Panic disorder is associated with changes in the brain, both in children and adolescents and in adults. This is the main outcome of the largest brain study ever conducted on panic disorder. Lead researcher and coordinator of the study, Moji Aghajani (Institute of Education and Child Studies), explains…

Leiden University and the LUMC will introduce a new ‘Sustainable Health and Care’ interdisciplinary minor in September. The organisers received support in the form of a Kiem grant. Lead applicant Martijn Sijbom advises new Kiem projects: ‘Work to a deadline.’

Education, Organisation

Fancy listening to a podcast over the long Whitsun weekend? Over the past few months, some excellent work has once again been produced at the faculty.

Mirjam de Baar has been Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and portfolio holder for education of master’s and research master’s programmes since 2016. As a result of her reappointment, she will continue to fulfil this role for an additional four years. ‘Being asked by the Vice-Rector and the Dean…

On 19 May, the Food for Thought lunch session on the university wide research theme "Generation of the Future" brought together perspectives from ICLON and across FSW on a central question: what constitutes good education? Moderated by Lenneke Alink, faculty chair for the research theme, the session…

In the seventeenth century, stereotypes about Africa and its inhabitants became deeply ingrained in European culture. PhD candidate Matthias Lukkes is going to investigate the role played by Dutch culture in this process.

Hortus botanicus Leiden is a treasure trove for research into interactions between species. Surprising discoveries are being made with new techniques such as DNA analysis, machine learning, and audio and video monitoring. Hortus prefect Barbara Gravendeel will explain more in her inaugural lecture on…

Can assessment practices become more fair in the age of GenAI? A group of Leiden University students and teachers set out to work on this question during the FAIR-ASSESS Deliberative Assembly. One key takeaway: our views on GenAI remain diverse – and that’s a strength of our university community, according…

Many people do not finish a MOOC. This does not match the goal of large scale online learning. Learners have different goals and backgrounds. Xiaomei Wei’s research looks at what keeps students engaged and what helps them to learn the course content deeply in a MOOC.

In his inaugural lecture, archaeologist Alex Geurds argues that Central America should no longer be divided into separate research areas.

On Thursday 11 December 2025, Daan Roovers, the philosopher and former Denker des Vaderlands (Philosopher Laureate), will give the 54th Huizinga Lecture at the Stadsgehoorzaal in Leiden. Under the title What’s at stake: The boundaries of politics and fair play, she will reinterpret Johan Huizinga’s…

How can we work together to create a safe study and learning environment and offer students the support that they need? The Vision on Student Well-Being outlines the University’s plans to promote student well-being in the coming years.

What is our faculty’s overarching narrative? This was the central theme of the strategic conference on 4 June. Administrators, lecturers, researchers and other guests shared their visions, engaged in discussions and attended workshops. All in search of a new narrative.

On November 17, the Leiden Anthropology of Asia Network held its second Anthropology of Asia at Leiden Update. At Leiden University, anthropologists are not at all confined to the Institute Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (CADS).

A suitcase as a messenger of quantum science. That is the idea behind QuanTour, a project connecting researchers from 12 European universities. In December, the suitcase landed in Leiden. A month later, it is time to pass the baton to Copenhagen. But what happened to it in Leiden?

Running event

Lecture, Ancient History Research Seminar

Information Fair

Study support

Seminars, workshops

Workshops, lectures

An impressive 22 research projects by Leiden researchers have been awarded Veni funding from the Dutch Research Council (NWO).

On 11 March, pharmaceutical company Janssen received approval to launch its corona vaccine on the European market. This made Janssen the fourth company to be given the green light by the European Medicines Agency. As Lead of the Janssen Campus in the Netherlands, Biology alumnus Bart van Zijll Langhout…

This month's flash interview is with alumna Sytske Besemer, Criminologist, who works at a startup called Cradle. Sytske has specifically chosen to work for a company with societal impact. And she is about to move again, this time to Zürich.

A delegation from Leiden University recently embarked on a knowledge mission to various NGOs, universities and government organisations in Indonesia. New partnerships were formed and important knowledge exchanged, and researchers from Leiden gave guest lectures.

No procession of professors, just a handful of people in the church and snowdrifts outside Leiden’s Pieterskerk: 8 February 2021 was no ordinary Dies Natalis. Carel Stolker transferred the rectorate to Hester Bijl, and Annetje Ottow became the new President of the Executive Board. With an honorary doctorate…

Eighteen researchers from Leiden University have been awarded a Veni grant by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). This grant gives promising young researchers the opportunity to develop their ideas for a period of three years.

Lecture

Arts and leisure, Arts and leisure

Staff Association

Lecture

Lecture, Astronomy on Tap

Lecture, Astronomy on Tap

Political scientists study topics that affect society, but their work often remains out of the spotlight. Not always: the research of Leiden political scientist Simon Otjes does have a visible impact.

‘Dutch politics are changing, but they also are characterised by stability; that tension fascinates me.’ Sarah de Lange studies, among other things, the Dutch party system, and specifically how the rise of extremist parties influences democracy. She will start as a professor in Leiden in mid-October…

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.

With great sadness we share the news that Prof. Harold Linnartz passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on Sunday 31 December 2023. We are all in shock, and our thoughts are with his wife and children, other family, and friends. Harold was at the heart of our institute, as a researcher, as a supervisor,…

If you study law, you won’t necessarily end up striding round a law firm in tailor-made suits. Alumnus Harrie Schoffelen certainly hasn’t: he made the conscious decision to follow another path in life. Together with his fiancée he runs a successful food truck on the tropical island of Bonaire. ‘Return…

No more lectures and exams for the Radio Astronomy course taught by Michiel Brentjens. The corona crisis is a moment of reflection that has changed his whole way of teaching. Instead of being in front of the class, he lets his students build a radio telescope with paint cans.

It has been just over a decade since the first students graduated with Leiden University’s unique Liberal Arts and Sciences Bachelor degree. We caught up with one of those pioneering graduates.

Migration, globalisation, technological developments, climate change: the greatest challenges of our time all affect our labour market. But how exactly? And can we influence this? Professor of Economics Olaf van Vliet regards it as his job to reveal how things really are. ‘That way, we can work on solutions…

The Caribbean as we know it today is fundamentally a product of colonial activity and globalisation. Practically everyone that inhabits the Caribbean has ancestors from different continents due to colonial activity, which profoundly affects the area to this day. Caribbean writers, both in the Caribbean…

The Schoof cabinet has presented its budget. As expected, higher education is facing severe cuts. In the coming period, the Executive Board will regularly look at the consequences of what it deems an irresponsible policy.