On 21 January 2026, Juan Pablo Bascur successfully defended his PhD thesis at Leiden University, titled 'Science maps for information retrieval'.

The substance galanthamine from flower bulbs can fight symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. Nadeem Akram investigated how daffodils can optimally produce this natural remedy. PhD defence on 24 June.

The Trojan War plays an important role in Greek mythology. But there is much more to Troy than mythology. The exhibition ‘Troy. City. Homer. Turkey’ can be viewed from 7 December to 5 May 2013. Leiden linguist Alwin Kloekhorst wrote an article for the exhibition catalogue on the language of Troy.

Students Sjors Keijzer and Kasper van Alphen won the finale of the Student and City film competition on 29 June. Their promotional film puts Leiden on the map as the best student city.

Nathaniel Martin has been appointed professor in the field of Bioorganic Chemistry within the Faculty of Science at the Institute of Biology Leiden, starting from 1 March 2018. His research focuses on using new (bio)chemical approaches to combat infectious disease, as well as on developing new molecular…

Using 2D materials, physics student Romme van der Kemp developed a nanochip that is extremely small ánd scalable. This is needed to make all kinds of technologies better, faster and smaller. He has been nominated for the FWN Young Talent Award 2023 for his research.

Electric noise can be useful for scientists but inconvenient for chip manufacturers. They do share a wish to predict the amount of noise. PhD student Sumit Tewari overturns a century-old law relating noise to current. He defends his thesis on March 27th.

The Rutte IV cabinet will be sworn in soon. A fifth of the prospective ministers and secretaries of state studied in Leiden. Who are they and what did they study?

As of 1 September, Ton van Kalmthout has been appointed professor by special appointment of International Exchange of Dutch Literature in a Historical Perspective. In addition to his research into the import and export of Dutch literature, Van Kalmthout will also teach at Leiden University.

Why is Arabic poetry relevant for our understanding of the Arabic-speaking world? Arabist James Montgomery explains this in the first video interview of the Leiden | Islam interview series produced by Leiden Islam Centre LUCIS. 'If there is anything which is going to make the situation worse, it is…

The 18th Biennial EUSA conference, with the theme 'Beyond Sui Generis? Understanding the EU as a Comparative Polity and an Interdisciplinary Subject', took place on 4 to 6 May 2023 at the University of Pittsburgh (PA), USA. The Europa Institute was represented by Dr Moritz Jesse and Dr Darinka Piqan…

Edmund Flett, alumnus of the International Relations master's programme, has won the 2023 J.C. Baak Prize for his thesis ‘Settlements now, settlement later. Land swaps, settler relocation, and the viability of the two-state solution in Israel-Palestine’.

Steven Truxal joins Leiden University as Professor of Air and Space Law on 1 December 2020. Truxal holds a BA in International Affairs with concentrations in international law and economics from The George Washington University, Washington, DC (USA), an LLM in International Commercial Law with focus…

The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) has appointed 26 new members. Three of them are Leiden professors: Luuk de Ligt, Lisa Cheng and Marc Koper. The new Academy professors will be installed on 8 June.

On 10 December Walter Burkard won the Jaap Doek Children’s Rights Thesis Award 2020 for his thesis on climate change and children’s rights.

The LUC academic staff are involved in many projects because next to their teaching, they are also doing academic research within their fields of expertise. What follows is a short update of some of the special achievements of our staff.

Assistant Professor Mike Schmidli has won the 2025 Faculty Teaching Prize. The Education Committee praised his commitment not only to teaching students well, but also to helping them develop into well-rounded individuals.

During the HALON hacking competition, 28 teams had one goal: to find as many vulnerabilities as possible in the systems of Dutch higher education institutions. Research software engineer Chris Handy participated on his own and ended up in second place in the category ‘Vulnerabilities found at the highest…

Why do some bacteria lose their protective cell wall under the influence of stress? Microbiologist Dennis Claessen of the Institute of Biology Leiden receives a Vici grant of 1.5 million euros from the Dutch Research Council (NWO) to investigate this paradoxical feature.

The passport issue concerning ineligible football players seemed to have been resolved, but NAC Breda can cause new unrest with a lawsuit. Stefaan Van den Bogaert, Professor of European Law and sports law expert, comments in ‘NRC’ and ‘Voetbalnieuws’.

The brand-new American President Donald Trump delivered his inaugural speech on 20 January. There was little sign of conciliation and he was liberal with the truth, in the opinion of a number of Leiden academics. One professor is more positive: 'He wants to take on radical Islam.'

Assistant Professor Karlsson Linnér, who works at the Department of Economics, is one of the recipients of a Veni grant. His research on the accuracy of preventive genetic testing is a fine example of the intersection of economic science and law.

An impressive speech by Dean Jasper Knoester, a lecture by top researcher Mario van der Stelt about brain messengers, and the presentation of the faculty awards. 2025 begins on a hopeful and festive note, with a toast to a year of fruitful collaboration within and beyond the faculty.

On 31 January 2024, Alex Schilin defended his dissertation ‘United in Distinctiveness: The Institutionalisation of Differentiated Integration in Economic and Monetary Union during the Sovereign Debt Crisis.’ What motivated him to research this specific topic, and how did he tackle this project? And…

The travel ban and closed borders have had a big impact on our students and staff. Some are stranded abroad, while others are stranded here in the Netherlands. Others again have returned early to their home country. Three personal stories from Wuhan, Leiden and The Hague.

It poured down when Alexander Gallo received his diploma from West Point Military Academy. A bad sign, people said back then. It was June 2001, three months before 9/11. The now 46-year-old American fought in Iraq, did research in Afghanistan and stands in Leiden today, defending his dissertation on…

Kerstin Fischer and Angus Johnston were exchange students in Leiden in 1995. Sparks flew when they met at a Leiden International Student Club party, but then they lost touch. They met again 19 years later and the flame was rekindled. A Leiden love story – with a bit of a delay.

A symposium with a festive touch was organised at Leiden University on 20 March to mark the 50-year anniversary of the marriage of Princess Margriet and Pieter van Vollenhoven. The theme of the symposium was 'Catastrophes and the Law', a theme, the royal Princess and Prince were quick to reassure the…

Great things are expected of Young Academy Leiden. The first 13 members of this society for young researchers will provide the Executive Board with fresh ideas on teaching, research, policy and how to connect with society. The researchers themselves will benefit from the contact with their peers from…

After 45 years at Leiden University, it is time for Kees Goudswaard to retire. In his farewell lecture, he reflects on developments in his field: social security.

Even the Mohawk Indians were talking about Serv Wiemers’ thesis. This Law alumnus, who has been intrigued by the world of American Indians since he was a boy, recently wrote a book about that world.

Pre-University College The Hague is celebrating its fifth anniversary in 2024-2025. Three alumni look back on their experience. PRE broadened their academic horizons and taught them a lot about themselves. ‘PRE made me feel more comfortable at university'.

Since 2014 church organ player Paul Houdijk has been working on his PhD project on the musical and aesthetic developments of the Dutch 19th-century church organ builder Michael Maarschalkerweerd.

From September 1 onwards, Jonatan Wirix-Speetjens is the new assessor of the Faculty of Humanities. He takes over the baton of former assessor Olivier Fajgenblat. To get to know him a bit better, he introduces himself in this video.

On 3 June 2016, Prof. Carsten Stahn participated in a Panel at the Graduate Institute on International and Development Studies in Geneva on accountability as a common goal between The Hague and Geneva.

Veel arbeidsongeschikten kregen jarenlang te veel of juist te weinig uitkering, omdat er fouten zijn gemaakt bij de berekening van het loon waarop de uitkering is gebaseerd. Barend Barentsen, hoogleraar Sociaal Recht, zegt op BNR radio, dat hij niet helemaal begrijpt hoe het zo fout heeft kunnen gaan…

Rogier Creemers, assistent professor in Modern Chinese Studies, wrote an article about China's social credit system in the Schweizer Monat. In the article he argues that it is not the most dangerous among China's technology projects.

Cees van den Hondel, IBL-professor and 2010 Programme director of the Fungus programme of the Kluyver Centre received the royal distinction

In studies, it is an old acquaintance, the p-value. But mathematician Peter Grünwald wants to get rid of it. The p-value is too susceptible to fraud and can lead to a distorted picture of reality and chance. That is why he wants to work with the e-value. De Volkskrant spoke to him about it.

On 6 March 2018, the Dutch Minister for Legal Protection, Mr. Dekker, responded to the Ph.D. dissertation ‘Voorlopige hechtenis in het Nederlandse jeugdstrafrecht’ (‘Pre-trial detention in the Dutch juvenile justice system’) in a Letter to Parliament.

The US President called upon his European allies to take back IS fighters from their countries. It concerns 800 fighters who were arrested by US troops during the war with IS. Forty of the 800 fighters are Dutch and want to return to the Netherlands.

The Municipality of Veere wants to limit accommodation for tourists. However, this puts a number of council members in a dilemma. Are they allowed to debate the future of tourism in the area while being landlords themselves? Wim Voermans, Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law, comments…

On October 23rd, dr. Bart Custers, associate professor and head of research of eLaw, the Center for Law and Digital Technologies at Leiden Universitty, delivers a keynote address on the big data and law at the International Conference on Big Data Research (ICBDR 2017) in Osaka, Japan

The American Society of Pharmacognosy (ASP) has given the Varro E. Tyler prize to Rob Verpoorte, for his outstanding lifetime contributions to the science of nature as source of medicine.

At two recent events, Ben Van Rompuy, Assistant Professor of competition law at the Europa Institute in Leiden, discussed current developments in the application of EU competition rules to regulatory aspects of sport.

Master's student Erwin Dijkstra won for his thesis on the position in society of people with a disability.

All of society is having to deal with the effects of staff shortages. Hospitals are unable to fill their duty rosters, primary schools are having to close their doors for one day per week, and trains are being cancelled on a regular basis. But why is that exactly? Professor of Economics Olaf van Vliet…

Professor emeritus of Animal Behaviour Carel ten Cate is awarded honorary membership by the Dutch Society for Behavioural Biology (NVG). He received the honour for his activities for the Society and the discipline of behavioural biology.

The return payment of 900 euros for Syrian asylum seekers is a striking part of the Dutch policy to promote voluntary return. Mark Klaassen, university lecturer in immigration law, told RTL News he considers the scheme premature and points to the uncertainty about how safe Syria currently is.

Discover how skateboarding transforms cities by reading anthropologist Sander Hölsgens' research. Learn about his two new books exploring skateboarding as a sensory experience and powerful learning tool within areas as diverse as therapy, care, parenting and education.