Cyber security is only for socially awkward nerds? Three alumni of the Cyber Security Academy prove the opposite.

Staff members, alumni, and students were greeted by a warm spring day to follow the various programmes during the reunion and career day of BA South and Southeast Asian Studies. From alumni panels and yoga session to informal activities such as board games.

On 30 August 2024, 330 students received their Bachelor Diploma of International Studies. The students were awarded their diplomas in the historic Pieterskerk in Leiden. A large audience of about 1000 people consisting of friends, family, and staff members gathered to celebrate the graduates’ achievements…

Alumnus Maarten Asscher (60) is mentor of the month. He studied Law in Leiden and has worked as a literary publisher, senior official at the Ministry of Education and director of Athenaeum Booksellers. Will he be your mentor?

Looking for a job after a financial crisis is not easy, but Ward Hoskens (28) managed to take his fate into his own hands. During an internship, he found his way to the Pieterskerk, where he now works as a junior curator. Director Frieke Hurkmans took him on.

The Groot-Auditorium of the Academy building was recently stage to the graduation of the first cohort of the BA-track Arts, Media and Society. This impressive room, normally only used for PhD defenses and inaugural lectures by professors, was accommodated a ceremony attended by 17 students and their…

Leiden alumnus Luc Amkreutz is a curator at the National Museum of Antiquities. His exhibition about the submerged landscape of Doggerland highlights what we can learn from prehistory. ‘Just like the people of Doggerland, we are confronted with climate change, but we are responsible for the speed of…

The Master’s in European Union Studies at Leiden University offers students an opportunity to study the EU from multiple disciplinary perspectives.

Career Services of the Faculties Governance and Global Affairs, Social Sciences, and Humanities joined forces to organise the ‘Meet the Employer’ Week held from 6 – 10 December 2021!

The Leiden University Visual Ethnography collection has been added to Alexander Street Press, an educational streaming video service. The master’s specialization Visual Ethnography has supported many talented individuals to produce inspiring films. About 70 master’s thesis films of the past 8 years…

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.

How has democracy’s decline affected law making processes, enabling powerful stakeholders’ influence while minimalizing the protection of public interest and the environment?

Bike Labyrinth is international market leader in providing virtual reality exercising for elderly care.

Many students, members of staff and alumni at Leiden University are active in politics, including as candidates in the local elections on 21 March.

Alumni event

From a powerful documentary to a heartwarming classic: four Leiden alumni have chosen their favourite films and will introduce them at Leiden International Film Festival.

The International Astronautical Congress (IAC) that took place last week in Paris was extremely successful for IIASL.

It may well be the best tradition in Leiden: immortalising your name in the ‘Sweat Room’ after receiving your diploma. But is it really immortalised? The names were at risk due to crumbling plaster. Fortunately, a crowdfunding project was able to save this beloved ritual.

'An international environment is my natural habitat. I really thrive when I am in a setting where I am around people of all kinds of countries and cultures.'

During the first weekend of October, a group of fourteen Master of Arts in European Union Studies alumni returned to the place it all began, 15 years after graduating from Leiden University. The international group, representing the Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Belgium and…

Rie Schild-de Groen watched over ‘her’ Gentlemen, the residents of the ‘t Heerenhoeckje (Gentlemen’s Corner) Minerva house at Rapenburg 110, like a mother hen for 70 years. She was moved by the stories of residents who had lost loved ones to cancer. Jaap Koster and a few other former housemates helped…

What are the characteristics of impactful education for student application of inclusive design principles in design and technology programs?

Want to sponsor scientific research by raising funds? You can now do just that via Leiden University's campaign platform acties.steunleiden.nl. A broad range of projects have already started, including for research on genetic diseases.

Akke de Hoog (26) helps asylum seekers whose application has been rejected to plan their future and voluntary return to their country of origin. Her master’s programme taught her about migration and how international politics, the climate and the economy impact different migration flows, as well as…

Music lovers are welcome at this free open-air concert celebrating 450 years of Leiden University, on Sunday 6 July. This special jubilee edition of the Rapenburg Canal Concert will feature a unique orchestra made up of our students, staff and alumni, performing on a floating stage.

Last July, after the end of my Advanced LLM in Public International Law, I wanted to find new tasks to prove myself on topics related to what I studied during my stimulating master in the Netherlands. In the impossibility to work “on the field” as I was busy for my bar exam in my own country and I was…

The banking system was in dire need of an overhaul; that much was clear from the credit crisis in 2008. The EU has made significant changes since. PhD candidate Barbora Budinská is researching the legal validity of the new supervisory mechanism for banks.

Starting as an MP during the Covid-19 pandemic and after the recent ‘role elsewhere’ debacle during the coalition talks for a new Dutch government, alumna Mariëlle is looking forward to making a real contribution in society.

The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Munich in 1972 made a big impression on Nicole Hoevertsz. I’m going to be there one day, the eight-year-old Nicole decided. Her passion for sport and her perseverance brought her further than the once so introvert Aruban had dared to hope. Her appointment…

The Leiden University Europe Hub approaches Europe from a broad and inclusive perspective.

It took a while, but the new cabinet has now finally been appointed. Four members of Schoof I studied in Leiden. Who are they?

To truly understand complex regions such as the Middle East and Asia, you have to know their culture, history and local societies inside out. Driven by curiosity for other cultures, the Leiden University Institute for Area Studies (LIAS) provides an understanding and analysis of current and historical…

The researchers in the World Archaeology department of the Faculty of Archaeology concentrate on a range of different periods and regions: from humanity’s origins to the Middle Ages and the modern age, and from Asia to South America.

The motto of the Institute for History is: ‘Global questions, local sources.’ Its researchers use local sources to find answers to major historical questions. Without historical analysis, it is impossible to understand and explain the issues in society today. Leiden itself has a rich history, with big…

How do you ensure that research is performed, evaluated and managed in a responsible way? This question is also of the utmost important to the University itself. The Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) studies scientific research and its relationship with technology, innovation and soci…

Most people know what law is. But what it should be or where it comes from is what interests the researchers from the Institute for the Interdisciplinary Study of the Law. Key to their approach are topics that go right to the heart of philosophy of law. What is a state? What are the limitations of…

Composer Paul Craenen (1972) is actually a pianist, but as part of his PhD ceremony, he performed a composition on PVC pipes. Craenen studies the position and role of the body in music. ‘I am interested in what precedes the resulting sound’.

Interest groups play an important role in democratic society.

At Leiden University, researchers from all disciplines work together to find answers and design innovations in the field of artificial intelligence.

The Institute of Private Law was closely involved in the development of Nieuw Burgerlijk Wetboek (the Civil Code of the Netherlands, which came about between 1948 and 1992). It has continued to fulfil this socially engaged role over the years. It also made a significant contribution to the development…

The arts and science: for years, they were seen as opposite extremes. One calls on emotion and the other on reason. The Academy of Creative and Performing Arts (ACPA) proves that nothing could be further from the truth. ACPA is where the knowledge and expertise of Leiden University and the University…

The Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society (LUCAS) is one of the few research institutes in the world in which researchers in the field of literature, art, architecture, design and media studies come together to conduct research into the cultural production of the western world, from classical…

Politics is about the authorised allocation of values: who gets what, when and how much? This question is relevant at many different levels, in many different places and in very different ways.