He’s a fast and animated speaker, which is only logical because Gerard van Westen is driving an express train. His destination? A virtual human, consisting of algorithms that predict what an administered substance will do in the body. The train is already a long way down the line and the pharmaceutical…

The representation of death children in Dutch literature through time

Cynthia van Vonno, political scientist at Leiden University, explains why individual MPs vote according to the party group line.

On 12 January 2022, Mirjam Franke defended the thesis 'Over de grens van de onrechtmatige daad'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. A.G. Castermans and Prof. J.H. Crijns.

The new Master’s programme in Public Sector Economics (MSc Economics) prepares you to become the policy economist of the future. The programme enables you to bridge the gap between economic theories, scientific methods, the functioning of Dutch institutions and policy processes, as well as current societal…

Onderzoek van de onderzoeksgroep 'War, Peace and Justice'

How do parliamentarians secure their political future? Are their activities in the legislature connected to their place on the candidate list from one election to the next? Political scientists Tom Louwerse and Cynthia van Vonno examine the Dutch case. Their main finding is that speaking in the plenary…

This book concentrates on the regulation of political parties in the EU post-communist democracies, and on Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Romania, in particular.

This book systematically evaluates the empirical evidence for legitimacy decline in established democracies, the explanatory power of theories of legitimacy decline, and promises new routes in investigating and assessing political legitimacy.

Political scientists Joop van Holsteyn and Tom Louwerse (Leiden University) find that the Dutch government is having a hard time coping with referendum outcomes in general, and ‘anti-European’ sentiments among voters in particular.

Promotor: G.J. Kramer Co-Promotor: E.G.M. Kleijn

To meet the rising demand for minerals driven by the global shift to clean energy technologies, ensuring responsible and resilient supply chains is critical. Minerals like cobalt, lithium, and nickel for batteries, neodymium and zinc for wind turbines, and indium for solar panels are essential.

The development of new environmentally sound technologies is seen as a key route towards achieving sustainability.

The demand for neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnets is rapidly growing, while the neodymium supply chain is under pressure. Recycling can alleviate these issues. This thesis investigates the potential for deploying novel magnet recycling technologies and their environmental consequences.

The institute is lead by the Scientific Director, prof.dr.ing. Martina G. Vijver, Director of Operations: Jasper Williams and Director of Education Dr. Stefano Cucurachi in collaboration with the Management Team.

Squatters and autonomous movements have been in the forefront of radical politics in Europe for nearly a half-century—from struggles against urban renewal and gentrification, to large-scale peace and environmental campaigns, to spearheading the antiausterity protests sweeping the continent.

Promotor: A. Kros, Co-promotor: R.R.C.L. Olsthoorn

This thesis investigates Søren Kierkegaard’s place in Martin Heidegger’s first Freiburg period lecture courses.

How and under what conditions Dutch primary school principals' managerial networking activities affect the performance of their school

The expanding population and economic activity are driving up global energy consumption. Simultaneously, there is an urgent need to transition from fossil fuels to renewable sources to mitigate the climate crisis, primarily caused by fossil fuel combustion.

Central to this research is the Urban Future-project, which consists of a large archive of artworks made from 2002 until now.

The global transition toward low-carbon energy systems and the rapid expansion of digital technologies, including artificial intelligence, are reshaping how modern societies produce, move, and process energy and information.

In the emerging field of small-molecule RNA targeting, there is a growing demand for new high-throughput screening methods.

Professor of Clinical Pharmacology Adam Cohen from Leiden University received the prestigious Dr. Saal van Zwanenberg Honorary Prize on 12 November. The prize honours a scientist who has distinguished themselves in the field of research that has directly or indirectly led to the development of new medicines…

This dissertation contains the further development of a method for linguistic-stylistic research, which provides a systematic means to interpret global impressions of a text through choices in formulation at word- and sentence level.

In Reframing the Diplomat Albertine Bloemendal offers a unique window onto the unofficial dimension of Cold War transatlantic relations by analyzing the diplomatic role of the Dutch Atlanticist Ernst van der Beugel as a government official and as a private diplomat.

Lecture, Economic and Social History Brown Bag Seminar

Assistant professor Max van Duijn is the new chair of The Young Academy. He aims to support young academics, bring research closer to society and make academia more resilient.

This week, Prof. Luuk van Middelaar (Europa Institute) publishes Alarums & Excursions: improvising Politics on the Europen Stage – a revised update of his 2017 book on the decade of EU crises.

n this PhD thesis, the recombination of different atomic lattices in stacked 2D materials such as twisted bilayer graphene is studied. Using the different possibilities of Low-Energy Electron Microscopy (LEEM), the domain forming between the two atomic layers with small differences is studied.

Markus Altena Davidsen, university lecturer in the sociology of religion at LUCSoR, has been awarded the Gerardus van der Leeuw PhD Dissertation Award by the Dutch Association for the Study of Religion (NGG).

How can we ensure a more resilient and sustainable supply of Rare Earths in the EU in the future?

The master's programme Industrial Ecology (joint degree Leiden University and Delft University of Technology) is unique in the Netherlands and one of the few programmes in the world combining natural science, engineering, and social science for science-based solutions for sustainability problems.

Advances in the field of high-performance Nd-Fe-B permanent magnets, by re-engineering their microstructure to make them more powerful while reducing rare earth content.

Alumnus Robert van Asten has been an MP for D66 since 2025. He studied Tax Law at Leiden University from 1997 to 2005. After a career in that field, he switched to local politics and later national politics.

Vera van Noort, professor in Computational Systems Biology at the KU Leuven (Belgium), is appointed holder of the rotating chair “Van der Klaauw Professor” for the year 2015-2016 at the Institute of Biology. Holders of the chair bring inspiring research and teaching in theoretical biology to the University.…

Lecture

On 19 February 2019, Mirjam Sombroek-van Doorm defended her thesis 'Medisch beroepsgeheim en de zorgplicht van de arts bij kindermishandeling in de rechtsverhouding tussen arts, kind en ouders'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. dr. A.G. Castermans en Prof. mr. C.J.J.M. Stolker.

Met groot plezier heeft de Universiteit Leiden van 1 tot 4 november het X Congreso Internacional de la Asociación de Hispanistas del Benelux (AHBx) georganiseerd, met het thema Transhispanismos: contactos y contagios (Transhispanismes: contact en besmetting). De AHBx is een platform in de Benelux dat…

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), often referred to as drones, have become easy and inexpensive to buy, and it is generally expected that the use of drones by private individuals, businesses and public authorities will increase tremendously in the coming years. This raises questions as to what is technologically…

On 9 April 2020, Mohamed Azizi defended his thesis 'Reflecties op Wereldburgerschap: In de spiegel van Afghanistan en Nederland'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. P.B. Cliteur en Prof. W. Veugelers (Universiteit voor Humanistiek).

On 1 October 2020, Arianne de Leeuw defended her thesis 'Scheiding van zeggenschap en belang in de familiesfeer'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. F. Sonneveldt and Prof. A.O. Lubbers.

Bij de Universiteit Leiden zet onze Onderzoeksgroep violence and violence prevention zich in voor het bevorderen van kennis en begrip op het gebied van geweld en geweldpreventie door middel van interdisciplinaire wetenschappen en innovatieve methodologieën. Onze faculteitsleden zijn toonaangevende…

On 7 March 2019, Maria de Jong-de Kruijf defended her thesis 'Legitimiteit en rechtswaarborgen bij gesloten plaatsing van kinderen'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. mr. M.R. Bruning en Prof. mr. T. Liefaard.

On 30 June 2021, Thijs Beumers defended his thesis 'De bescherming van immateriële contractuele belangen in het schadevergoedingsrecht'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. A.G. Castermans and Prof. W.H. van Boom.

Aad van der Vaart, professor of stochastics at Leiden University, has been awarded the NWO Spinoza Prize for his groundbreaking research in statistics. Van der Vaart conducts fundamental research on models that can help, for instance, to identify genes that play a role in cancer.

In this new edition of the Rijmbijbel there are 159 valuable miniatures, combined with commentary by MA-students from Utrecht. Students in Dutch Language at the universities of Antwerp and Leiden have translated the text passages. Various experts, such as Martine Meuwese (UU), tell more about Jacob…

Four years of protracted negotiations and bitter warfare passed between the declaration of Indonesian independence on 17 August, 1945, and the official transfer of sovereignty on 27 December, 1949.