Leiden Observatory has achieved a rare feat: two of its research teams have been awarded prestigious ALMA Large Programmes, allowing them to study how galaxies formed and evolved in the early Universe using cutting-edge telescope observations.

Seksueel misbruik tussen broers en zussen kan ook na jaren nog grote impact op de familierelaties. Dat blijkt uit onderzoek van Sheila van Berkel, Iva Bicanic en Anja van der Voort, die slachtoffers met elkaar in gesprek brachten over hun ervaringen. ‘Ouders ontkenden of minimaliseerden het misbruik…

What does the future of quantum look like? Vedran Dunjko (Assistant professor at LIACS and LION) is co-founder of the applied quantum algorithms (aQa) leiden interdepartmental initiative research that will investigate this. They are part of the Quantum Delta NL consortium that was recently awarded substantial…

What should our education and research look like in 2027? How can we make the university more sustainable and achieve greater impact? The new Strategic Plan will set the direction for the coming years, and the Executive Board wants students and staff to provide as much input as possible. Would you…

Jasper Knoester is the dean of the Faculty of Science. How is he doing? What kinds of things is he doing and what does his day look like? In each newsletter Jasper gives a peek into his life as dean.

The Aernout van Lynden Global Citizenship Award award is a recognition given by the LUC community. Each year a student who has demonstrated the qualities of active engagement, responsive and responsible participation in civic and/or community building, within and/or beyond LUC is presented with the…

Almost two months have passed since the negotiation agreement was reached on the new CAO. Employers and unions have now signed there are still some unanswered questions. We are curious to know the latest status, so we got together on Teams with our HRM Director Heleen Cocu.

For the past year, a steering group has been working hard on the new Faculty Strategic Plan (FSP) for 2022-2027 and the corresponding Implementation Agenda. A number of working groups have also carried out a stakeholder analysis, and several consultation rounds have been held with various bodies, including…

Leiden patriot Pieter Vreede fought for greater popular influence. Historian Dirk Alkemade reveals how this pioneer used radical means to shape Dutch democracy.

Dr. Els de Busser, assistant professor and researcher at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, as principal investigator of a consortia, has been awarded 1.45 million euros for a project called C-SIDe.

The Aernout van Lynden Global Citizenship Award award is a recognition given by the LUC community. Each year a student who has demonstrated the qualities of active engagement, responsive and responsible participation in civic and/or community building, within and/or beyond LUC is presented with the…

The cultural linguistic minority group of deaf people who communicate using sign language systematically experiences limited access to fundamental rights. Linguist Joni Oyserman identified this problem and has received a Meijers grant to fund her investigation.

Jasper Knoester, decaan van de Faculteit Wiskunde & Natuurwetenschappen, blikt terug op 2025 in "het jaar van Jasper".

After working full-time for twenty-four years, Wendy Tonks decided to enrol in the executive master's in Cyber Security. She now proudly reflects on her time in the programme after receiving a ten for her thesis and graduating summa cum laude. ‘I could not believe it when I got my grade.’

Annually, the Dutch Palynologische Kring invites nominations for the Florschütz Award for best MSc thesis in Palynology and Palaeobotany. This year, the thesis of Archaeology alumna Oda Nuij was deemed to be the best one. Oda was surprised to hear she won, since she was not sure that the thesis would…

UNESCO has recognized a large collection of handwritten letters and the archive of Raden Ajeng Kartini (1879-1904) as documentary world heritage. Kartini opposed gender inequality in feudal Javanese society, including forced marriages, polygamy and lack of education for women.

Leiden University publishes the highest percentage of preprints in the Netherlands. Why is that and why post your article online before it has been peer reviewed? Professor of Quantitative Science Studies and keen preprint poster Ludo Waltman explains.

It is sufficiently plausible that, during her employment, a professor of archaeology at Leiden University was guilty of prolonged transgressive and unacceptable behaviour, ‘which also at that time could be classed as unacceptable’.

How can chimpanzees, so closely related to humans, have almost no sense of rhythm? ‘The best students ever’ and behavioural biologist Michelle Spierings demonstrated that chimps can actually drum and move rhythmically—each following their own unique beat.

Not experiments and lab coats, but computers and artificial intelligence: this year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry went to the inventors of the groundbreaking AI model, AlphaFold. This programme accurately predicts protein structures based on their genetic code—a crucial step in understanding biological…

Jasper Knoester is the dean of the Faculty of Science. How is he doing? What kinds of things is he doing and what does his day look like? In each newsletter Jasper gives a peek into his life as dean.

At the Netherlands National Open Science Festival in Rotterdam, 400 people with a heart for research and sharing knowledge came together — including many Leiden University employees. Four colleagues told us about their Festival experience, and their work to practice Open Science at Leiden University…

Psychologists Anna van ‘t Veer and Eiko Fried will start a scientific integrity workshop tour after the summer, called Responsible Scholarship: Psychology. Their aim: giving the subject a more prominent position in the academic’s mind.

After a successful career as a singer, Esmee Schoones started studying French a few years ago. It resulted in a national award for her thesis on musical arrangements of Verlaine's poems and a job teaching French.

International courts and tribunals depend on state funding, creating a potential risk of undue state interference in judicial processes. In her doctoral thesis, Maria Manolecsu explores mechanisms that safeguard judicial independence, ensuring that courts can adjudicate without external pressure or…

With the academic year coming to an end, the assessor role at the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs (FGGA) is also transitioning. After three intensive years, Sterre Burmeister (25) is handing over the role to Mick de Kruijff (22), a fourth-year Public Administration student.

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.

Jorik ter Veer studied Political Science in Leiden. How does he look back on his student days?

Give organisms like plants and animals the freedom to move, interact and meet their own needs, and they will thrive on their own, says Professor Geert de Snoo. Our interference often ends up doing more harm than good.

For the fifth year in succession, on the foundation day of the university, Leiden professors taught a lesson at primary schools as part of the ‘Meet the Professor’ programme.

‘I’m setting Academia in Motion by promoting and developing Open Educational Resources (OERs) to enable affordable learning for anyone, and to keep learning and education in the hands of universities and schools,’ says physician, anatomy teacher and e-learning developer Paul Gobée.

Leiden University will be conferring three honorary doctorates in its special anniversary year. They will be awarded to Eliot Higgins, truth finder and founder of Bellingcat, Bonnie Honig, expert in feminist theory and legal theory, and Kelly Chibale, professor of organic chemistry, who works on prevention…

During the meeting on 26 February with the future users of Aleida Nijland, design agency Studio Linse presented the interior design. The design is based on earlier input from users, and focuses on functionality, comfort and a future-proof working environment. The interior has been designed to be a pleasant,…

He came to the Netherlands for three months and never left. Marcello Bonsangue is the new scientific director of the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS) since January this year. 'I think it is important to be there for the people of our institute. My door is always open.'

It matters a lot whether a fatwa is given by a female or male Islamic scholar, discovered doctoral student Nor Ismah.

The past year was once again a year of outstanding achievements and strong engagement for the Faculty of Social Sciences. In this hall of fame, we proudly highlight a selection of awards, grants and appointments as part of the many valuable contributions — visible and behind the scenes — that together…

The Graduate School of the Faculty of Humanities conducted a survey of its PhD candidates and their supervisors in spring 2023. What is going well? And what could be improved? The results are now known.

On Thursday 2 December, Nadine Akkerman, Reader in early modern English literature will be a guest in the online book salon of Leiden University Libraries (UBL). Head Curator Garrelt Verhoeven will interview Akkerman about her book Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Hearts. In her biography, Akkerman describes…

On March 13, Dr. Erik Deul passed away at the age of 67. He leaves behind his wife Wilma, children Caroline and Wouter, and grandchildren Joris, Stach, Viggo, Archie and and a granddaughter expected later this year. Erik served as head of ICT at Leiden Observatory for 35 years, and later also at the…

The COIn grants enable researchers to improve the infrastructure for their research. The four initiators of two projects explain how the grant has helped them.

Dr Mariana Françozo has been awarded a prestigious NWO Vici grant for a five year research project that brings together Indigenous communities, museum collections and interdisciplinary scholarship. Her project focuses on the histories and contemporary challenges of two Indigenous peoples in South America:…

Binnen de Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen (FSW) vinden op 1 april 2026 twee wisselingen van de wacht plaats. Shelley van der Veek wordt de nieuwe directeur onderwijs van het Instituut Pedagogische Wetenschappen. Carlijn Bergwerff, afzwaaiend directeur onderwijs van het instituut, verhuist naar het…

Assistant professor Max van Duijn is the new chair of The Young Academy. He aims to support young academics, bring research closer to society and make academia more resilient.

In the very first Korean class that teacher Eun-ju Kim taught, there were already students with dyslexia. With a background in special education and clinical developmental psychology, she developed a new method to help them, partly based on teaching methods from Dutch first language education.

Karwan Fatah-Black, a historian at Leiden University’s Faculty of Humanities and senior researcher at the KITLV/Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies, has been appointed as the UNESCO Chair holder in Comparative History of Slavery and the Transition to Citizenship.

Young people in forensic practice navigate between street culture, digital networks and care; worlds that are increasingly intertwined. This calls for a different way of seeing and acting. Dual PhD candidate Jeffrey Jhanjan explores how professionals can better understand and support these young peo…

Good education starts with good educators. The university has taken various steps in recent years to help our teaching staff develop. But new teaching staff require particular attention, say staff who work on teacher professionalisation.

With the introduction of the House of Cyber the Dutch government seeks to address a long standing concern among politicians, policymakers, and cybersecurity experts: the fragmentation of the Dutch cybersecurity governance landscape. A proposed solution is not only timely, but very understandable.

The EU aims to combat tax avoidance with a blacklist, but this policy has far reaching consequences for non European countries. It leads to unequal treatment and largely fails to achieve its goals. This is shown by Federica Casano’s PhD research.

Professor Miguel John Versluys of Leiden University has been recognised with the esteemed Humboldt Research Award, a testament to his groundbreaking work in global archaeology, reception-studies and the deep history of globalisation. The award, granted by the Alexander von Humbold-Stiftung, celebrates…