On 17 February 2024, Leiden University's Scheltema building was abuzz with the energy of the annual MSc International Relations and Diplomacy (MIRD) Re-Connect Gala. This year's event marked a joyous return to in-person gatherings, bringing together 200 students, employees, and esteemed alumni of the…

Big celebration upcoming weekend: MIRD's 20th anniversary is on the cards. Four alumni from different periods tell what this unique two-year master's in International Relations and Diplomacy has brought them.

Can Russia be prosecuted for war crimes against Ukraine? The International Criminal Court does not have this jurisdiction. To fill this void in jurisdiction, a new commission has been created: an International Centre for the Prosecution of Crimes of Aggression, the ICPA.

Chip war export restrictions for ASML are most likely in conflict with the Word Trade Organisation’s regulations, claims Anna-Alexandra Marhold. China will certainly contest them.

On March 25, the Advanced Masters of Science in International Relations and Diplomacy (MIRD) celebrated the 20th Anniversary of the programme. The celebrations began with the Reconnect event, bringing current students and alumni together, and concluded with the MIRD Gala. Throughout the day, the tight-knit…

Different groups can have different memories of the same historical event. This can lead to conflict but does not have to. How is this, and how can countries and people reconcile with the past?

Student Session

Lecture, 5th Owada Chair Symposium

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…

The article deals with an issue that will be at the heart of the World Health Assembly to be held in May, namely the concept of ‘deep prevention’ and the importance of its integration in the Global Pandemic Treaty - which has been recently proposed by the European Council and currently endorsed by more…

For the first time, a court has ordered a company to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions. Lawyers see it as a landmark ruling that will have far-reaching consequences for Shell and possibly also other similar companies.

Panel

PhD defence

Leiden University is featured by French magazine L’Express as one of Europe’s leading ‘schools of power’, highlighting its Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs and the Institute of Security and Global Affairs in The Hague and its role in training future leaders in politics, diplomacy, and securi…

Anneleen van der Meer discusses Russia's alleged use of chemical weapons in Ukraine in an article for The Conversation.

Roundtable

How can we safeguard children’s rights in conflict zones? The winners of the 2025 Children’s Rights Moot Court Competition, team 19 from O.P. Jindal Global University in India, show unique potential to bring about positive change in this area.

Symposium

On Monday, 4 July 2022, the graduation of the two-year Advanced MSc International Relations and Diplomacy (MIRD) programme was commemorated in the iconic Academy Building in Leiden. Students and guests were welcomed by the Program Director, Professor Madeleine Hosli.

Jus post bellum, the body of laws and norms governing the transition from armed conflict to peace, has emerged as a crucial issue for international law scholars, governments, and all concerned with building a just and sustainable peace. The Jus Post Bellum Project, funded by the NWO and hosted by the…

Doctoral Grant for lecturer to research witness protection at the international courts.

PhD defence

On 24 January 2026, the Advanced MSc International Relations and Diplomacy (MIRD) hosted its Annual Reconnect & Gala, bringing together alumni from across the world, current students, and faculty. The event celebrated shared values, connection, and purpose, focusing on ‘The great shifts in international…

Martin Richardson, who graduated in 1997 from what was then the Leiden LLM Programme in European Community Law (now: Leiden Adv LLM European and International Business Law, EIBL), has recently been appointed as a Senator of the College of Justice in Scotland, meaning that he is now a judge of the highest…

Conference

On 25 May, Professor Paul Abels retired as professor by special appointment. Abels has been working as Professor by special appointment Governance of Intelligence and Security Services at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs since 2017.

Food security touches upon human rights, international law and sustainable development. These frameworks are not separate worlds but deeply interconnected; something that becomes painfully clear in times of climate crisis, armed conflict and inequality.

A delegation from Leiden University visited various universities in Japan at the end of March. The strong ties between the Netherlands and Japan are still based on a long tradition of knowledge exchange.

At the end of June 2021, The Dutch Ministry of Finance made a policy document public that dates back to 2016. In it, civil servants acknowledge that the Netherlands risked providing unauthorized State aid to American multinationals by allowing them to use a controversial, but favourable, fiscal construction:…

Leiden Law School is pleased to announce that Professor Ursula Kilkelly, School of Law, University College Cork, Ireland, will visit Leiden in academic year 2022/2023 as Rotating Honorary Chair ‘Enforcement of Children’s Rights’.

Professor Dr. Carsten Stahn LLM., Professor of International Criminal Law and Global Justice at the University of Leiden, completed his habilitation in July 2020 at the Humboldt-University zu Berlin and acquired the Venia for Constitutional Law, International Law and International Criminal Law. The…

Food security is increasingly under pressure due to rising inequality, climate change, and armed conflict. From 28 October, Leiden University College (LUC) in The Hague offers a seven-week course

The launch of the 'Toolkit for the Design and Effective Implementation of Domestic and International General Anti-avoidance Rules' generates strong interest among tax administrations.

Questions to a European and International Human Rights Law alumnus episode 1: Christina Azzarello.

The Max van der Stoel Human Rights Award is presented every two years on 10 December (Human Rights Day) in recognition of outstanding academic works in the field of international human rights.

The response of international organizations to the problems of cross-border death and gift taxation needs to be revisited, according to PhD candidate Vassilis Dafnomilis. PhD defence on 3 June 2021.

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.

The Houthis are attacking ships in the Red Sea. Rerouting via South Africa is expensive, whereas the Arctic route only takes a week. Once a no-go zone, this route might be a more realistic option. Mind the nuclear submarines, though…

On 21 April 2022, Cleveringa Professor Jan Grabowski visited Leiden. The theme of his visit was the role of law and historiography in shaping collective memories.

Kai Hebel explains how the 1975 Helsinki Accords shaped European diplomacy and why their spirit remains urgently relevant in an era of renewed geopolitical in the Guardian.

Political scientist Claire Vergerio (Leiden University) has made it to the final stage of the selection process for Central European University’s annual European Award for Excellence in Teaching in the Social Sciences and Humanities. As the 2019 Casimir Prize winner, Vergerio was nominated by the Faculty…

Cultural Anthropologists of Leiden University and Development studies researchers of ISS-EUR have been awarded funding to explore how diaspora communities in the Netherlands respond to crises in their ancestral homelands, examining alternative forms of international aid beyond traditional remittance…