Have you ever seen your friend smiling, and suddenly you started grinning too? PhD student Chris Riddell is researching how and why we copy body language. As a new Face of Science, he will take us along on his research journey for the coming year.

Moderne oorlogsvoering kent geen grenzen. Dreigingen zijn steeds vaker digitaal. Promovendus Annelies van Vark stelt dat Scandinavië beter voorbereid is op gevaar. Zij pleit voor een sterkere rol van de krijgsmacht, herinvoering van de dienstplicht en paraatheid – óók bij burgers.

De Regenboog primary school in The Hague has a high percentage of children whose first language is not Dutch. In the ‘Children of the City’ project, Education and Child Studies students help primary school children practise their Dutch.

Eight scientists from Leiden University have been awarded a grant by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). With this Vidi funding, the researchers can set up an innovative line of research and further expand their own research group over the next five years.

Ten Leiden researchers have been awarded a Veni grant by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). The grant, of up to 280,000 euros, will enable them to elaborate their ideas over a period of three years.

20 November 2024 is World Children's Day. To mark this occasion, the UNICEF Student Team Leiden is organising a lecture on children's rights. We spoke to board members Rewina Teferi Hagos and Tugwell Chadyiwanembwa to find out what motivates them.

All acute care staff at Leiden University Medical Center have received their first and sometimes even their second dose of the coronavirus vaccine. But how long will you be protected after vaccination and what does the genetic material of the virus do in the vaccine? Our virologists Ann Vossen and Leo…

From global warming to the decolonisation of knowledge. At the EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF) in Leiden over 500 speakers from 60 countries have come together to discuss the big themes of our times. Why have the delegates come?

Nieuwe medewerkers op de faculteit

Young researchers met this month for the fifth Science Communication Summer School. ‘This is the first time some participants get to meet other researchers who also enjoy science communication. It’s great to see’, says Julia Cramer, one of the coordinators.

Master’s students in the Honours Class ‘Leiden, City of Refugees?’ were asked to contemplate the concept of ‘the other’ from both an academic and an artistic perspective. The result was the exhibition ‘The Invitation’ which was presented at Stadsbauhaus on 4 June.

Leiden University Proudly Announces Dr. Mikiko Otani as the Rotating Honorary Chair Enforcement of Children's Rights 2023/2024

A pill can make you better, but how exactly does it work? Primary school children from The Hague found out during a visit to the Centre for Human Drug Research (CHDR) as part of a new teaching module ‘The journey of a pill’.

Psychology teacher of the year is Laura Nawijn. The Master Thesis Awards are for Max Kalisvaart and David Hof. Lee Aldar wins the PhD Paper Prize. The PhD Wild Card Prize 'Resilient Scientist' is won by Anastasiia Myronenko, Anne Versluis, Annemarie ten Kate, Ashley Smit, Fabian Wolters, Gita Nadinda,…

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…

Attention to the colonial past may be increasing, but many aspects of it are still underexposed. Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant, in collaboration with, among others, Leiden researchers Anne-Marieke van der Wal-Rémy and Alicia Schrikker, therefore created a 'Canon of the Dutch Underexposed Past', which…

In the online panel discussion of ESOF 2022 ‘The effect of the online world on adolescents’, together with Amy Orben, Professor Eveline Crone, Sterre van Riel, Professor Anne-Laura van Harmelen and Professor Jan Sleutels, Professor Ton Liefaard shared his research on adolescents and the online world…

A research team from Leiden University, in cooperation with Bureau Boekhoorn Sociaal-Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek en Advies (BBSO), is to evaluate Dutch counterterrorism legislation.

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.

Leiden Child Law Department at Leiden University in the Netherlands formally entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the African Child Policy Forum (ACPF)

Despite considerable progress in the design of multifunctionalized nanoparticles (NPs) that selectively target specific cell types, their systemic application often results in unwanted liver accumulation. The exact mechanisms for this general observation are still unclear.

During a well-attended Studium Generale lecture at Rijksmuseum Boerhaave, Professor Ellen de Bruijn demonstrated how hormonal fluctuations influence the female brain. 'We urgently need more attention for the mental health of girls and women during transitional periods.'

De Declaration of equity helpt studieverenigingen op het gebied van diversiteit en inclusie.

Lydie Cabane, Assistant Professor at ISGA, has written an article in E-International Relations to discuss the key lessons from other crisis management domains to improve the EU response to pandemics.

Young Dutch people’s reading skills have been declining for years. The main reason for this is that many have difficulty with reading at greater depth. Teach pupils to read actively in order to construct meaning is what Leiden researchers Paul van den Broek, Christine Espin and Anne Helder write in…

LUC students and staff came together this past semester to transform a local urban garden into a hands-on space for learning, experimentation, and community building.

The life cycle of comets near the star Beta Pictoris is similar to that of comets in our own solar system. This is the conclusion of a team of astronomers from the Netherlands, France and Brazil. It seems that, just like in our own solar system, there are fewer comets as the star gets older. The researchers,…

Research

Welcome to the Expertise Centre for Teaching and Learning (ECOLe). Here you will find information on didactics, teacher development, teaching innovation, assessment and the use of teaching tools at humanities. Have a question or need advice? E-mail ecole@hum.leidenuniv.nl.

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?

Over a period of seven years, researchers from the International Brain Laboratory mapped 279 brain regions at the cellular level. Their findings are now published in Nature, with both data and software openly shared. Cognitive neuroscientist Anne Urai: 'Any researcher with a good question can make use…

How do we navigate the continuously developing landscape in research integrity, ethics, and open science? Anna van 't Veer and Eiko Fried discuss the underlying principles and values of science with all psychology units in their Responsible Scholarship workshop.

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.

Many saw the UN Summit of the Future as the moment of truth for the United Nations and its plans for the world. Joris Larik, Assistant Professor of Comparative, EU and International Law, explains the results.

Young Academy Leiden (YAL) will change its board this month and welcome six new members. Outgoing chair Rachel Plak and incoming chair Ahmed Mahfouz talk about what the platform has achieved for young academics over the past year and what the plans are for the future.

On Monday, 4 July 2022, the graduation of the two-year Advanced MSc International Relations and Diplomacy (MIRD) programme was commemorated in the iconic Academy Building in Leiden. Students and guests were welcomed by the Program Director, Professor Madeleine Hosli.

Students of the Advanced MSc in International Relations and Diplomacy visited the OPCW and ICJ in The Hague, gaining insights into key international organisations.

Leiden Law School is organising a summer conference on Law and Artificial Intelligence as part of the interfaculty and interdisciplinary research programme on Artificial Intelligence (SAILS) at Leiden University.

Green spaces boost mental health—especially in busy cities. A new study from Leiden and Stanford University reveals how nature benefits urban well-being and offers low-cost ways to make city life healthier for everyone.

The winner of this year’s Jaap Doek Children’s Rights Thesis Award wants to raise more awareness for children who have a parent in detention: ‘It’s time we stop looking the other way and actually think about the impact.’

The 2025 Grassfields grant has been awarded to Skill’Ed, an interfaculty initiative aimed at supporting students in developing transferable skills and preparing for the job market. Skill’Ed was selected by the review committee for its strong alignment with our educational vision and strategic plan,…

Leiden University and African Child Policy Forum hold ‘ground-breaking’ workshop on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and human rights in Africa

Researchers and policymakers are welcome to attend the AI & Society Conference in The Hague on Friday 23 June. The SAILS interdisciplinary research programme will be taking a nuanced look at the state of the art of AI technology. And offering fresh perspectives.

Why do some people with adverse childhood experiences develop mental health conditions whereas others do not? A Leiden research project is looking for volunteers aged between 18 and 24 to help us understand more about human resilience.

The Citizen Science Netherlands (CS-NL) network was officially launched this month with the aid of an Open Science NL grant. The new vision for this network was presented on 28 May.

Leiden PhD candidate Jo-Anne Verschoor discovered that nearly twenty percent of the bacterial strains she studied could degrade plastic, though they needed some encouragement to do so. ‘Bacteria are just like people,’ says Verschoor. Her research was published in the journal Communications Biology,…

Almost 3,000 students from the Faculty of Humanities completed the National Student Survey (NSE) in the spring of 2022. With a response rate of 38%, the Faculty scored slightly above the national average.