Fake news a new phenomenon? Not according to Rens Tacoma and Indira Huliselan. In an NWO project, the associate professor and PhD student will delve into the twisting, scheming and tampering with facts that went on thousands of years ago.

Minister Dijkgraaf (Education, Culture and Science) has appointed Ionica Smeets and Alex Verkade as coordinators of a new national centre for science communication. The centre will foster a dialogue between researches and society and will gather and share expertise to make science communication more…

University lecturer in Chinese and Comparative Philosophy Jingjing Li has been awarded a Veni grant for her research on feminist theories within the Buddhist philosophy of consciousness-only. Jingjing Li explains her plans and the importance of her research.

Leiden University will not enter into any new research partnerships with companies in the fossil fuel industry that are not intensively and demonstrably committed to achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement. Current projects can, however, be completed.

Playing with nitrogen and fire to show school pupils how exciting science can be – that’s what the student volunteers of Stichting Rino do alongside their studies. ‘If there’s even one child who gets interested in science, that’s what it’s all for.’

Childhood trauma can have a lifelong effect. Many therapists do not dare to confront these vulnerable patients with their past because they are concerned that the patients will be unable to cope. Research has now shown that exposure therapy can be helpful for this group of people.

Today, anyone wanting a new look for their living room watches a home decorating programme or buys an interior design magazine. In the eighteenth century, people went to an upholstry specialist, who would provide you with new wall coverings, curtains and much-needed accessories. PhD candidate Aagje…

We have to do all we can to stop climate change. But: the Earth is more resilient than we thought. That is the surprising conclusion of an international team of ecologists and mathematicians, which included Leiden mathematician Arjen Doelman. The team discovered that ecosystems can still avoid tipping…

In September, the LeidenGobal seminar series ‘Beyond Discipline and Place in the Social Science and Humanities’ will kick off. The series, targeted at PhD’s and Research MA students, engages with the question what it means to be an interdisciplinary researcher. “These seminars can help you define your…

Roll-up solar panels, bendable phone displays, or better computer chips… The EU project STIBNITE investigated the next generation of semiconductors, made from organic materials based on carbon, nitrogen, and boron. The project has now concluded. During the Open Science Debate on 1 July, the group will…

The more data from cancer research we pool, the better we can search for new treatments. But how can we keep patient data safe when sharing it? Leiden researchers will tackle this challenge in a major European project.

As of this month, Kim Bonger has been appointed Professor of Chemical Biology. As a first-generation academic, she’s especially grateful. ‘I wasn’t exactly a top student at school. I never could’ve imagined this.’

Despite being prohibited by law since 1971, race discrimination continues to exist in the Netherlands. Why is this?

Bacteria temporarily live without their cell wall if dangerous viruses are near. A remarkable feature, as the cell wall is a sturdy barrier against threats. Still, the discovery has a logical explanation ánd might be of a consequence for fighting pathogenic bacteria, according to Véronique Ongenae,…

Students from the Royal Academy of Art The Hague (KABK) designed the 450 lustrum logo.

For the health of the staff and the whole organisation, it is important to have an open and honest conversation about work pressure – and to do something about it. New websites offer faculties and staff tips and tricks on how to reduce work pressure.

It was already the most cited publication ever written at our faculty, but now a new milestone has been reached. Last month, a paper by emeritus professor Jan Reedijk and his co-authors surpassed 10,000 citations — and the count keeps rising.

Sustainability challenges don’t just call for environmental scientists – they require expertise from many academic fields. Thijs Bosker and Paul Behrens have made it easier for university lecturers to integrate sustainability into their courses. Their initiative, Local Actions, offers ready-made teaching…

The latest book by political scientist Matthew Longo came out this spring: 'The Picnic: A Dream of Freedom and the Collapse of the Iron Curtain'. In addition to its many favourable reviews, the book received the prestigious Orwell Prize this summer, which highlights exceptional books on politics.

Recently Professor Joanita Vroom’s book Feeding the Byzantine City was published by the prominent academic publishing house Brepols. This volume is the fifth in a series called Medieval and Post-Medieval Mediterranean Archaeology, of which she is the editor. ‘This series aims to offer new perspectives…

In the coming academic year things will hopefully gradually return to normal, so that teaching can again take place as far as possible on campus. Even so, hybrid teaching is here to stay. We talk to Niels van de Ven, former lecturer at Leiden Law School and now Education Manager at the Centre for Innovation…

The celebration of the university’s 450th anniversary is not confined to the walls of the university. For the 7th time, professors stood in front of the class of grade 7, in both Leiden and The Hague. Four FGGA professors visited primary schools, introducing the children to research questions such as…

The new Comenius Calls have been published. You can use a Comenius grant for innovation projects that help improve higher education. Associate Professor David Ehrhardt from Leiden University College (LUC) in The Hague received a Comenius grant in 2020 and is now implementing his Comenius teaching project…

Studying and being an entrepreneur at the same time? Stan (21), a master's student in Crisis and Security Management, is doing it. With the knowledge gained from his master's, he developed a game about cybersecurity: HackX. Through HackX, he wants to make others aware of dangers online.

Polarisation is pervasive: in the workplace, within teams, and even at the top of organisations. Discussions become entrenched, emotions rise, and collaboration falters. Connections are lost through ‘us versus them’ thinking. The question is how leaders can maintain space for dialogue when tensions…

Where does Dutch come from? Newly appointed Professor Alwin Kloekhorst looks for an answer to that question in millennia-old languages from Anatolia, the Asian part of present-day Turkey. 'A new interpretation in one of the Anatolian languages can have consequences for dozens of other languages.'

How can we enhance psychology students’ sense of responsibility for their own learning? Lecturer Anouk van der Weiden led a discussion on this pressing question during the Education Kick-Off on 28 February and explains why it’s so crucial to address it collectively.

What do climate change and traditional Japanese music have to do with each other? A great deal, university lecturer Andrea Giolai suspects. He has been awarded an NWO grant to study the relationship in more depth.

The city of Leiden is enriched by a dense infrastructure of knowledge institutes, with a uniquely strong focus on health and well-being. This gives Leiden "an extremely good starting position to become the healthiest city in the Netherlands," according to Fleur Spijker (Alderman for Economy, Knowledge,…

Every year, the first Monday in November is Emergency Response Day: the opportunity to recognise the importance of emergency response officers. At Leiden University over 400 enthusiastic and dedicated emergency response officers make sure our students and staff are safe, says emergency response training…

Amid rising polarisation and discrimination, lawyer and human rights activist Lilian Gonçalves-Ho Kang You wants to show in her Cleveringa Lecture on 26 November how dangerous exclusion is.

Mariken Teeuwen started at the Institute for History as a professor by special appointment of Script Culture of the Middle Ages on 1 March. ‘I’m looking forward to doing research together with students.’

When general laws and regulations no longer fit individual situations, can customisation offer a solution? In the special issue ‘Maatwerk' (customisation) of Boom Bestuurskunde, researchers have tackled the questions that customisation brings to public organisations. The symposium ‘Maatwerk onder maatschappelijke…

At a festive gathering, 25 projects were awarded a Kiem grant 2025 - 2026 of 10,000 euros. Interdisciplinary teams from Leiden University will conduct innovative research into horror, international payments and fungi in historical collections, among others.

The FGGA starter grants provide researchers with the opportunity to launch innovative projects that contribute to both scientific knowledge and societal impact. In this article, Allard de Graaf and Joy Lee share their experiences and ambitions for their research, made possible by this funding.

Now that it is becoming increasingly easy to digitise texts, it seems almost obvious to do that with everything that has ever been written. University lecturer Verena Meyer thinks that is too simplistic. ‘We need to look more closely at the political and cultural effects of digitisation.’

On 25 September, lights throughout Leiden will be turned off for the Seeing Stars event. What makes the urban night so special? We asked university lecturer Sara Brandellero, who researches cities, night and migration.

In the past months all Leiden Archaeology students were asked to partake in the Bystander Intervention & Consent training. These workshops teach people how to recognise and safely intervene in situations they feel the need to act upon. We speak with two students who participated about their experien…

Kira Nijland follows the master programme Policy in Practice and is since October the student member of the Institute Board of Cultural Anthropology. She previously gained board experience at study associations Itiwana and WDO. Now she would like to get to know the university structures from behind…

For too long the Dutch collective memory has judged the Jewish Council too harshly. This perspective needs to be adjusted, Bart van der Boom argues in his new book ‘De politiek van het kleinste kwaad’ (lit. ‘The Politics of the Lesser Evil’).

These are turbulent times in the UK. The cost of living is high, leaving many people struggling to make ends meet, and these past few months have been tumultuous in terms of politics. University lecturer Anne Heyer explains what impact this can have on people's political perceptions and participatio…

Bringing your drug candidates to patients is what many academic chemists dream about, but the road to this goal is long and bumpy. Now, Leiden small molecule nizubaglustat is ready for phase 3 clinical trials. This is thanks to a €132 million funding secured by the biotech spin-out Azafaros.

On July 28, 2022, our dear colleague Daniëlle Hamstra passed away after a short sickbed. Daniëlle had been associated with the Clinical Psychology Section since 2010, initially as a student in the research master's program and subsequently as a lecturer and PhD candidate.

PhD candidate Ludwig Hoffmann will spend two years at Harvard University in the US thanks to a Rubicon grant he won on April 11. Using theoretical models he studies biological tissues, for example during morphogenesis. This is the process that causes tissue or organisms to develop their shape. ‘This…

There are more molecules that could conceivably be candidate drugs than there are stars in the universe. How can we ever efficiently identify those molecules? Professor of AI and Medicinal Chemistry, Gerard van Westen: ‘I’m going to use artificial intelligence as the co-pilot to make an automated search.’…

Christina Toenshoff has been awarded the Virginia Walsh Dissertation Award for her PhD dissertation on corporate climate lobbying. The Leiden Political Scientist, according to the jury, ‘makes a significant contribution to the study of climate and business politics.’

The brief removal of Rein Dool’s ‘cigar-smoking white men’ painting generated a storm of reactions last November. Students, staff and alumni reflected on this at a symposium on Friday 26 May.

The Just Peace Festival's first edition is live! The Opening Event marked the beginning of two weeks filled with activities to reflect on what peace and justice mean in today's world.

Three fundamental research projects at Leiden in physics, chemistry and medical science have received funding from the Dutch Research Council (NWO). They involve research on magnetic fields in the universe, the role of myeloid cells in cancer immunotherapy and the evolution of ancient proteins.

On 8 December, in honour of Human Rights Week, Roeland Böcker gave a public lecture about his experiences as ambassador to the Council of Europe. Between 2017 and 2021, Roeland Böcker was the representative of the Netherlands in the Council of Europe.