A new computer simulation shows the promising possibilities of the booming field of topology. Smartly designed mechanical structures carry sound exclusively one way and are immune to fabrication errors. Publication on 17 July in Nature Physics.

Online presentations of our regular master’s programmes were held from 11 to 19 May. Would you like to see them again? Check out our full range of programmes below!

Leiden researchers Tazuko van Berkel (Greek and Latin Language and Culture) and Noel de Miranda (Tumour Immunology, LUMC) will join the KNAW’s Young Academy next year. They will be inducted on 22 March 2021.

This theme is central to the recently published book 'Onze Constitutie' by Wim Voermans, professor of constitutional and administrative law. The colossal book has no fewer than 911 pages, but Voermans has managed to turn it into one very readable book, with fluent pen, with an eloquent tone and, moreover,…

A lesson about aerodynamics from Vice-Rector Hester Bijl, about child rights by UNICEF professor Ton Liefaard, or about muscles by LUMC professor Annemieke Aartsma-Rus. The University treated school children to guest lectures by professors to celebrate its 444th birthday.

Academics are increasingly facing threats, harassment and hate speech following public appearances. The Dutch universities – united in the Association of Universities in the Netherlands (VSNU) – is now adopting a number of national measures, from a zero-tolerance policty to psychosocial help for vic…

On 13 May 2025, Melanie Fink presented her latest research on the role of the duty to reason and other explanation rights to safeguard human dignity in the automated state at the AI & Law Summer School hosted by the University of Tübingen.

Professor Paul van der Heijden (International Labour Law) has been awarded a grant of 50,000 euros by the city council of The Hague to start building a Business & Human Rights database.

Thousands of Ukrainian children have been transferred to Russia from occupied territories in eastern Ukraine, reports say. Is this, as the government in Kyiv has claimed, an act of genocide? Defined as an intent to destroy a particular group of people, the term genocide was first coined amid the horrors…

In een uitzending van Pauw & De Wit geeft Wim Voermans, hoogleraar Staatsrecht en voorzitter van de Vereniging Thorbecke, zijn visie op het belang van de Thorbeckeprijs als symbool voor politieke welsprekendheid. De prijs komt voort uit een eerbetoon aan de grondlegger van het Nederlandse parlementaire…

During the week of 15 November, Little Amal, the larger-than-life doll visited The Hague. Naturally she received a warm welcome by Leiden University during her visit. Little Amal (art project The Walk) was invited by Amare.

Pharmacologist Rob van Wijk is the Highlighted Trainee Author in the October 2019 issue of the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. In his research, Van Wijk aims for a new paradigm by combining experimental work and computational data analysis.

On Friday 10 November, Leiden University welcomed curious students from all corners of the world to the Master's Open Day. One thing is clear: students look carefully at all the options and don't make snap decisions.

Students awarded the highest scores to Leiden University and the Radboud University Nijmegen. These are the findings of an annual survey by Elsevier into the best study programmes in the Netherlands. Elsevier Magazine has a weekly readership of half a million, making it one of the most iinfluential…

On Friday 6 November, a symposium took place on the occasion of the publication of the ‘Research Handbook on Crisis Management in the Banking Sector’, edited by professor Matthias Haentjens and professor Bob Wessels.

Saniye Çelik, Programme Manager at the Centre for Professional Learning (CPL) for courses such as ‘Diversity and Inclusion’ was interviewed about the Dutch government’s diversity policy for the Dutch governmental journal ‘BinnenbeRijk’.

On Sunday 18 June 2017 Melanie Fink, Postdoctoral Researcher at the Europa Institute, held a lecture on Schengen and the new European Border and Coast Guard Regulation in the framework of the ‘Open Doors’ Summer School on Migration, (Sea) Border Control and Human Rights.

Physicists understand little about quantum matter, which is a building block of future quantum computers. Theorists have now discovered that black holes with ‘dreadlocks’ harbor a similarly exotic order pattern, which makes calculations on quantum matter easier. Publication in Physical Review Letter…

On 26 and 27 September 2024, Leiden University's Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies hosted the H2OLAW conference entitled 'Law-science interfaces within the law of the sea and fresh water law’. The conference marked the launch of a multi-year research project led by Dr Hilde Woker and Dr…

Physicists have manipulated light with large artificial atoms, so-called quantum dots. Before, this has only been done so well with actual atoms. It is an important step towards light-based quantum technology. Publication on August 30th in Nature Communications.

On Wednesday 27 September a new book by Prof. Luuk van Middelaar will appear, entitled The new politics of Europe. Frans Timmermans, the European Commission’s first vice-president, presents the book that evening during a symposium around the same theme.

Tarlach McGonagle has been appointed as Professor of Media Law in the Information Society as of 1 May 2019. The Chair is established by the Leiden University Fund (LUF) and is situated within the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law.

Researchers of the faculty of Governance and Global Affairs work on very different research topics. However, there's a clear common ground in all of their work. You will find out more in our new booklet.

The Geneva Conventions and customary international humanitarian law clearly prohibit any attacks on medical units and establishments during armed conflicts. Unfortunately, despite this clear prohibition, medical personnel and medical facilities continue to be the subject of attacks. Doctors now risk…

Following the European Union membership referendum in the United Kingdom on 23rd of June 2016 and its result, Brexit has turned into a theme dominating public discussion in Europe and beyond.

Wessel Kraaij has been appointed Professor of Applied Data Analytics with effect from 1 March 2016. Kraaij will use new methods to analyse big data sets. He intends to use data from various data-intensive research fields to test these methods in practice.

A list with keywords and all the information you need in your first year. Click on the links and read more about the subjects you want to learn more about.

A specifically designed collection of gears is soft on one end and rigid on the other. These are robust properties of the system that hold even in the presence of manufacturing imperfections. This emerging research area may lead to new ways of designing geared devices like satellite trackers or watches.…

On 14th April the ARC session Sound, Technology and Listening, dedicated to the presentation of work carried out at the Institute of Sonology at the Royal Conservatoire, took place through an online public platform. Four students from the second-year research master's at the Institute of Sonology did…

Information obtained from Czech intelligence authorities has shown that politicians from several European countries, including the Netherlands, are involved in a Russian bribery scandal. Wim Voermans, Professor of Constitutional Law, comments on this in Dutch newspaper ‘NRC’.

Thinking Planet is a big public philosophy event which aims to bring ideas from all over the world to the Netherlands.

Former PhD student of the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS) Bart Thomee has received this year’s Rising Star Award from the Multimedia group of ACM, the worldwide computer science association. Today, Thomee is a successful researcher at Yahoo Labs.

Electrons that spin synchronously around their axis, turn out to stay superconducting across large distances within magnetic chromium dioxide. Electric current from these electrons can flip small magnets, and its superconducting version could form the basis for a hard drive without energy loss. Publication…

On 20 June 2025, Melanie Fink presented her research on ‘Robo Swarms and Polygraphs: The Future of European Border Management and its Human Costs’ at the Research Workshop on ‘Migration law at the intersection of international, EU and domestic law: institutional structures and the protection of human…

Europe's open borders are under pressure: Europe has an increasing number of Member States with governments calling for tighter border controls. Several political parties in the Netherlands are also calling for stricter border controls, among other things, to reduce the number of asylum seekers. Yet,…

On 24 January an interdisciplinary workshop organised by Anna Smulders, PhD candidate at the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies, and Tarlach McGonagle, Professor of Media Law and Information Society, took place on the interaction between disinformation, emerging technologies and human rights.…

Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje (1857-1936) is known as an Islamologist, author of the book Mecca, administrator in the Dutch East Indies for the Dutch government and professor in Leiden. Wim van den Doel published a biography of Snouck Hurgronje in 2021. Recently, the translation of the biography in Bahasa…

In his report, Dutch cabinet negotiator Kim Putters proposes the formation of a ‘programme cabinet’ and an outline agreement. The four political parties involved have agreed on this form of cabinet, and Putters therefore appears to have succeeded in his mission. Wim Voermans, Professor of Constitutional…

Authorities in Denmark and Sweden are examining whether it is possible to ban Quran burning following recent incidents. These have caused tension in many Islamic countries as well as in the countries where they occurred.

Catalyst research aims to make gasoline less polluting. It turns out that during experiments it is actually necessary to protect catalysts from air itself. Publication in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C on August 26.

If someone around you yawns, the chances are that you too will soon yawn. In orangutans it has now been found that scratching is very contagious. This is what cognitive psychologists from Leiden discovered at Apenheul Primate Park. Publication in American Journal of Primatology.

On 9 February, 2015, the 440th Dies Natalis, Peter J. Katzenstein will be awarded a Leiden University honorary doctorate in recognition of his contribution to the social sciences in general, and to political science in particular. Professor Katzenstein (Cornell University) is one of the most influential…

Leiden University is extremely concerned about the situation in Turkey and offers all possible support to its Turkish colleagues.

The Netherlands has gained a third commentary on the Constitution – with Leiden as its home base. The first copy of Een nieuw commentaar op de Grondwet (A new commentary on the Constitution) (published by Boom Amsterdam) was presented to Prime Minister Mark Rutte in the Torentje last week.

Do the sounds that surround you as you cycle through the city sometimes annoy you? Don’t worry, because we can actively change the situation, says sound expert Edwin van der Heide. Students in his Honours Class are actively shaping the sound of the city.

On 26-27 September, the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence for Law and Automation at IE Law School in Madrid hosted the third edition of the Lawtomation conference, known for exploring critical legal issues related to automation, AI, and digital rights. This year’s discussions centered around the governance…

Het couldbedrijf Solvinity, actief als aanbieder van cruciale IT-diensten voor de overheid, staat op punt overgenomen te worden door een Amerikaanse partij. Volgens Reijer Passchier, universitair docent staatsrecht en hoogleraar digitalisering en de democratische overheid (OU), zijn de zorgen bij de…

PhD student Thierry Rohmer received the Ernst Award 2009 of the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker (GDCh) for his publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the USA on the structure-function relation of the photoreceptor phytochrome. The prize was presented at the Annual Discussion…

The European PANVIPREP research project started at the Leiden University Medical Center on 11 March. The participants are virologists, biochemists and pharmacists from 14 European countries. Their mission is to develop antiviral drugs to protect Europe during pandemics. At least two such antivirals…

When Professor of Tax Law Jan Vleggeert delivered his inaugural lecture in Leiden University’s Academy Building on 30 October 2020, only 30 people were allowed to attend due to coronavirus measures. On 10 June 2022, Vleggeert was therefore given the opportunity to deliver a lecture to a much larger…