Leiden University's 2017 annual report has now been published. This year for the first time the University has also published a separate sustainability report. Leiden University is the first university to produce a separate report on the progress of its sustainability policies.

On 14 September the construction of the Spui university building officially began.

CWTS will get a new board of directors for the coming three years, starting on 1 January 2024. The Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences of Leiden University has appointed Ludo Waltman as scientific director and Tjitske Holtrop, Wolfgang Kaltenbrunner and Clara Calero Medina as deputy directors.…

The editorial board of the Journal of the LUCAS Graduate Conference welcomes several new members. The coming months they will be preparing the journal's second issue, to be published in February 2014.

Leiden scientists will be working on the development of a camera for the European Extremely Large Telescope that is currently under construction. On 28 September the Netherlands Research School for Astronomy signed an agreement with the European Southern Observatory.

‘We could share our knowledge more with others and apply it more widely,’ said Annetje Ottow, President of the Executive Board, while presenting the new Strategic Plan on the University’s 447th Dies Natalis. The new Strategic Plan therefore focuses on innovating and connecting, among disciplines and…

On Thursday the 30st of June and Friday the 1st of July Vicky Kosta and Vestert Borger participated in the workshop ‘Executive discretion, Public Interests and the Limits of Law’ at the University of Amsterdam. The workshop was organized by Joana Mendes in the context of the research project ‘Unveiling…

In The Hague, the Leiden Centre of Data Science (LCDS) in close collaboration with the Centre for Professional Learning (CPL) is developing a Legal Technologies programme. They do so in cooperation with three faculties of Leiden University, namely the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs (FGGA),…

Kees Goudswaard has been appointed as a board member of the GAK Institute on 1 October.

On Monday 28 October, we celebrated the start of Healthy University Week 2019. During this week, students and staff of Leiden University can follow workshops to help them adopt a healthier lifestyle.

The greatest challenges facing humanity today have significant global dimensions that require substantial policy responses at a planetary scale. In this context, the Multistakeholder Global Governance (MGG) project aims to understand to what extent and under what circumstances multistakeholder global…

Marileen Dogterom, Professor bionanoscience in Delft and Professor molecular physics in Leiden, will take a seat at the KNAW board as of June 1st. She is appointed for four years, one day per week. Dogterom succeeds Nobel Prize winner Ben Feringa, who completed his term.

Turkish and Syrian students met Rector Magnificus Hester Bijl to discuss how the university can support students who have been affected by the earthquake.

Three new initiatives will provide a more diverse view of Leiden’s academic history, literally and figuratively: a historical study on the background of students and scientists, a new book about the Academy Building, and two new sculptures of female scientists, Ewine van Dishoek, Professor of Molecular…

The Leiden-Delft-Erasmus (LDE) alliance signed a collaboration agreement with the Indonesian Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Technology on 23 September.

In January 2020, the team took a break from their respective field sites and travelled back to Leiden to take stock of their research progress and to host its third Advisory Board meeting at their home institution, the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology of Leiden Universit…

On 2 December, the Municipality of Leiden will apologise for the role previous administrations played in colonialism and slavery. A further study will be carried out.

In March, Jan Pronk starts as the new Executive Director at the Faculty of Archaeology. We sat down with him for an interview on his background, his drive, and his take on archaeology.

In late May 2019, the Food citizens? team traveled to Poland for a project meeting and team outing. This was made possible by the European Research Council’s support and facilitated networks and knowledge-generation.

Information about the situation in Ukraine

Mariana Gkliati co-organised and chaired on 14 September a PhD Masterclass with the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Agnès Callamard.

On Tuesday 2 April Vice President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, came to Leiden to receive the Plastic Avengers Manifest from Plastic Soup Surfer Merijn Tinga. The Manifest contains five key areas for a new approach to deal with how we use plastic.

A delegation from Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China, is on a two-day visit to Leiden University. The aim is to explore opportunities for further collaboration and to exchange knowledge with this leading Chinese university.

The university is home to many pearls of research institutes that do not make the news every day. The Executive Board visited one such pearl, the Institute of Philosophy, on Tuesday 1 July. It resulted in an inspired conversation.

The Durham Declaration was presented at the Climate Symposium marking the Coimbra Group’s 40th anniversary on 26 March. Leiden University is proud to be one of the first signatories of this declaration.

Black-and-white photographs filled with solemn young men and distinguished professors line the walls of the Grand Auditorium. Young women are missing from the photos; women rarely obtained PhDs 50 years ago. And this article is about that group, the PhD candidates between 1966 and 1972, who were invited…

The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) comprises several units. Eight Divisions for Sciences develop new research programmes, assess subsidy requests and monitor projects that NWO finances. ALW- Earth and Life Sciences is one of NWO’s eight Divisions for Science. Professor Melly…

On 1 July, Olga Zoutendijk will become a member of the Board of Governors of Leiden University. Zoutendijk (1961) was appointed by the Minister of Education, Culture and Science, and will succeed Mirjam Sijmons. Sijmons is leaving after two periods of membership of the Board of Governors.

Do you want to make your voice heard and discuss your study experience with a member of the faculty board? Sign up and perhaps you are one of the students invited to a lunch meeting with student board member Aurelie van 't Slot and vice dean Mirjam de Baar on July 5th 2017.

The university bid farewell to its Rector Magnificus, Hester Bijl, on 13 January during the ‘Hester’s Highlights’ symposium.

Suzanne van der Pluijm will be appointed Executive Director and Member of the Board of the Faculty of Science with effect from 1 June 2022. She succeeds Ed van den Berg, who has held this position on an interim basis since 1 September 2021 .

Over 30 ambassadors strengthened their ties with researchers and university leaders in a recent visit to Leiden University. Cross-border collaboration (both literal and figurative) was the theme of presentations and a tour of the Hortus botanicus.

Of the women studying at university, 52% have experienced some form of sexual harassment. For male students, the figure is 19%.

Erwin Muller, Dean of FGGA and Administrator of Campus The Hague, and Koen Caminada, Vice-Dean, share their thoughts on how ‘we’ as a faculty are doing based on three themes. A discussion about the balancing act between what is and what isn’t possible and the natural urge to continue to grow, the utility…

As of January 2017, LCDS-director Jaap van den Herik has been appointed member of the Advisory Board of WODC.

This study examined the effects of a classroom-focused intervention on different domains of early literacy. The intervention consisted of shared e-book reading combined with a print referencing technique done via a SMART board. The specific goal of the study was to examine whether children could be…

Seven master’s students had lunch in the characteristic Humanities Faculty Room with Faculty Board members Mirjam de Baar (vice dean) and Aurelie van ’t Slot (student board member) and gave feedback about their experiences at Leiden University.

Professor Bert Meijer has been reappointed as a member of Leiden University’s Board of Governors by the Minister of Education, Culture and Science, Ingrid van Engelshoven.

The Plants & Planets exhibition brings two worlds together in a dazzling mix of science, nature and art. It opens at Old Observatory Leiden and Hortus botanicus on 7 February.

What is the significance of the history of slavery for our present-day society? A special exhibition in the inner courtyard of the Academy Building features eleven insightful portraits of students and staff, and their answer to this question. The aim of the exhibition’s initiators is to make the subject…

The university campus at the Leiden Bio Science Park is flourishing. A new book tells the stories behind this remarkable metamorphosis.

Ymre Schuurmans, Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law, has been appointed Chair of the Dutch Legal Aid Board’s Advisory Council following permission from the Dutch Minister for Legal Protection.

To underline the urgency: Our faculty faces a significant financial challenge. With a structural reduction of €5 to €6 million in annual income, dark clouds are gathering on the horizon. Added to this are the uncertain consequences of budget cuts from The Hague, including the Balanced Internationalisation…

The Executive Board of the Institute of Psychology has a new Director of Operational Management. It’s the perfect role for Paula van den Bergh. ‘For me, “connection” is a nice word. If you see the connections between things, you immediately see the logic behind the processes.’ Her career has taken her…

Confetti cannons announced the opening of HUBspot, the new venue for innovation and entrepreneurship at the Langegracht in Leiden, on 31 October. But all attention was on the young student entrepreneurs who presented their businesses.

Technological developments are rapidly advancing. The Leiden Legal Technologies Program was on the agenda of the Advisory Committee at their second meeting held on 15 October. The decision to start the program in January 2021 was taken unanimously. It was the official moment to announce the completion…

On 1 September, Menno Tuurenhout handed over the position of Director of Operational Management in the Faculty Board to Suzy Sirks-Bong. How does he look back on his time as Director? And how does Suzy see the future? A double interview.

With the six pieces of the puzzle now assembled by the partners of the University Campus and the Mayor of The Hague, Jan van Zanen, the building at the Spui was officially opened last Thursday.

The Faculty Board awarded 16 starter grants to young assistant professors for their research proposals.

In 2024, many of our students and staff won great prizes and secured important research grants.