It is still not easy to ‘come out’ about your sexual orientation or gender identity. On Coming Out Day (11 October), the issue was the focus of global attention. This year, instead of the traditional rainbow flag, the ‘progress pride flag’ flew above University buildings.

Nusantara Capital Authority (OIKN), which is in charge of developing Indonesia’s new capital city entered a Memorandum of Understanding with Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Universities on 18 March on knowledge sharing and joint research.

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The Leiden Center for the Study of Ancient Arabia (LeiCenSAA) announces a new open access, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to the epigraphy of Arabia and its cultural and linguistic context: Arabian Epigraphic Notes

Koenraad Schalm will be the new programme director of the Physics master starting 1 November. He has been appointed for a period of four years. Schalm succeeds Ana Achúcarro who has held the position since 2021.

On Tuesday 11 January 2022, the Meijers Lecture and the New Year's reception took place at 16.00 hrs.

As of 1 May Gianne Derks is the new Scientific Director of the Mathematics Institute. Derks succeeds Hermen Jan Hupkes who temporarily assumed the role. Derks has been appointed for a period of four years.

In the book 'Slave in a Palanquin: Colonial Servitude and Resistance in Sri Lanka' Nira Wickramasinghe, professor of Modern South Asian Studies, uncovers the traces of slavery in the history and memory of the Indian Ocean world. She was interviewed about the book in the New Books in South East Asian…

'A great result for the effect of Pokémon Go on children with autism', says Carolien Rieffe in the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant. 'Although we do not know whether the game will lead to friendships in the long term.'

Jasper Williams has been appointed as the new Operational Director of CML. He is succeeding Paul de Hoog, who held the position for over eleven years, initially as Institute Manager and later as Operational Director. Williams will assume the position on 1 February.

Leiden physicist Anne Meeussen has been nominated for the title of New Scientist Science Talent. She will be up against 14 young scientists from other Dutch and Belgian universities. The polls are already open!

As of 1 July, Marcellus Ubbink is the new Scientific Director of the Leiden Institute for Chemistry. He will succeed Hermen Overkleeft, who led the institute since 2017. Ubbink has been appointed for a period of four years.

“I’m determined to innovate the healthcare system to suit the needs of an ageing population.” As the student ambassador, Merel Vangeel will be the first contact for prospective students who are curious about the Master Vitality and Ageing. She will use her own expertise of the master’s to advise new…

What happens if you are an academic forced to flee your home country and find yourself here in the Netherlands with practically nothing? The Hestia scheme offered by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) gives refugee scientists the opportunity to resume their academic career in the Netherlands. The scheme…

Online, hybrid, on campus... It was an unpredictable year, also for the Faculty of Humanities. Luckily, there were also non-corona related stories. Let's review 2021 with this list of the most-read news articles per month.

After two years of corona restrictions, it was ‘back to normal’ in 2022. Migration, elections, the history of slavery, Russia, and Ukraine were much-discussed topics. We compiled an overview of the most-read news items and other events of the past year.

First year bachelor students of Security Studies enjoyed an interactive guest lecture by Han van Midden, former mayor of Roosendaal.

In a speech on Keti Koti the Dutch king, Willem-Alexander, apologised on behalf of the royal family for the Netherlands’ historical role in slavery. What is the significance of this?

Early diagnosis, new treatments, and personalised care: all of these are possible if we can better unlock the wealth of information hidden in health data. Unfortunately, this data is often poorly organised, difficult to access, and not interoperable. The new international Leiden Institute for FAIR and…

Archaeological finds off the coast of Java, Indonesia provide insight into the world of Homo erectus, 140,000 years ago. Skull fragments and other fossil remains provide a unique picture of how and where these early humans lived, says Leiden archaeologist Harold Berghuis.

The Middle Ages are becoming increasingly more popular: just look at the popularity of such ‘medievalist’ TV series as Game of Thrones and Vikings, and let’s not forget popular re-enactments of medieval battles. Leiden University is home to many specialists of this fascinating period and this new blog…

Mathematician Robbin Bastiaansen, physicist Irene Battisti, pharmacist Fouzia Lghoul-Oulad Saïd and physics and astronomy student Maite Boden are the winners of the annual prizes of the Faculty of Science. Boden was honoured as the first Young Star, a new prize for the best bachelor’s student of the…

A staggering 6.5 billion chicks are killed worldwide every year. These are generally male chicks that are of no economic value. In Ovo has developed technology that can quickly determine the sex of a chick, to ensure that only female chicks are hatched. The first 150,000 chicks have now hatched in this…

By delivering his inaugural lecture titled ‘Where Science Meets Business,’ Simcha Jong accepted his appointment as Leiden’s first Professor of Science Based Business. In his lecture in the Large Auditorium of the Academy Building, Simcha argued that broad universities with a focus on fundamental research,…

In the occasion of the NVIC 50th anniversary, Doorbraak magazine interviewed Dr Rudolf de Jong to talk about the NVIC main activities in Cairo.

‘Dutch politics are changing, but they also are characterised by stability; that tension fascinates me.’ Sarah de Lange studies, among other things, the Dutch party system, and specifically how the rise of extremist parties influences democracy. She will start as a professor in Leiden in mid-October…

Last weekend, an article on data privacy appeared in Trouw. In this essay, Bram Klievink, Professor of Digitization and Public Policy at the FGGA, addresses the issue of data privacy. What are the downsides of the rules the tech giants have to abide by?

‘Heritage Under Threat’ and ‘The Rooseveltian Century’ are among the 21 best MOOCs for a general public according to New York Magazine.

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