Research

In 2023, a number of students from the bachelor’s, master’s and advanced master’s degree programmes won prizes for their outstanding achievements. Congratulations to the award winners and their supervisors who contributed to these successes.

On Tuesday 11 January 2022, the new year at the faculty was ushered in with an online event. Dean Joanne van der Leun toasted the new year and of course the annual Meijers prizes and thesis awarded were presented.

How can you ensure that your research hits the headlines? How can you bring your research output, such as PhD research or a publication, to the attention of the public?

Two researchers from the Institute of Political Science were recently awarded prizes. Claire Vergerio received the Francesco Guicciardini Prize for her book on the historical origins of the primacy of the state in international law ('best book in the historical international relations category'). 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.

The theme of the Opening of the Academy Year on 4 September was sustainability and how the university could take the lead as a change agent. How is it going about this and what else can it do? There was also room for a critical note.

On on 29 January 2024, it was announced that Aylin Alexa Zainea has won the Thesis Award from the Dutch Data Protection Authority. She wrote her thesis for the Advanced Master programme on Law and Digital Technologies hosted by eLaw, Center for Law and Digital Technologies. Her thesis entitled ‘Automated…

The Faculty of Science launched the new Academic Year on 21 September with a special We Are Science talk show. Dean Paul Wouters starred in his role as talk show host and received a wide variety of guests.

The theme of the opening of this year’s academic year was peace and justice. With the climate crisis and the war in Ukraine, these are turbulent times. During the ceremony those present reflected on what the academic community and universities can mean in times of crisis and conflict.

Bachelor's students Kirsten S. Barink, Milène van der Geest, Claire van den Helder and Pim L. Ruhe are granted the Speckmann award for their Fieldwork NL report 'If it would have been a colour it would be pitch-black', a report on people suffering from the phenomenon of 'Electrohypersensitivity'.

On Tuesday 12 January 2021, the Leiden Law School thesis prizes were awarded at the New Year’s event.

Research

Beautiful prizes, special speeches, and a reception with live music. The well-attended Leiden Science New Year's reception was a delightful way to start the year 2023. Dean Jasper Knoester opened the event after which it was announced who were chosen teacher and bachelor student of the year.

On November 1, the LACDR Fall Symposium took place. After the symposium was opend by prof.dr. Hubertus Irth, the program started with a lecture called “Poly(2-oxazoline)s, structural chameleons in therapeutic delivery” given by key note speaker dr. Joachim van Guyse.

Mees Vergouwen heeft op 18 juni de dissertatieprijs van De Vereniging voor Belastingwetenschap gewonnen. Hij promoveerde in 2023 op een proefschrift over ‘botsende belastingregels’. De fiscalist kreeg de prijs voor het beste proefschrift van de afgelopen twee jaar.

Conference

Lots of employees celebrated special successes in 2023. Here’s a list of all those scholarships, awards and honours.

Good news for Linguistics alumna Anne-Mieke Thieme, who has won the thesis prize awarded by the European Federation of National Institutions for Language (EFNIL). ‘I emailed my thesis supervisor right away.’

Alumnus Théo Pavlović received the Master's Speckmann award for his thesis: PAN RECORDS - A digital journey through the ethnic music niche that was supervised by Bart Barendregt. This price is awarded to the best fieldwork reports for ethnographic fieldwork. It includes a certificate and a prize of…

Over the past year, many students and staff members of Leiden Law School have been lauded for their extraordinary achievements. For instance: a grant received, an award won, or an appointment by a special committee. We have combined all these achievements in our Honours Gallery 2022:

From Wednesday-Thursday 19-20 April 2023 the Stichting Bob Wessels Insolvency Law Collection (BWILC) invites PhD students from Europe and beyond to participate in the 5th edition of the PhD workshop on European/International Insolvency Law. Following four successful editions, PhD students are invited…

A team of students from Leiden won the iGEM international biology contest in 2020 with their Rapidemic mobile testing kit. The kit makes it easy to detect viruses. The team has now been nominated for the Most Innovative Student in the Netherlands prize. Cast your vote and help them develop their inv…

Rose Vossen has been named winner of the Young Star Award 2021. The Life Science and Technology student received the award on Monday from Ewine van Dishoeck, the founder of the award. Vossen wins a cheque for 2,500 euros for her exceptional results as a bachelor's student. During her final bachelor…

Leiden professor of molecular astrophysics and astrochemistry Ewine van Dishoeck was presented with the Niels Bohr International Gold Medal on Friday 7 October. The medal, instigated by the Danish Society of Engineers IDA, was awarded by Queen Margrethe of Denmark at a ceremony at the Carlsberg Academy…

Ayo Adedokun, Assistant Professor at Leiden University College The Hague (LUC), was one of the four finalists for the National Teacher of the Year Prize for 2022. The National Prize is an annual event organized by the Dutch National Students Association (Interstedelijk Studenten Overleg, ISO), and the…

Willem Jespers was awarded the international prize, worth €10,000, for pharmacy and pharmacology from the Rottendorf foundation on October 13th 2023 at the University of Münster. He was recognized for his research in the field of computer-aided drug development and the prediction of drug toxicities.…

Florian Herrendorf has won the Fruin Prize 2023. His thesis was chosen out of 11 nominees as the best master's thesis in history studies.

On 11 January 2022, the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences opened the new year during a livestreamed reception. Dean Paul Wouters and Executive Director of Studies Kristiaan van der Heijden were the hosts. After several faculty prizes were awarded, our Dean expressed a new year’s resolution…

Everyone has heard arguments like this before as a child: ‘Whether you like it or not, you have to go to school!’ It seems as though you are presented with two options, but there is only one real outcome. Charlotte van der Voort of the MA Dutch Studies won the Leiden University Thesis Prize on her research…

Scrap the radical cuts to research and teaching. This was researchers and students’ message to government at the opening of the new academic year. Various speakers in Leiden’s Pieterskerk highlighted the importance of science for society.

Two Second Prizes, two First Prizes and even a Grand Grand First Prize. Five Leiden mathematics students and their team leader have performed exceptionally well during the International Mathematics Competition for University Students 2024 in Bulgaria in early August. This even made for a Dutch recor…

Maarten Schrama (CML) has won the Teacher of the Year Award 2021. During a lunch with fellow nominees, Schrama received a cheque worth 5,000 euros from student assessor Joost Barendse to spend on educational activities.

The Fieldwork NL report prize goes to the “Queer Joy in Motion” report, by bachelor students Dorota Olsavska, Marthe Baalbergen, Rielly Puchalski, and Rosa Graffé. Master student Imogen Cooney receives the Speckmann Award for her thesis ‘Decolonizing Faculty’.

Education

Psychology teacher of the year is Anouk van der Weiden. The master thesis awards are for Irina Verhülsdonk and Christel Klootwijk. Eliška Procházková receives the PhD publication prize; Katja Cardol and Judith Tommel the PhD wild card: the Open Science Award. Conny Binnendijk earns the OBP prize and…

Since 2020, the Krijn Rietveld Memorial Award has been annually presented by dsm-firmenich for the best master's or doctoral research at the Faculty of Science in the field of life sciences combined with data science. As of 2024, this award will be split into three prizes with a broader scope of research…

From Thursday-Friday 28-29 April 2022 the Stichting Bob Wessels Insolvency Law Collection (BWILC) invites PhD students from Europe and beyond to participate in a fourth edition of the PhD workshop on European/International Insolvency Law.

Data scientist Lindsey Burggraaff has won the second edition of the Krijn Rietveld Memorial Innovation Award. She receives the prize for her research into bioactive substances in food. ‘Burggraaff's work is situated at a unique intersection of data science, biochemistry and the fields of food and nutrition,’…

Research

‘The care of an au pair' is chosen as the best Fieldwork NL report and 'The unruly reality of a new government' as the best master's thesis. Lila van Grieken, Annika Kruger, Benjamín Maldonado Fernández and Holly Zijderveld and Mony Klaus receive the Speckmann Award 2024.

A cancer pill, preferably without severe side effects, is something we’d all welcome. Is it a matter of time before such a pill is a reality? We put this question to three Leiden researchers and asked how they themselves are contributing to new cancer treatments.

Charlotte Parree won the Jaap Doek Children's Rights Thesis Prize on Tuesday afternoon, 6 December, with her thesis entitled 'Suffering knows no age; active termination of life does.' The prize was awarded for the tenth time by em. prof. Jaap Doek.

Jessica den Oudsten won this year’s Uitgeverij Verloren/Johan de Witt thesis award for history with her master’s thesis, entitled "The descendants of Norwegian and Danish Immigrants". The prize was awarded for the eighth time in collaboration with Elsevier Weekblad. The incentive award went to Amber…

Soil ecologists Emilia Hannula (Leiden) and Elly Morriën (UvA) received the Golden Medal of Teylers Tweede Genootschap on 5 November. They received the prize for their submission to a competition on sustainable soil management.

How can humans and computers learn from data? To research this, scientists often use so-called Bayesian methods. Although these methods are widely used, they also have limitations and are not always easy to interpret. In her dissertation Rianne de Heide describes some of these problems and introduces…

On Tuesday 6 September, the faculty year 2022-2023 got off to a great start with Leiden Law Op 1, our yearly talkshow live from the Kamerlingh Onnes Gebouw. Together with the Faculty Board, academic staff and students, we looked ahead to the upcoming academic year.

The Jaap Doek Children’s Rights Thesis Award is an annual award for the best thesis in the field of Children’s Rights granted by Defence for Children and the Department of Child Law of Leiden Law School.

Research

For three days, our faculty was all about We are Science Week: the community event full of fun activities for our staff and students. Besides the famous Beat the Professor PubQuiz, this year you could take USC yoga classes in the Gorlaeus garden, escape from Einstein's Escaperoom and sing along at the…