On 22 September, LUCSoR alumnus Bas van Rijn successfully defended his PhD dissertation entitled “The Experimental Culture of Afterlife Research: Attempts by Spiritual Animal Magnetizers to Prove Life after Death” at Universität Bern, Switzerland. The PhD project was part of the of SNF research project…

The annual meeting of the European Group of Public Law (EGPL) took place on 13 and 14 September 2024 in Legrena, Greece.

Joanita Vroom has been appointed as president of the Society ‘Byzantine Studies Netherlands / Byzantijnse Studies Nederland’, the Dutch branch of the ‘International Association of Byzantine Studies / Association Internationale des Études Byzantines’ (AIEB).

On or around 26 November every year, Cleveringa meetings are organised for Leiden alumni throughout the world. Including in Tokyo, where Professor of Japan Studies Ivo Smits delivered his Clevering lecture to a packed hall.

The Dutch Michelle Sweering became the best math girl in the world at the International Mathematical Olympiad in South Africa. She is the only girl who won a golden medal.

Starting 1 February 2023, Daniëlla Dam-de Jong has been appointed as professor to the new Chair International Sustainable Development Law at the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies at Leiden University. Her expertise lies in the field of sustainable development, with an emphasis on natural…

Congratulations to Sara de Wit and Miriam Waltz, who have just won a Leiden University Global Seed Fund. Their proposed project entails 'Climate Talks' to foster equitable exchange between indigenous knowledge systems and climate science.

Alderman Robert Strijk from the Leiden municipality officially opened the artwork Whispering Wind by Edwin van der Heide on Wednesday November 29.

Fashion is a common thread running through alumna Anouk van Oss’s life. From a young age, fashion was a way for her to express herself. That was until she discovered how problematic the fashion industry is. She decided to focus on sustainability in her studies and hopes at some point to become a sustainability…

The Dick Stufkens Prize 2021 for the best PhD thesis of the Holland Research School of Molecular Chemistry (HRSMC) has been awarded to Klaas van Leest for his thesis 'Open- Shell Cobalt Complexes with Redox-Active Ligands; Electronic Structure and Nitrene Transfer Reactivity'. Van Leest, who is now…

Gijsbert Rutten has been appointed professor of Dutch Linguistics with effect from 1 July. In this position, he will focus on language change and language variation, with a particular emphasis on historical sociolinguistics.

Nienke van der Marel has been awarded the New Horizons Prize in physics for her pioneering research on planet formation. This prize is given to young, promising researchers in physics or mathematics. The astronomer and her colleagues found the first observational evidence for 'dust traps' in disks around…

Leiden professor of molecular astrophysics and astrochemistry Ewine van Dishoeck was presented with the Niels Bohr International Gold Medal on Friday 7 October. The medal, instigated by the Danish Society of Engineers IDA, was awarded by Queen Margrethe of Denmark at a ceremony at the Carlsberg Academy…

From 1 January 2017 Jojanneke van der Toorn will be the first holder of the Workplace Pride special chair, with a focus on the inclusion of people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT). This new chair is a joint initiative of the Workplace Pride Foundation, Leiden University, and the…

Ineke van der Ham is one of the invited speakers at the European Workshop of Imagery and Cognition (EWIC). She discussed practical applications of her work on spatial imagery in neuropsychological patients.

Ineke van der Ham is a guest in the national tv show Tijd voor Max, where she discusses the nationwide experiment on navigation.

Theoretische onderbouwing laat zien dat wijkrechtspraak effectief kan zijn. Dat blijkt uit een vandaag gepresenteerde studie in opdracht van het WODC. Rechters kunnen vanuit een zitting in een wijkcentrum vaak beter ingrijpen dan vanuit de rechtszaal en met meer vertrouwen.

Gerrit van Dijk was born on 14th August 1939 in Kampen. He studied Mathematics in Utrecht where he also received his PhD in 1969 on the thesis ‘Spherical functions on the p-adic group PGL(2)’. His supervisor was prof. dr. T.A. Springer. The academic year 1969-1970 he spent in Princeton, at the Institute…

Political scientists Tom van der Meer, Lisa Janssen (University of Amsterdam) and Tom Louwerse (Leiden University) analyse polls presented by the main polling agencies in the Netherlands, as well as micro-level panel data. They reach three main conclusions. First, vote intention polls in the Netherlands…

Before founding their American colony, the Pilgrim Fathers first lived in Leiden in the early 17th century. This group has no fewer than nine American presidents among its descendants. The University played an important role in the Pilgrims’ life in Leiden.

Excessive remuneration of top executives often sparks heated debate in the Netherlands. Ministers are summoned to Parliament, where they then tend to wholeheartedly condemn the 'grabbing' going on at the top of the corporate sector. But that’s where it stops. Tackling excessive remuneration seems to…

Together with three other scholars Adriaan van der Weel successfully applied for a COST research network subsidy.

Bernard van Heck has won the Christiaan Huygens Prize 2016 for his Leiden PhD research on electrical circuits for quantum computers. On behalf of the KNAW, the Dutch minister of Education, Culture and Science awards this prize annually to a researcher who has made an innovative contribution to scien…

An unclear role, competition with IT and a wide range of subjects. Despite the widespread media attention for IT-security & privacy, the tasks of the Chief Information & Security Officer (CISO) remain indistinct. Bibi van den Berg, professor of Cybersecurity Governance, took part in the panel discussion…

On Tuesday 23 May, Jelle van Buuren, assistant professor at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, was a guest at the Dutch news programme Pauw. As expert on terrorism he discussed the attack in Manchester at the concert of pop star Ariane Grande.

We received the sad news that Janet van der Meulen passed away on November 29. She was an expert on French and Dutch literature in the medieval Low Countries. An in memoriam (in Dutch) has been published on the website of Neerlandistiek.

October 4-7 2018, the Nationale Spoorwegen organized its annual stationslab, with interactive science at Utrecht Central Station. This year's theme is navigation at the trainstation. Ineke van der Ham opened this event and joined a podcast on wayfinding behavior at trainstations.

Rogier Kegge, Assistant Professor at the Institute of Public Law of Leiden University, was interviewed by Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant in response to the recent recommendations by Johan Remkes on how to approach the nitrogen crisis.

At the conference ‘Law-Making in Multilevel Settings: Federalism, Europe and Beyond’, Ruben de Graaff and Dorine Verheij provided a lecture on the topic of ‘EU Regulations and the Spirit of Codification’.

Inaugural lecture

Professor Jojanneke van der Toorn has held the chair in LGBT workplace inclusion for five years. To celebrate, organised an international online conference on workplace inclusion, in cooperation with Workplace Pride that was hosted by the university on 20 and 21 May.

The Young Academy has gained a new Leiden humanities scholar as a member. University lecturer Greek language and literature Tazuko van Berkel will be appointed as a member as of March.

This project investigates the globalization and cultural mediation of palliative care practices, policies and discourses.

Prof. J. (Jos) Schaeken, Professor of Slavic and Baltic Languages and Cultural History, will be the interim Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Humanities from 1 March 2025. He will succeed the present Vice-Dean, Mirjam de Baar, who will complete her second term on that date.

The Fritz Zwicky Prize 2022 for Astrophysics & Cosmology has been awarded to Prof. Ewine F. van Dishoeck for her pioneering, decades-long work in astrochemistry and molecular spectroscopy, as well as for her leadership within the astronomical community. The award was announced today by the European…

Gabrielle van den Berg became the Academic Director of LIAS on 1 September 2025: “I hope I’ll be able to make a real difference.”

Yra van Dijk obtained a NWO 'Internationalisation in the Humanities' grant. Together with Ernst van Alphen she will collaborate with 8 European and Israelian partners in researching 'Digital Memory of the Holocaust'.

Criminals? They are always men. At least, that’s what we tend to think. Historian Manon van der Heijden wants to show, however, that between 1600 and 1900 in Europe, women were responsible for a substantial share of the criminal activity. She has been granted a VICI award for her research.

Sylvia van Beugen has won the Herman Musaph Literature award 2016 for the best publication about psychodermatology. Her publication describes the importance of body awareness in chronic skin conditions, such as psoriasis.

Benjamín Maldonado, Orestes Kyrgiakis, Roos Capel and Iskra Cvitković are the new student members of the Programme Committee (OLC). The board advises the Executive Board and the Faculty Board about educational matters, such as the determination of the Course and Examination Regulations and the evaluation…

Court cases that get out of hand are enacted again and again, according to PhD candidate Tessa de Zeeuw. De Zeeuw: ‘Even if the court comes to the correct judgement, from a legal point of view, the issues that appear in a case such as that of Lucia de Berk continue to

From 2020 to 2023, Professor Miguel John Versluys and his research group will participate in an international consortium co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union in the framework of the international project “Alexandria: (Re)activating Common Urban Imaginaries”. This ERC project…

In October, Sophie Starrenburg was elected as a member of the Coordinating Committee of the ESIL Interest Group on the International Law of Culture. She will work alongside Giovanni Carlo Bruno (Italian National Research Council), Andrzej Jakubowski (Polish Academy of Studies), and Lucas Lixinski (University…

From 25 to 31 October, Professor Simone van der Hof was on a working visit to China with a delegation from Leiden Law School, including our dean Professor Joanne van der Leun.

On 19 May we received the sad news of the sudden and unexpected death of Willem van Beelen, at the age of 64. He had been the University's beadle for 27 years before retiring on 29 February this year.

The Meijers prizes are awarded each year for the best published article from each faculty research programme. Veldt received the prize for her contribution to the research programme ‘Coherent Privaatrecht’ with her article ‘De betekenis van Europese productnormen voor privaatrechtelijke normstelling’…