Music lovers are welcome at this free open-air concert celebrating 450 years of Leiden University, on Sunday 6 July. This special jubilee edition of the Rapenburg Canal Concert will feature a unique orchestra made up of our students, staff and alumni, performing on a floating stage.

Leiden University will deepen its cooperation with knowledge institutions in Africa. During a trip to Ghana, a delegation spoke with several African knowledge institutions about intensifying their collaboration.

Are quantum computers the scientific breakthrough of our time? In this podcast, Carlo Beenakker, Professor of Physics at Leiden University, explains quantum technology.

Community Meet-up & Networking

Are you looking for someone to study with, or would you like to come into contact with other students for support or social activities? Sign up for one of the student buddy programmes.

Below you can find the most frequently asked questions and answers provided by staff and students themselves.

One of our most engaged and expert scholars is bidding farewell. After forty years at Leiden Law School, first as a student and later as a professor, Niels Blokker reflects on his university career.

Leiden University is celebrating its 450th anniversary in 2025 with a feast for the eyes, ears and spirit. The anniversary year opens with an extra special Dies Natalis on 7 February. Highlights includes an alumni festival, three exhibitions and a canal concert.

Every year, the ECHO Award is presented to students from non-western backgrounds who are committed to social improvement in the field of diversity and inclusion. One of this year's finalists is Leiden alumna Husna Jalal, who works for Afghan women's rights with her organization the Young Afghan Women’s…

A live online New Year’s event on Tuesday 12 January marked the start of the New Year. Dean Joanne van der Leun toasted 2021 and as usual at this event, the annual Meijers prizes and thesis prizes were awarded.

Nearly 19,000 runners lined up at the start of Leiden Marathon on Sunday, among them students and staff from the university. For some this was their first race, for others a highlight of their year. This year, in celebration of our 450th anniversary, they ran in a special jubilee t-shirt.

Lotje Zuur sometimes has to perform disfiguring operations. As a head and neck surgeon, she removes parts of the mouth, throat or face of people with cancer. Now a promising treatment may make such operations unnecessary. What would this mean for patients? This is what her inaugural speech on 19 September…

Is scientific research useful? In his dissertation, Jorrit Smit argues that in order to answer this question one should not look at, for example, prominent scholars or influential organisations, but at places where knowledge exchange and co-creation take place. Promotion 6 May.

When deciding what to study you undoubtedly read a lot of information about your study programme. Leiden University employs various systems to provide information about programmes and courses and to facilitate communication between lecturers and students.

As an international employee at Leiden University, it can be hard to settle into the workplace, the city, or generally, the Netherlands. The Leiden International Centre can help international employees land comfortably and make living abroad just a little bit easier. Jenny Willcock, coordinator at the…

Education, Research

A new government, conflicts around the world and obviously a lot of science: these are the five stories about Leiden University that you enjoyed reading in 2024.

The Executive Board has appointed Ineke Sluiter and Arnold Tukker as distinguished professors at Leiden University.

Course, Online Career Week

Is polder rice a feasible circular alternative for cows on peatland? A pilot experiment started this week. On May 22nd, researchers from Leiden University and Wageningen University & Research (WUR) planted roughly 3,000 rice plants on the Polderlab near Leiden. The researchers want to test rice as a…

International alumnus Alejandro tells us in a flash about why it is so important to physically be in Leiden for your studies, about how important his Advanced Master was to his employers and how AI and tech affects his line of work.

As well as student associations, you can also join one of the independent non-profit student organisations that are active in Leiden and The Hague. Become a member and develop your skills while making new friends and contributing to social causes.

Organisation

How can you persuade researchers who are used to conducting research within clearly defined disciplines to adopt an interdisciplinary approach? Newly appointed distinguished professor Arnold Tukker explained.

Is it a prehistoric mammoth tooth or just an ordinary pebble? It was National Finds Day at the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities on Saturday 17 June, and Leiden University was one of the collaborating partners.

Arbitration law has grown into a ‘sexy’ area of practice about which students are keen to write a thesis and in which many lawyers specialise.

For her research into migration policy under different political regimes, Katharina Natter has been awarded the Gratama Science Prize for young, talented researchers.

Hoping to learn something about the human brain, Leiden researchers are creating a setup to shoot single photons, particles of light, into someone’s eye. ‘The eye is a passageway to the brain.’

Seventeenth-century Danish scientist Niels Stensen made groundbreaking discoveries in the anatomy of the body and of Earth. This Leiden alumnus’s theories are still relevant, as an exhibition at the Oude UB shows.

Looking for a different approach in the ongoing discussions on the ethereal matter of Romanisation, Ana Zora Maspoli joined Miguel John Versluys’ research group as a postdoc guest researcher. While she has been active in our Faculty since February 2022, you may not have met her yet due to the Covid-19…

University is often a period of sexual exploration and experimentation, generally to the satisfaction of all involved. But sometimes you want it and the other doesn’t. Or vice versa. Or you can’t really tell. This is what the Safe Space play at Theater Ins Blau was about on 11 October. And: can your…

Course and exam enrolment

As a twelve-year-old girl, Nicky van de Beek became intrigued by the tomb chapels in Saqqara, Egypt. Now she is doing her PhD on them, just like another Leiden Egyptologist decades earlier. Herta Mohr persevered with her research during World War II. Now she is the namesake of the first Leiden building…

A minor allows you to develop your knowledge beyond the boundaries of your study programme, or to specialise further in your own field of study. You can follow a minor in Leiden and also in Delft or Rotterdam.

After ten years and one day, Leiden Observatory has a new director. As of 1 September, Ignas Snellen will set the course for the astronomical institute. In this interview, you will get to know Ignas. Or at least a little. That is why we gave him five dilemmas and asked the people around him who he really…

For her research into complex family problems, an assistant professor in Forensic Family and Youth Care Studies Sabine van der Asdonk has won the Gratama Science Prize 2021, a prize for talented young researchers from the universities of Leiden and Groningen. The jury praised Van der Asdonk’s excellent…

Gijs Zebregts had just graduated from International Studies when he was stricken with acute leukaemia. A stem cell donor brought relief. Now he is going to cycle from Florence to Rotterdam to raise money and awareness for the donor bank.

AD(H)D stands for Attention Deficit(-Hyperactivity) Disorder, which is a common disorder that can impact your learning at Leiden University.

Autism spectrum disorder, or ASD, is the term for a range of neurodevelopmental conditions or differences which can impact your studies at Leiden University.

The more data from cancer research we pool, the better we can search for new treatments. But how can we keep patient data safe when sharing it? Leiden researchers will tackle this challenge in a major European project.

The Research Institute for Mathematics & Computer Science in Amsterdam hosts a unique X-ray machine that creates 3D scans of the most diverse objects. This allows them to reveal details that remain hidden in regular scans. In a series of articles they showcase examples of what happens in the lab. Leiden…

Your study adviser or coordinator is an expert on all aspects of your study programme. If you have any questions or concerns about your programme, whether they be of a practical or academic nature, you can contact your study adviser.

The Durham Declaration was presented at the Climate Symposium marking the Coimbra Group’s 40th anniversary on 26 March. Leiden University is proud to be one of the first signatories of this declaration.

You’ve graduated. What’s your next step? Leiden University offers many options for students who have just finished their Bachelor’s or Master’s degree.

You’ve graduated. What’s your next step? Leiden University offers many options for students who have just finished their Bachelor’s or Master’s degree.

Spui Campus, Leiden University’s fourth location in The Hague, will soon open its doors. The former V&D department store’s transformation into a university campus is becoming more visible by the week. Removal vans will soon be driving back and forth to move all the furniture there in time. The first…

Welcome to your go-to resource for everything you need to know as a student preparing to go abroad or currently studying abroad at Leiden University.