…

The (co)supervisor(s) are responsible for supervising the PhD candidate.

Festival, Lustrum Symposium

Study information

PhD defence

Social

Professor Claartje Levelt, together with Paula Fikkert (Radboud University), has received an NWO Open Competition grant for research into the development of word production in toddlers.

The JEDI Fund supports projects that promote diversity and inclusivity within the university. One of these projects is the card game called ‘What’s Your Story?’, developed by university lecturer Tingting Hui.

Organisation

Research

The JUL board consists of 4 volunteers. In addition, the board is represented within the various university units by an ambassador.

Festival, Graduation Ceremony

Festival, Graduation ceremony

Claartje Levelt is professor of First Language Acquisition. She researches how babies and toddlers learn their mother tongue. Besides her work, she enjoys being involved with music.

PhD defence

Due to the increasing resistance to certain antibiotics, the life-threatening condition sepsis is becoming harder to treat. For her PhD project, Leiden pharmacologist Feiyan Liu used mathematical modeling to find out how antibiotics can be used more effectively to cure sepsis.

In a collaborative effort between the Leiden Children’s Rights Observatory, the Leiden Law Academy, UNICEF and the Petitions Section of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, a symposium held last week commemorated the tenth anniversary of the Optional Protocol to the Convention…

Lecture

Organisation, Social

The cargo lost at sea as a result of the MSC Zoe disaster should be considered environmental pollution and information about it should be made public. This was the case made by Leiden Law School’s Leiden Advocacy Project on Plastic (LAPP). Following their investigation, the government has finally decided…

Leiden University offers a Dual Career Programme (DCP) to assist the life partners of new academic staff (on pay-roll) in finding employment in The Netherlands. The programme is offered in close cooperation with nearby universities of Delft and Rotterdam.

The (co)supervisor(s) are responsible for supervising the PhD candidate.

The (co)supervisor(s) are responsible for supervising the PhD candidate.

Since graduating from Leiden Law School with master’s degrees in Jurisprudence & Philosophy of Law and Criminal Law, alumnus Allard Altena now works as a Public Prosecutor at the Dutch Public Prosecution Service. He says, ‘I leave work at the end of each day knowing I’ve done something useful.’

Researchers from the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) have successfully used stem cell gene therapy to treat a baby with the severe congenital immune disorder SCID. An important milestone: it is the first time stem cell gene therapy of Dutch origin has been administered to a patient, and also…