De discussie is aangewakkerd door recente onthullingen over de deelname van topambtenaren en politici aan besloten bijeenkomsten, Wim Voermans, hoogleraar Staatsrecht, spreekt over de kwestie in Metro en FTM.

Space is becoming increasingly busier due to the launching of satellites and tourists. But no binding international agreements have been made since 1979. This is problematic, warns space lawyer Tanja Masson-Zwaan. ‘Everyone’s putting their own interests first.’

Upon invitation by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, a large group of academics have submitted a third party intervention in a case against France.

All sorts of predictions have already been made about the AI system ChatGPT: the programme is going to turn education on its head, make search engines look old-fashioned, and put copywriters out of business. Copywriters? Does that include legislative draftsmen? In other words, can ChatGPT draft legislative…

Rector Magnificus and President of the Executive Board of Leiden University, Professor C.J.J.M. (Carel) Stolker, has been re-appointed by the Board of Governors.

As of 1 May 2025 Dr. Vasiliki Kosta has been appointed member of the standing Committee for Freedom of Scientific Practice (Commissie voor Vrijheid van Wetenschapsbeoefening - CVW) of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW).

We are delighted to welcome Elisabeth Faber as our new intern for the Fall semester 2022.

The Faculty of Science of Leiden University and the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) signed an exchange agreement on Tuesday. This Erasmus+ student mobility agreement allows all students of the Faculty of Science and DTU students to follow courses at both universities from September 2017 on.

Patrick Overeem lecturer at the Institute of Public Administration has been appointed by the Executive Board of the University as a Teaching Fellow of the Leiden Teachers' Academy.

We are proud to announce that Amirardalan Emami has been awarded the Houtan Scholarship (3500€) to help fund his PhD project “Transformation in Ancient Iranian Religion: The Achaemenids as Agents of Long-Term Change”.

Metamaterials researcher Martin van Hecke has been elected American Physical Society (APS) fellow, an honour exclusive to only half a percent of the society's members.

Yvonne Erkens, Associate Professor of Labour Law, has been appointed as a Global Law professor at the Catholic University of Leuven.

After nearly five years as President of the Executive Board, Annetje Ottow will be stepping down from the role as of 1 September. During her time as President, she helped shape the university’s strategic direction, strengthening its regional, European and international profile. Sustainability, and dignity…

Just behind the entry gate of Angkor Wat, known as Gopura 4 West, through which every year millions of tourists enter the most iconic temple of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, ground-penetrating radar surveys revealed a set of masonry structures: six ‘tower’ bases in geometrical alignment, possibly…

Children have never acquired their own position in migration law and that is now slowly changing, according to Peter Rodrigues in ‘One World’. Partly as a result of the Children’s Rights Convention and judgments by the Court of Justice in Luxemburg, the tide seems to be turning and there is now more…

Since February 1st, 2017 Célia Fonseca Guerra is appointed as professor at the LIC with a chair in applied theoretical chemistry. She will be a member of the Theoretical Chemistry group. Her research interests are related to bioinorganic chemistry and catalysis and her appointment at the LIC will strengthen…

USMCA (North American Free Trade Agreement) is the successor to NAFTA – a free trade zone covering Canada, the United States and Mexico. This Agreement includes a new procedure to ensure compliance with fundamental labour rights.

Over thirty research projects have been awarded a grant from the Leiden University Fund (LUF). The academics each receive a sum of between 5,000 and 25,000 euros to conduct their research.

In his Inaugural lecture of February 10th Prof. dr. Henk Borgdorff advocated positive understanding of artistic research, of reasoning in and through art, within academia.

Chemist Irene Groot has been awarded a TA grant. Together with Shell, Leiden Probe Microscopy, DSM Resolve and Utrecht University, Groot will conduct research into catalysts for the production of raw materials and fuels.

For the next three years the municipality of Epe will contribute to the research on the Epe barrow alignment. The city complements funds that NWO made available for the Networked Landscapes (2015-2018) research project by dr. Quentin Bourgeois. The objective of this project is to unlock the principal…

On 5 December 2019, Judge Christine van den Wyngaert gave a guest lecture at LUC : ‘International criminal justice; A view from the Bench’.

Minister Wiersma heeft circa vijftien informatieverzoeken, over de hoeveelheid vee en de locaties van stallen van veehouders stilgelegd. Universitair hoofddocent Staats- en bestuursrecht, Annemarie Drahmann, stelt in het NRC dat de wet verplicht dat dergelijke milieugegevens openbaar moeten worden g…

The asylum seekers’ centres in Hengelo, Almelo and Schalkhaar caused little or no nuisance in recent years. There have been hardly any incidents, according to information received by Dutch regional TV channel RTV Oost. However, Maarten Offinga, Mayor of Hardenberg, sounded the alarm with the state secretary…

The faculty's research on the ancient rock art found in Jordan's Black Desert has recently been covered by several news and science websites.

Did you graduate at our faculty between 2016 and 2019? Please take part in the Humanities Job Market Survey!

From 27-29 August, the Conference of the International Society for Child Indicators (ISCI) took place in Tartu (Estonia). Prof. Ton Liefaard was one of the key-note speakers during that conference.

Camille Lefebvre has been selected as one of the 30 finalists vying for a spot in the 2022–2025 scholarship of The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation.

Suzanne Kingston will be officially sworn in in mid-January. She graduated from the Leiden Advanced LLM European and International Business Law (EIBL) in 2000.

The Dutch organisation for scientific research NWO has announced that it will award an ENW-Klein grant to Marcellus Ubbink (LIC) for his research into the role of temperature in the evolution of enzymes. Sixteen grants have been awarded in total.

Quasicrystals are crystals with ‘impossible’ five-fold symmetries, which nevertheless were synthesized in the lab in 1982. Paul J. Steinhardt helped figure out their structure, but he didn’t stop at that.

On 19 May we received the sad news of the sudden and unexpected death of Willem van Beelen, at the age of 64. He had been the University's beadle for 27 years before retiring on 29 February this year.

On 23 and 24 November scholars working on European Justice and Home Affairs, united at the European University Institute in Florence on the occassion of the 25th year jubilee of the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice. The EU policy area covering migration, asylum and criminal justice cooperation.

From 1 October, two new Directors of Education will start at the Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL). Dennis Claessen as the new director for the master's programme of Biology and Marcel Schaaf as director for the Biology bachelor's programme. Claessen and Schaaf have been appointed for a period of four…

Anne Meeussen is the winner of the Fysica 2020 Young Speakers' Contest. She was elected by the online attendants after delivering a talk about metamaterials.

Koenraad Schalm will be the new programme director of the Physics master starting 1 November. He has been appointed for a period of four years. Schalm succeeds Ana Achúcarro who has held the position since 2021.

For the 10th SAR conference on Artistic Research, the Society for Artistic Research (SAR) is back in Switzerland where the society was founded.

Classics alumnus Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer has won the Libris Literature Prize this year with his book La Superba. The Libris Literature Prize is one of the most prestigious awards in Dutch literature.

Uit onderzoek van het NRC blijkt dat het salaris van oud-directielid Van Hove, van het inmiddels wegens grensoverschrijdend gedrag op de werkvloer in opspraak geraakte theatergezelschap ITA, bij menigeen de wenkbrauwen doet fronsen. Gerrard Boot, hoogleraar arbeidsrecht, spreekt zich over deze salariskwestie…

In addition to being Director of Operational Management at Leiden Law School, Mirjam Sombroek–van Doorm will help develop Health Law at the faculty in the coming years.

Over the past 20 years, levels of common crime throughout the world dropped, except in countries that are plagued by poverty, have large families and have been afflicted by civil wars. This was established in a study that compared safety in 166 countries.

From master’s student to professor: scholars at all levels within the Faculty of Humanities are engaged every day in innovative, high-profile research. In Perspectives on the World,reflections of 2014-2015, students and staff talk about the research they have been working on during the past academic…

The Netherlands will comply with the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Netanyahu and proceed to arrest him as soon as he enters Dutch territory. Jens Iverson,Assistant Professor of Public International Law, discusses the issue in Dutch daily newspaper ‘Trouw’.

Using positional data to determine which tactics lead to a successful attack? Rens Meerhoff, researcher at the Sports Data Center of the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS), has been using data-mining to analyse football tactics for several years. In Friesch Dagblad he explains the…

The ASA Board of Directors notes that, serving for almost a decade, the editors transformed History in Africa “into a peer-reviewed journal that not only engages a broad range of historical issues but commands respect throughout the field.” The award will be presented during the African Studies Association…

On Wednesday the 4th of September, Queen Máxima opened the renovated tropical greenhouse complex of the Leiden Hortus Botanicus. At the occasion Máxima met with IBL-PhD student Mahin Ghorbani from Iran and talked with her about her work on drug discovery from Iranian medicinal plants using zebrafish…

On 17 October 2019, the Netherlands’ Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management organised a first stakeholders meeting on microfibers from textile in the LEF Future Center. The meeting was prompted by a report of the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) in April of this…

Starting 1 January 2024, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates and Iran have officially joined the BRICS trade bloc, as confirmed by South Africa's Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor.

On Wednesday September 26th, theoretical physicist Sean Carroll will give an Ehrenfest colloquium. It is part of a lecture series that has been running since 1912 and was founded by physicist Paul Ehrenfest.

Congratulations to David Fontijn, who has been recognized by the University with the title of full Professor of the Archaeology of Early Europe.