If you could design your own education, how would you do it? That is what the students of the Bachelor Honours Class 'Rebuilding Education' asked themselves. The students were divided into five groups in which they designed workshops to improve education. They presented their workshops in December in…

Rianne Vink, one of the student counsellors, explains what a student counsellor does.

'We are very happy with this recognition! The great thing about this prize is that it celebrates team effort', Joanne Mouthaan responds to the Casimir Prize for the education project 'E-learning Suicide Prevention'. Colleague Maartje Schoorl calls the prize the icing on the cake of good education in…

Psychology teacher of the year is Anouk van der Weiden. The master thesis awards are for Irina Verhülsdonk and Christel Klootwijk. Eliška Procházková receives the PhD publication prize; Katja Cardol and Judith Tommel the PhD wild card: the Open Science Award. Conny Binnendijk earns the OBP prize and…

After the lockdown, it was again possible to receive graduates and guests at the University. In recent weeks, BSc and MSc graduates from various study programmes were festively awarded their diplomas in a special corona-proof setting in the restaurant of the Gorlaeus Lecture Halls building. This resulted…

Students in the third year of the BA International Studies programme follow the Practicing International Studies (PRINS) consultancy course. They conduct a project put forward by real clients and then present them with their research results. PRINS is so successful that it has now been running for 10…

All students receiving their bachelor diploma in Political Science last week had a reason or two to celebrate. Two of them especially so: they won the annual award for the best thesis in the International Relations and Organisations and the Politicologie/Internationale Politiek programmes. Congratulations,…

The earlier you introduce children to a language, the sooner they can be captivated by it and see that there is more than just Dutch and English. That is the basis for the language lessons for primary education that Alisa van de Haar, university lecturer of French, collaborated on. ‘Deans from different…

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.

A few law students were given the opportunity to conduct an eight-week internship at the Rechtbank Den Haag. They took part in hearings as clerks, in discussions about cases in the judges’ chambers, and contributed to the formation of decisions. They held a presentation about their experiences during…

In the Leiden Municipality Challenge, 25 students investigated how Leiden could become more sustainable. In doing so, they enlisted the help of the city's citizens. 'When citizens themselves participate in the research process, they have a better understanding of how science works.'

What do climate change and traditional Japanese music have to do with each other? A great deal, university lecturer Andrea Giolai suspects. He has been awarded an NWO grant to study the relationship in more depth.

Individuals suffering from social anxiety disorder (SAD) consistently avoid eye contact. However, in a non-clinical population, gaze avoidance in socially anxious individuals depends on social situations, Jiemiao Chen saw in a series of experiments, for which she used wearable eye-trackers. On 25 April…

Doğukan Yilmaz chose a study that aligned with his favourite subjects, and it paid off. For his bachelor thesis, he developed a new model to better predict an important chemical reaction. ‘On the edge of what is possible at the bachelor level,’ his supervisors write. Thanks to his impressive achievements,…

Leiden researchers have discovered an enzyme that helps bacteria feed on everyday plastics. This common enzyme could play a crucial role in future research and eventually in addressing the global plastic crisis. The study was published in Nature Communications.

University lecturer in Management & Organisation Sarita Koendjbiharie is a welcome lecturer on The Hague campus, and not only because she takes a genuine interest in her students. In fact, Koendjbiharie brings her dog Coco to campus whenever she can.

The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research has awarded a grant of 750,000 euros to the 'Visualising the Unknown in 17th-century Science and Society' project. Researchers will reconstruct how seventeenth-century scientists recorded and shared their groundbreaking microscopic discoveries. We…

Charlotte Holt is a second year International Justice student at Leiden University College. She did an internship at Academia Neerlandesa; a language school that offers Dutch language courses to medical professionals. ‘An internship can become very beneficial for those who wants to discover where their…

Corona travel restrictions and increased political pressure: research into China has become considerably more difficult in recent years. University lecturer and China researcher Rogier Creemers does not let this put him off. He receives an NWO grant to screen policy documents using digital technique…

Leiden University’s Executive Board has appointed Erwin Muller as Vice Rector of Organisational Development. In this role, he will help further professionalise and improve the university’s organisation as per the Strategic Plan.

Scientists' computers are now full of complicated 3D models, but no standard has yet been developed for exchanging the data. A new database should change this. External PhD student Liselore Tissen is receiving a grant to contribute to this on behalf of Leiden University (and TU Delft). ‘It will be great…

Alumni associations are there for both recent and older alumni to exchange experiences about the field and more. We spoke to Arla Mannersuo, board member of the International Studies Alumni Association, about the benefits of membership and what happens behind the scenes.

Simon van Hoeve is a student of the master’s degree programme International Relations. Every week, he makes a podcast episode for his study association, in which he discusses topics related to his study programme with his guests.

In the 2020 presidential elections, voters in several, mostly southern, electoral districts of the United States saw ‘their’ polling stations closed by the local authorities. In order to cast their vote, they had to travel further or use the mail ballot. Media reports and civil rights activitsts often…

Successfully completing a master’s thesis in Political Science is no small feat. Not only is this for most students the most extensive and in-depth research report they have ever written, the work is also held to very high standards. Yet, every year students manage to impress their instructors and demonstrate…

What happens in the mind of someone with ADHD? GZ psychologist Bianca Boyer discusses this in a two-part episode of the Dutch 'Podcast Psycholoog'. She likes to look beyond the symptoms described in the DSM-5. 'Those are just the tip of the iceberg.'

Suzan Tunca was the first dancer to receive her PhD from PhDArts at Leiden University. Her work focuses on the relationship between the physical and metaphysical. 'It took a while to find the right tone and language for this.'

James Webb life’s building blocks

With a combination of incidental sunshine, torrential rain, and wind chills, weather conditions were not ideal for a hiking excursion. Even so, last Saturday, honours students braved a trek across an estate and a golf club in Wassenaar to learn about the relationship between gardens and nature. From…

How can Europe lead the way in vaccine development that is fast and for all? To answer this pressing question, Professor of Vaccinology Meta Roestenberg is holding a panel session on 14 July at the EuroScience Open Forum in Leiden.

The first results of the National Student Survey (NSE) show that Leiden students are still satisfied with their degree programmes. On average they are slightly more satisfied than in 2021. Satisfaction with their lecturers and study guidance has also increased compared with 2021.

CWTS will get a new board of directors for the coming three years, starting on 1 January 2024. The Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences of Leiden University has appointed Ludo Waltman as scientific director and Tjitske Holtrop, Wolfgang Kaltenbrunner and Clara Calero Medina as deputy directors.…

With the help of a LUF grant, archaeology student Anne Wagemakers investigated an archaeological assemblage in Spain. Now her research report has won the annual LISF prize.

Annelot did an internship with the crisis management team of ‘Rijkswaterstaat’. During her internship, she was involved in improving an app used for information management during crisis situations.

In the research for her upcoming book, Elizabeth Stuart: Queen of Hearts, author and academic Nadine Akkerman stumbled upon a little-known portrait of Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia and grandmother of King George I, which she believes would have been considered treasonous at the time it was pain…

Using mathematics to determine whether scientific results are significant or not. Peter Grünwald, full professor of Statistical Learning at the Mathematical Institute (MI) and senior researcher in the Machine Learning group of Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI), has been awarded an ERC Advanced Grant…

There is a lot of discussion about international students and Dutch universities. The Cultural Anthropology and Sociology of Development programme is an international bachelor's programme. Forty per cent of our students come from outside the Netherlands. We ask five students how they feel about studying…

Cut marks on the bones of bears show that people in North-West Europe used bearskins to keep warm 300,000 years ago.

In the Gorlaeus Building, there will be a brand new faculty bar for students and staff. From hundreds of entries, a faculty jury chose the name for this bar. The new bar will be called 'The Fusie'. 'This name exudes togetherness and cosiness,' says FWN assessor Nalani Verwoord. 'And it has an additional…

An event where students came together to discuss the impact of AI on healthcare. Jurren de Groot and Yuxuan Zhu, master's students in Artificial Intelligence, took up the debate. They participated in SimuVaction, an event that brings students worldwide together in Atlanta to simulate an initiative of…

The Faculty of Archaeology's own home-grown journal Inter-Section has released a new volume. Inter-Section offers students and PhD candidates the unique chance to publish in a peer-reviewed journal. The new volume focuses on the materials that shape our world.

Scientific Director of the Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research (LACDR) Hubertus Irth: ‘We test substances and look for new concepts for treating disease.’

Few details, relatively few words. The coalition agreement presented is one of the shortest in the past 20 years, Arco Timmermans knows. Consequently, the outlines were not negotiated for very long, which has its advantages and disadvantages. 'Over the next few weeks, we are mainly going to see the…

From telescopes to science fiction: in just one semester, students with no background in physics or astronomy get to explore the universe. The first group of students started last month in the new minor Our Universe.

On 22 August was the start of the HOPweek, the introduction week for first year students studying at Campus The Hague of Leiden University. First year students were assigned to their own group with their own mentors. During this week the students could do fun activities and workshops where they got…

The Defence White Paper, titled ‘Strong, smart and together’, is debated in the House of Representatives along with the Defence Budget and raises concerns especially in uncertain times.

When we think about ancient Egypt, the first things that come to mind are usually mummies and sarcophagi. According to researcher and Rijksmuseum van Oudheden curator Lara Weiss, that impression is unjustified. She made an audio tour for the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden that focuses on living Egyptians…

It is one of the most famous moments in Dutch TV history: the twenty-three hour long marathon broadcast of Open het Dorp. But what happened to the commune for people with disabilities after that? Monika Baár and Paul van Trigt received a NWO grant of 750,000 euros to map the development of Het Dorp.

For their honours internship, second year students of the Honours College 'Governance & Global Affairs' created the serious game Fallen Angels. In the game you take on the role of NATO, and have to deal with a crisis. Last month, a new generation of Honours students had the opportunity to be the first…

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…