Leiden physicist Carlo Beenakker has received an honorary doctorate from the Bogoliubov Institute for theoretical physics in Kiev.

Prof. Dr. Wil Roebroeks has been elected as recipient of a Humboldt Research Award after having been nominated for this award by the German scientist Prof. Dr. Sabine Gaudzinski-Windheuser, Universität Mainz / Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, Mainz.

Former PhD student Gerard van Westen was granted the C.J. Kok Award also known as “Discoverer of the Year”. A festive ceremony took place at the Faculty’s New Year’s reception on January 7, 2014.

Dr Ilze Bot (LACDR) has been appointed professor of Cardiovascular Pharmacology with effect from 1 March. A recognition of her work as a scientist. 'This allows me to continue and expand my line of research within the LACDR and Leiden University.'

Eveline Crone has been selected for the Distinguished Scholar Award of the Social & Affective Neuroscience Society (SANS). 'It's very special to get recognition from your peers in the United States.'

The ISIE Society Prize is awarded every two years for outstanding contributions to the field of industrial ecology. It is the ISIE's highest recognition of professional achievement.

Esteban Szmulewicz, PhD candidate at the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law of Leiden University and expert on decentralisation issues, gave an online presentation of his research before the subcommittee on Political System, Constitutional Reform and Form of State in Chile and reported…

Merijn Tinga, the Plastic Soup Surfer, launched the Pick Up 10 campaign. This campaign, supported by Google and National Geographic, uses photo recognition to identify and monitor litter through an app.

The Dutch Royal Couple received 70 scientists at the yearly gala for the Diplomatic Corps at the Royal Palace in Amsterdam on 14 June 2023.

Professor Petra Sijpesteijn has been elected as an International Fellow of the British Academy, a prestigious recognition that highlights her exceptional contributions to the study of early Islamic history.

On Monday 9 May, Erwin Muller, Professor in Security and Law at Faculty of Law and Dean of the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs of Leiden University, presents the Veterans handbook to Minister of Defense Ank Bijleveld-Schouten.

Hoogleraar Internationaal Belastingrecht Tanja Bender heeft een vermelding gekregen in het boek Recognising 100 Years of Women in Tax.

Associate Professor Gianclaudio Malgieri (eLaw – Center for Law and Digital Technologies) and Professor Margot E. Kaminski (University of Colorado Law School) have published a new article in the very prestigious Yale Journal of Law & Technology, titled Impacted Stakeholder Participation in AI and Data…

Over the past two centuries, the concept of human dignity has moved from the fringes to the centre of the international legal system. This book is the first single-authored detailed historical, theoretical and legal investigation of human dignity as a normative value, the intellectual sources that shaped…

Wim Jiskoot has been honored by the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists as an AAPS Fellow.

Semiha Aydin is one of the three first-generation researchers who received a grant from the Leiden Empowerment Fund to stimulate their scientific career.

Since February 1st, 2017 Célia Fonseca Guerra is appointed as professor at the LIC with a chair in applied theoretical chemistry. She will be a member of the Theoretical Chemistry group. Her research interests are related to bioinorganic chemistry and catalysis and her appointment at the LIC will strengthen…

Patrick Overeem lecturer at the Institute of Public Administration has been appointed by the Executive Board of the University as a Teaching Fellow of the Leiden Teachers' Academy.

Ontwerpers en onderzoekers gaan bij het verzamelen van data vaak uit van mannen als ze mensen bedoelen. Dat is onhandig en onveilig.

The MSc Life Science & Technology receives a bronze medal in EW Best Studies 2023. Every year, Elsevier selects the top programmes in higher education. A medal means that students are above-average satisfied with the quality of their programme.

On 3 March the book “The European Union as an Area of Freedom, Security and Justice” edited by Maria Fletcher, Claudio Matera and Esther Herlin-Karnell was officially presented at a symposium at VU University Amsterdam.

What are we referring to when we talk about ‘good work’? And what does it mean to be a good employer? Helen Pluut and Merel Cornax address these questions in a recently published editorial.

Wim van Saarloos will become Vice-President of KNAW with effect from 1 September 2016. He will also take up the post of Professor of Theoretical Physics at the Faculty of Science at Leiden University with effect from 1 January 2017. He will then relinquish his position on the Board of Governors.

Thomas Bäck wins the 2015 IEEE CIS Evolutionary Computation Pioneer Award for his contributions in synthesizing evolutionary computation.

Dr Irene Groot (LIC) has been appointed professor of Surface and Interface Science with effect from 1 March. The appointment is an honour for Groot. 'It feels like recognition of your research, teaching and leadership qualities.'

Emeritus Professor Rudi van Maanen has received the Cornelis Joppenszoon statuette. He was presented with the distinction by Deputy Mayor of Leiden, Julius Terpstra.

Leiden Law School has climbed two places on the QS World University Rankings by Subject and is now listed 24th. Our faculty retains the highest ranking for law programmes in the Netherlands.

Professor Roberta D’Alessandro, Chair of Italian Language and Culture at the Leiden University, has been awarded one of Italy’s highest honors: she is now a Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy (Cavaliere dell'Ordine della Stella d'Italia). D’Alessandro was presented with the honor on June 2, the…

Social Psychologist Angelo Romano have been awarded the Association for Psychological Science (ASP) Rising Star designation. This award is presented to outstanding APS members in the earliest stages of their research career post-PhD.

Professor Joke Bouwstra has been elected as member of the Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen (KNAW, The Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences). This is a very prestigious recognition and a great honor for Joke. You can find the announcement by the KNAW below (short version) and as an attachment.

Facebook and Google are being pressured more and more to prevent terrorists from accessing and using their platform. Right now, they are developing software that uses artificial intelligence to remove unwanted content. Researchers from Leiden University explain for the NOS how this works, and whether…

We would all like to live in a world in which individuals feel safe, conflicts are resolved peacefully and the interests of future generations are taken into consideration. At Leiden University legal scholars investigate to what extent public international law meets the needs of a globalised society.…

This NWO-funded research programme focuses on the assumptions and methodology of the writing of history of science. History of science is in many respects a flourishing discipline: it currently yields an impressive volume of studies. Systematic reflection about the ways in which history of science may…

AI has huge societal and economic potential and is widely used. But it also brings challenges: how do we combine human values with AI, how do we make AI more transparent and understandable, and what can AI and human cognition learn from each other, for example about language learning?

Would you like to create an extra challenge for yourself? Leiden University gives you plenty of room to do so.

An overview of awards and prizes granted to our staff and students in 2017, as well as special appointments and royal distinctions.

2025 was a year to remember at our faculty. We celebrated our 450th anniversary, launched new degree programmes and welcomed many inspiring speakers, yet we also felt the weight of budget constraints. Our year in a nutshell:

In the Pioneers of Leiden University series, we talk to past and present students who were the first in their family to go to university. In this second instalment: historian and university lecturer Nadia Bouras (1981). ‘Although I only found out later that was my mother’s dream, it was as though I…

Simulation project EAGLE has won the 2022 Group Achievement Award of the Royal Astronomical Society. EAGLE is a large collection of simulations about the formation of galaxies. The largest simulation contains as many as 6.8 billion particles and took months to calculate on the world's fastest superc…

At the 66th Ordinary Session of the Authority of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government held in Abuja, Nigeria, on 15 December 2024, a landmark decision was made to establish the Special Tribunal for The Gambia.’ (Press release by the Ministry of Justice of The Gambia)

Dr Gianclaudio Malgieri, Associate Professor at eLaw – Center for Law and Digital Technologies, has been appointed Co-Rapporteur for a new joint project of the European Law Institute (ELI) and the American Law Institute (ALI): 'Principles for the Governance of Biometrics'. The project aims to formulate…

Atte Ahola, who graduated last year from the bachelor’s programme in Urban Studies, has won the award for Best Undergraduate Thesis in Europe in the category of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the Global Undergraduate Awards 2025.

Wim van Saarloos will become vice president of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), and return to the Leiden Institute of Physics as professor of theoretical physics. Currently, Van Saarloos is Transition Director at the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO).

Following years of negotiations between Member States and the European Parliament, there’s finally been a breakthrough for migration policy. What does it mean for the Netherlands, exactly? Mark Klaassen, Assistant Professor in Immigration Law, discusses this on various media channels.

Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade has received a special award: the Order of St. Mellitus, in recognition of her services to the history of the Bishops of London.

Frank den Hollander has received the Humboldt Research Award of €60,000. He was nominated by two German colleagues with whom he is working together for an extensive period of time. ‘The award was a complete surprise to me.'

After a succesful first lecture, the Leiden physics institute LION is launching an online series of (Dutch language) lectures about physics, intended for a broad audience, named the Tatiana Afanassjewa lectures. Upcoming speakers are science historian Dirk van Delft, neutrino physicist Dorothea Samtleben…