Alumnus Petri Freundlich received the first prize for his LL.M. thesis in the category Master’s theses and academic articles of the Max van der Stoel Human Rights awards 2017

In Nature researchers at Leiden University and Utrecht University show how 47 teeth from Southern China indicate that anatomically modern humans where present at least 80,000 years ago in the region. This is 40,000 years earlier than in Europe.

Astronomers have found complex organic ice outside the Milky Way for the first time. The discovery shows that the building blocks of life could arise early in the universe - and under a variety of conditions, said Leiden astronomer Will Rocha.

The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research has awarded dr. Geeske Langejans a Veni grant for the research project What's in a plant? Tracking early human behaviour through plant processing and exploitation.

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.

Three researchers from Leiden University have received awards in the Quantum Technology programme within the National Growth Fund, organised by NWO in collaboration with Quantum Delta NL. Read more about these three futuristic projects.

Remko Offringa has been appointed Professor in the field of Plant Developmental Genetics within the Faculty of Science at the Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL) from the 1st of April 2017. Offringa’s research focuses on the role of the plant hormone auxin in controlling plant growth and development,…

LUCL is pleased to announce that Bobby Ruijgrok has been awarded a PhD-position within the NWO PhDs in the Humanities Programme. His project is entitled 'Tapping into semantic recovery: an event-related potential study on the processing of gapping'. LUCL congratulates Bobby on this beautiful result.

At his farewell party on 25 August 2018, Erik-Jan Zürcher, professor and specialist on Turkey, was appointed Knight in the Order of the Dutch Lion. He was presented with the award by Leiden's Deputy Mayor Martine Leewis.

The 260 year old prize of the Legatum Stolpianum has been awarded in 2014 to two well written historical studies of high quality and with current significance. Leiden classicist Tazuko van Berkel is one of the two prizewinners.

Wouter Halfwerk (IBL) received a Veni grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research for his research project on the influence of man-made noise on foraging birds.

Professor of Financial Law Matthias Haentjens has been awarded a scholarship by the European Central Bank (ECB) in the 2017 edition of the ECB Legal Research Programme.

De Advanced Grant wordt jaarlijks door de European Research Council (ERC) toegekend. Dit jaar krijgen 2 onderzoekers van FSW deze beurs.

This year Elke Devroe and Moniek Akerboom organized a ‘Research Design Conference’ for students in the course ‘Research Design’ of the Master’s Crisis and Security Management (CSM). Each group competed in obtaining a (fictive) grant. Students learned to defend their proposal and make it attractive and…

Canadian Roméo Dallaire (1946) was UN Commander in Rwanda at the time of the genocide there, subsequently becoming a champion of human rights. He has worked as a researcher at several different universities, and was a senator in Canada for nine years. Dallaire will give this year's Cleveringa lecture…

Mario van der Stelt has been appointed Professor of Molecular Physiology at the Leiden Institute of Chemistry with effect from 1 November 2017.

Four promising young researchers from Leiden University have received a Rubicon grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO). This grant will enable them to gain valuable research experience at top universities abroad.

Over the past 40 days people in Bulgaria been demonstrating against the deep-rooted corruption in the country. The anger of the protesters is directed predominantly at the government of Prime Minister Borisov. But not all arrows are aimed at their own leaders, some are also pointing towards Brussels.…

Leiden has the second-highest percentage of female professors of all the Dutch universities. These are the results of the annual Women Professors Monitor. The Open University is the only university with more female professors.

From student exchanges and a joint laboratory to heritage research and a knowledge consortium, the Indonesian Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) is in various respects an important partner for Leiden University.

As of 1 September, Masja van Meteren will stop as PhD Dean at Leiden Law School. She looks back on a great learning experience with many rewards.

Each week, Dutch radio programme BNR Lobbypanel discusses a topic at the intersection of politics and entrepreneurship. From 2020 Arco Timmermans, Professor by special appointment Public Affairs, will participate each month in the BNR Lobbypanel discussions. This week Timmermans joined the discussion…

Dusted off and fresh from the field, some insight perspectives on the 2012 field season of the Proyecto Arqueologico Centro de Nicaragua. It's safe to summarize the field campaign as having generated some insights, and possible answers, many more contacts, and the occasional frustration for added bo…

The oldest paleoanthropological archive in the world, the Eugène Dubois archive, was presented to Naturalis Biodiversity Center on 13 January. Leiden professor, Jan Slikkerveer, who was the owner of the archive and spent years researching it, handed it over to Naturalis Director, Edwin van Huis, under…

Over eighty percent of all Dutch requests to send asylum seekers back to the country where they should have requested asylum lead to nothing. This is shown by recent figures that Dutch broadcasting corporation NOS requested from the Ministry of Justice. That percentage applies to 2020, the year for…

Compared to its European neighbouring countries, the Netherlands undertake relatively few attempts to bring back women and children from Iraq and Syria. De Roy van Zuijdewijn explains why on Dutch NPO 1 radio.

At the beginning of this year CADS Lecturer Koen Suidgeest published his photobook Why I Cry on Airplanes. In this book he takes you on a visual flight around the globe to meet resilient human beings who live under challenging conditions. He decided to use the changing situation that COVID-19 causes…

Pieter Omtzigt, a strong contender in the polls for the Dutch general elections with his New Social Contract party (NSC), has said he would prefer to remain in parliament as party leader. He is not saying who the NSC candidate for prime minister might be and will only reveal this after the elections.…

Nine Archaeology students have built a reconstruction of an early medieval house in Vlaardingen. The house, built according to a houseplan discovered during excavations at Rotta, has already played an important role as the backdrop of the re-enactment of the battle of Vlaardingen of 1018.

Dr Amy Strecker (Heritage Dept., Faculty of Archaeology) has recently been awarded a LGI BREED grant to develop her project on property and spatial justice in international law. Building on her previous research into landscape protection from cultural heritage, environmental and human rights perspectives…

The Natuurwetenschappelijk Gezelschap Leiden (Leiden Science Society) is organising short online evening lectures, every two weeks on Thursday, held by a Leiden scientist who will talk about an aspect of the Corona crisis from their expert point of view. NGL members, alumni, (former) employees, students…

Despite a lack of specific legislation on this issue, Dutch Minister of Justice and Security Dilan Yeşilgöz is allowing the national police force to experiment with facial recognition technology.

Research conducted by Dutch news programme ‘Nieuwsuur’ into the work carried out by Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands for victims of the childcare benefits scandal raises many questions. Legal experts are puzzled as to how the Cabinet at the time assigned the tasks. Geerten Boogaard, Professor…

On Monday 26 February the terrible news reached us that our gifted former Egyptology student – and former student assistant at the Leids Papyrologisch Instituut – Juan Archidona Ramírez had succumbed to cancer.

Two Leiden researchers of the Institute of Psychology have been given the opportunity to realise their research plans for the coming three years thanks to a Veni grant from the Netherlands organisation for scientific research. Hanneke Hendriks is researcher in the field of Social and organisational…

The Dublin Regulation is under pressure. The Regulation should ensure that refugees are able to apply for asylum in the first country they enter. This pressure is nothing new, says Jorrit Rijpma, Professor of European Law, to Dutch newspaper the Volkskrant.

The Dutch Research Council (NWO) awarded behavioural biologist Hans Slabbekoorn (Institute of Biology Leiden) a grant of 750,000 euros to study fish and sounds around wind farms in the North Sea.

The issues surrounding the crises at the Dutch Tax Authorities and the Dutch Ministries of Justice and Defence had been known internally for considerable time. The information had been duly passed but criticism was largely ignored. Contradiction expressed by civil servants was not appreciated and even…

Almost all PhD defences at Leiden University have been postponed due to the corona virus, but statistician Sanne Willems is going through with hers. In a different form than usual that is. Hardly any audience, the committee dialing in from a distance and the celebration to be held at a later moment.…

Leiden University is working increasingly closely with Chinese universities. On 22 November the Rector signed a statement of intent to ratify the relationship with Xi’an Jiaotong University. Shanghai International Studies University is to include Leiden University as a strategic partner institution…

In his new book 'The Politics of Borders', Leiden political scientist Matthew Longo redefines the concept of a ‘border’.

Together with internationally esteemed colleagues, Léon Buskens has been awarded a HERA Joint Research Programme Grant for a research project entitled

Following the Beirut explosion, BBC's podcast series The Foodchain explores the chemical that caused the blast: ammonium nitrate. A compound that is widely used to produce fertilizer. Professor of Environmental sustaibability Jan Willem Erisman tells about the effects of nitrogen on the environment.

Antoaneta Dimitrova, Professor Comparative Governance, spoke in an interview with Euronews about the hurdles ahead for Borrisov, the current prime minister of Bulgaria, despite winning the elections.

De Roy van Zuijdewijn, researcher and lecturer at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, wrote an opinion piece on the ongoing threat still being posed by Jihadism in Dutch newspaper NRC.

University Lecturer Nadine Akkerman concluded her book tour for her book 'Invisible Agents' in England at the Hay Festival. At the festival, attended by almost four thousand people, Invisible Agents was one of the most discussed books and caught the attention of the national newspaper and The Times.

Professor of rheumatology Annette van der Helm focuses her research on the earliest possible detection of inflammatory joint rheumatism to prevent symptoms from becoming chronic.

The Faculty of Archaeology has a new Centre of Archaeological Studies in Italy.

Russia has been condemned by the International Court of Justice for violating the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, but only minimally. Larissa van den Herik, Professor…

The risk that conspiracy theories could incite a broad movement against the established political order is virtually non-existent. This is what researcher Jelle van Buuren of the Institute of Security and Global Affairs concluded in his PhD dissertation.