The national Npuls Growth Fund programme has awarded a grant for the development of the Leiden Education Support (LES) Network. The project led by project manager Joasia van Kooten will start on 1 June.

The aim is to involve as many faculty colleagues as possible in the development of the new Faculty Strategic Plan (FSP). So after several stakeholder meetings and information gathering, the ball is now in the court of four working groups with a variety of members. They will carry out a SWOT analysis…

150 years of the Fine Mechanical and Electronics Department—a milestone our instrument makers and electronics engineers can truly be proud of. For a century and a half, they have crafted unique research instruments for the Faculty of Science, making an indispensable contribution to its experimental…

Two projects from Leiden University have been awarded a grant through the programme.

From academic freedom to security and medical breakthroughs: during Leiden University’s 451st Dies Natalis, the speakers reflected on the role of universities in a world of social and geopolitical tensions.

Rector Magnificus Carel Stolker will retire on 8 February. If there’s one theme running through his career, it’s the links between the University and society. In this series of pre-retirement discussions, Stolker will talk one last time to people from within and without the University. In this edition…

From one year to the next, face masks have started to appear in the environment. As the masks are discarded, they end up in the top soil, in sediment layers, and in refuse heaps. In a couple of generations archaeologists will study the layer that has already been labeled the Face Mask Horizon. Current…

Despite an eventful afternoon – with Students for Palestine occupying the Academy Building – political scientist Hélène Landemore gave her Cleveringa Lecture as planned on 26 November. She reflected on the protest and the importance of open debate, within the university and within a democracy.

Education

If a young person from a migrant background climbs the social ladder despite internship discrimination, the exclusion often gets worse. It is only when we acknowledge these problems that we can resolve them, say Nadia Bouras and Tikho Ong, who are both experiential and academic experts. ‘Racism and…

All those new initiatives and new policies are nice, but how do they affect work pressure and student welfare? You can judge that best by walking around on the work floor, according to Kiki Zanolie (Faculty Council) and Esther van Leeuwen (Institute Council). As chair persons, they work diligently to…

Education

Festival

Festival

Jasper Knoester is the dean of the Faculty of Science. How is he doing, what exactly does he do and what does his day look like? In each newsletter, Jasper gives an insight into his life. Jasper first wrote his column from Kuala Lumpur, and it was ready to share. Then a crisis arose this week that demanded…

In November 2023, the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) underwent its first full external research evaluation for the period from 2016 to 2021 with outstanding results. In its final assessment report, the independent external evaluation committee underlines that ‘the committee is impressed…

All the information about the Leiden University Global Fund (LUGF) funding instrument is given here, specifically the seed funding options for collaboration with regional partners. The LUGF awards seed funding to support regional collaborative initiatives.

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?

Research

PhD, Staff

Didactics

Conference, Exhibition

Wetenschapsmiddag

Teaching Market

Professor Bussemaker and Professor Koenders draw lessons from the handling of the current corona crisis. In a blended guest lecture with some 60 students in Wijnhaven and some 250 online participants, they entered into a discussion led by Willemijn Aerdts. The guest lecture took place on May 25.

After ten years and one day, Leiden Observatory has a new director. As of 1 September, Ignas Snellen will set the course for the astronomical institute. In this interview, you will get to know Ignas. Or at least a little. That is why we gave him five dilemmas and asked the people around him who he really…

Pita Limjaroenrat (45) was set to become Thailand’s next prime minister, but in 2024 the Thai Constitutional Court dissolved his progressive Move Forward Party and banned him from politics. He now reflects publicly on the policy values that brought the party to prominence.

On 4 December Professor Emile van Rouveroy van Nieuwaal passed away. Van Rouveroy van Nieuwaal worked at the African Studies Centre from 1967 to 2002, when the ASC was not part of Leiden University yet. He became professor by special appointment at Leiden University on behalf of Leiden Law School in…

As one prepares for the final sprint, the other stands ready at the starting blocks: in just a few weeks, Dean Mark Rutgers will pass the baton to his successor, Henk te Velde. In the meantime, both are working hard to ensure a smooth transition to a new faculty leadership. Henk is already regularly…

Psychologen laten zich horen over de plannen om de internationale bacheloropleidingen op te heffen in de Randstad en Tilburg. Het inititatief #Ikbeneenpsycholoog van Judith Schomaker op LinkedIn vindt navolging. Lees een selectie van de posts en ook het blog van Eiko Fried over de consequenties.

Bruno Allahissem and Luca Bruls recently joined the Institute for History as PhD candidates in the NWO-funded project 'Digital warfare in the Sahel: popular networks of war and Cultural Violence', led by Mirjam de Bruijn and Jelena Prokic (LUCL). Below they introduce themselves.

In traditional style, 2025 was ushered in at our faculty with the Meijers Lecture followed by the New Year's Reception. On Thursday 16 January 2025, the Meijers Lecture took place in the Lorentz Lecture Hall where the Meijers Prizes and the Van Wersch Springplank Prize were also awarded. At the New…

Even voorstellen BHV-ers van faculteit Rechtsgeleerdheid

It was more than twenty years ago that the plan for a Japanese-Dutch dictionary was born. Now it contains over 65,000 words, and completion is tentatively coming into view. Dictionary makers Oscar Veltink and Hetty Geerdink-Verkoren talk about their enthusiasm for this decades-long mammoth task.

The freedom to be who you are – woman, man, homosexual, heterosexual, transgender, religious, atheist, and so on – is perhaps the Netherlands’ greatest attribute. The principle of equality and the right not to be discriminated against are in the very first article of our constitution. Yet there is a…

Under extreme pressure and in agreement with the Faculty Board, the programme chairs, represented by a core group, have worked over recent weeks on additional recommendations based on the Perspective 2028 plan. On 1 December they presented their Alternative Perspective 2028 to the Faculty Board. The…

On International Women's Day (8 March) we take time to consider female emancipation and participation. What does this day mean for Leiden University, and how does it tie in with our aim of becoming more diverse and inclusive? We talked about these issues with Annetje Ottow, who recently became the…

Ratna Saptari is since 2007 Assistant Professor at the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology. She has always been involved with issues of human rights and Indonesian workers' rights. This August she retired. But she won't sit still. She continues her voluntary work and wants to…

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.

Bring over a hundred driven researchers together in one room and the good ideas will start to flow: that was the thinking behind the internal networking meeting on interdisciplinary collaboration on Wednesday 17 May. Representatives from the nine interdisciplinary programmes were waiting at their stalls…

Paul Wouters has been reappointed as Dean of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences. His second term runs from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2023.

Three alumni of our Master’s degree programme in Ancient History talk to us about how they found a job after graduation during the coronavirus pandemic. During the interview, Gabriël hung a huge board covered in post-it reminders behind his laptop, Molly was glad that the members of the selection committee…

The SAILS conference The Future of AI is Here (and Guess What … it’s Human) brought together researchers and policy makers to discuss the important issues in the area of artificial intelligence (AI). Where are the opportunities and what are the dangers?

What does European border security look like? On 14 April, Hans Leijtens, executive director of Frontex and former commander of the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee, is in The Hague for a lunch lecture. We spoke with him about border security, migration and the role of Frontex.

The Master of Laws: Advanced Studies in International Children’s Rights (LL.M.) was launched in 2015 to equip a generation of professionals to protect the rights of children worldwide. As the programme celebrates its 10th anniversary, we reflect on its impact.

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.

Almost three years after receiving her honorary doctorate, Dr Graça Machel returned to Leiden University. Over the course of two days she spoke with students, researchers, and other interested persons, about human rights – particularly those of women and children – in a world in which these are continually…

Floreat et crescat. Flourish and grow. That was what was wished for the Mathematical Institute at its opening. Now, the institute proudly celebrates its 70th anniversary. Time to reflect on how it all began. And importantly, how is it doing now?