How do practice and theory reinforce one another in neuroscience? Professor Birte Forstmann’s inaugural lecture on 2 October will be about building interdisciplinary bridges between cognitive neuroscience and cognitive models. Her approach may lead to brain research with fewer side-effects for patie…

Hari Nugroho explores the role of local dynamics in shaping Indonesian labour movements. By focusing on the micro-level, this research reveals how labour organisation strategies are influenced by individual actors' personal histories, their interactions, and the way in which they respond the local economic…

Depression has traditionally been linked to increased inflammation. Innovative research by psychologist Eiko Fried refutes this popular assumption. He shows that specific depression symptoms such as sleeping problems explain this relationship. Publication in Psychological Medicine .

Four students of the Faculty of Archaeology investigated how the current and past inhabitants of the Dutch province of South Holland deal with water. Their findings now feature in an exhibition that can now be visited in the Van Steenis building’s Reuvenshal.

Advisory Board member Francesca Forno shares insights about the Food Citizens? project.

Isabel van Vledder and Dieuwertje van der Vlugt, 2 astronomy students from Leiden University, have mapped the entire Milky Way galaxy in dwarf stars for the first time. This result is the most comprehensive model ever for the distribution of these stars. The findings appear in a new paper in Monthly…

Merijn de Bakker and colleagues of the IBL-research group of Prof. Mike Richardson provide a unique view on digit evolution in crocodiles and birds in their recent study published in Nature.

On Monday 11 February, the first issue of the Journal of the LUCAS Graduate Conference went online officially.

Leiden University and the Beijing Institute of Technology will be collaborating in the area of computer science teaching and research. One of the first outcomes of this collaboration will be a joint four-year bachelor's programme. Willem te Beest, Vice-President of the Executive Board, and Professor…

Can suffering be positive? Currently dominant discourses, primarily voiced through human rights activism and humanitarianism, maintain the opposite: suffering, mentally and physically, has to be avoided and where it exists, it has to be reduced.

For the students of our Dutch institutions, the Netherlands Embassy supported an ‘academic retreat’ at hotel Stella de Mare in Ayn Sukhna. During this two-day retreat, our students discussed with students of al-Azhar University in Cairo on various topics. It was an open exchange of ideas and feedback…

It's never too early for students to be smart about preparing for the job market. This year Leiden University is launching new initiatives to improve the transition from university to work. The new awareness campaign - CareerTime - is starting on 29 September with career stands at the faculties.

The logic seems inescapable indeed. The bigger the population, the higher the probability it contains an Einstein. Hence, bigger populations are more likely to develop complex culture.

How are stars and planets formed? Is life outside Earth possible? These questions are being researched by Professor of Molecular Astrophysics Ewine van Dishoeck at Leiden University. Her pioneering work has earned her the Kavli prize in the category of astrophysics. The prize consists of 1,000,000 dollars…

A team of scientists, including Leiden Astronomer Alice Booth, has discovered silicon monosulfide molecules in the dust disk around a young star. Such molecules indicate planet formation. The team made the discovery using the ALMA telescopes. This method provides an alternative when direct observation…

Higher temperatures are resulting in changes to vegetation and soil in mountain areas throughout the world. An international research team including Leiden ecologist Ellen Cieraad published an article on 25 January in Nature on the disruption to the ecosystem.

An international team including Peter van Bodegom shows how trait variability can be incorporated in Essential Biodiversity Variables to allow monitoring how organisms respond to global change. They published their results in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.

Hundreds of beautiful and timeless photos by Emmy Andriesse, one of the most important Dutch photographers of the twentieth century, are now freely accessible for everyone and can be used for research, education or other purposes. Large parts of Andriesse's oeuvre are already available online via Digital…

This year Dirk Visser will celebrate working at the faculty for 25 years. During this period he has progressed from being a student assistant to becoming an expert in information and copyright law in the Netherlands. This event will be marked with a symposium to be held on 2 September as part of the…

Archaeologist Corinne Hofman wins the Distinguished Lorentz Fellowship 2018/19 for research into the changing world of indigenous peoples as a result of colonialism. “The perspective of indigenous communities is still lacking in most history books.

Fascinating images, articles of clothing and other unique objects from the past four centuries of the history of Leiden University can now be seen in the ‘Celebrating Curiosity’ exhibition in the hall of Rapenburg 70.

The political parties in the running to form a Dutch cabinet are looking into solutions to curb the influx of refugees. The plan is to designate refugee accommodation as a crisis. But is it as simple as that? Mark Klaassen, Assistant Professor in European law, discusses this on Dutch current affairs…

The Faculty of Science celebrated the 500,000th open access publication in NARCIS with all employees who help making Leiden Science publications open access. During this event the importance of open access was stressed, for both the Faculty and the researcher.

Pancras Hogendoorn bade farewell as Dean of Medicine and Vice-Chairman of the LUMC Board of Directors with a symposium at the LUMC.

The Klokhuis dedicates a special episode to Leiden alumnus and famous scientist Christiaan Huygens. Part of the episode was recorded at the Leiden Observatory. Leiden researchers also helped shape the episode, which debuts on Tuesday 2 November.

LUMC Campus The Hague will be contributing to the health of the inhabitants of The Hague with research, teaching and a training programme for GPs. The new campus is an initiative of the LUMC, Leiden University, the hospitals in The Hague, the Area Health Authority and the municipality of The Hague.…

Together, Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC), Leiden University and Philips are one of the 17 AI labs within the ROBUST consortium that will receive support from the Dutch Research Council (NWO). The aim of this collaboration is to use artificial intelligence to speed up MRI scans.

It’s often said that citizens have lost trust in their governments. But who exactly are these ‘citizens’? And which aspects of people’s contact with government agencies work better than others? These questions will be discussed at the Crafting Resilience conference (working language is English) on…

Positive expectations about treatment increase the likelihood of success. The new Center for Interdisciplinary Placebo Studies Leiden is therefore promoting research on the placebo effect and offering expertise and training for care providers. At the opening, the founders demonstrated their VR communications…

Migraine is a brain disease. If it were simple, we would have solved it already'. That is the title of the inaugural lecture delivered by Professor of Neurology Gisela Terwindt on Friday 3 June. In her speech she emphasises the importance of research into the differences between women and men with m…

Tell the truth about sustainability, become climate neutral by 2025 and safeguard democracy within the University. These are, in short, the demands of a petition by University Rebellion, a subgroup of the Extinction Rebellion movement. On 19 November they visited all Dutch universities, including Le…

Leiden University Libraries has made a large number of unofficial poetry journals from China accessible online in its Digital Collections. This opens up thousands of pages from an internationally unique collection of unofficial Chinese poetry for teaching, research, and the general public, including…

The Leiden Hortus Botanicus is the oldest botanical garden in the Netherlands. Although perfect for a ramble, it is much more than an open air museum. PhD students carry out their research here and the Hortus makes a serious contribution to biodiversity through the exchange of rare seeds with other…

30 Years of Pale Blue Dot - 14 February 2020, Kaiserzaal, Old Observatory - The Pale Blue Dot Symposium is an event to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the iconic picture showing the Earth as a tiny speck in the vastness of space and to discuss its impact on humankind. At the end of the symposium,…

Archaeology is also digging with computers. This digital quest to find out how we humans lived in the past is what Karsten Lambers likes doing most. He is the first Professor of Digital and Computational Archaeology in the country. ‘A dream come true.’

A delegation from Leiden University will be visiting several Japanese universities and research institutions from 18 to 26 November to discuss research and teaching collaborations.

The number of victims of child abuse is estimated to be higher during the first lockdown compared with a period without a lockdown. This is mainly due to an increase in the number of victims of emotional neglect, including educational neglect and witnessing domestic abuse. Families with children about…

Professor Jan Willem Erisman is happy with the freedom at our University. But frameworks are needed, he believes. That is why he makes a proposal for such a framework from the perspective of his own profession. In fact, he makes a proposal for a wonderful ambition for Leiden University.

Leiden astronomer Anthony Brown had the honour to give the prestigious Spitzer Lectures at Princeton University. In five lectures spread over the beginning of May, he gave an insight into the Gaia Mission. ‘One of the intellectual highlights of the year.’

Research integrity is vital for good research. How to make it an inseparable part of research culture takes more than having rules and procedures in place. The EU Horizon 2020 project Standard Operating Procedures for Research Integrity (SOPs4RI) has found three areas and nine topics of focus in the…

Hans-Martien ten Napel has been awarded a Research Fellowship in Legal Studies at the Center of Theological Inquiry (CTI) at Princeton University, USA, which enables him to be in full-time residence at CTI for the academic year, 1 September 2014 to 31 May 2015.

PhD student Robbin Bastiaansen applies mathematics to get insight in practical problems. By comparing mathematical models with developments in existing ecosystems, he hopes to demystify the process of desertification. His research has been published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences…

An inclusive holiday calendar for the municipality Leiden or a new website for the Fenestra Disability Centre. It is a small selection of the solutions that honours students developed to make our current society more equal. For months they worked on these ideas and proudly presented their findings last…

Violent conflicts and civil wars in Chad impede most rural households' access to food security, agricultural activities and access to essential services such as health care. In her dissertation, Nakar Djindil Syntyche denounces this issue. She obtained her PhD on 24 November.

Seventeen Leiden University scientists appear on the 2019 Highly Cited Researchers list, which was announced on 19 November by Clarivate Analytics.

Last week, aviation professionals and leaders from around the world gathered in Chicago to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Chicago Convention, the landmark treaty that laid the foundation for modern international civil aviation and established the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).…

The Just Peace Festival's first edition is live! The Opening Event marked the beginning of two weeks filled with activities to reflect on what peace and justice mean in today's world.

Whales in the vicinity of the city of Auckland, New Zealand consume large amounts of microplastics every day. A team of international researchers reached this conclusion after carefully examining whale poop. The team included Thijs Bosker, Associate Professor in Environmental Sciences at Leiden University…

Leiden University has published its Annual Report for 2018. Although it too has faced complex themes in the last year such as staff workload, internationalisation, social security and funding, it has made significant progress in achieving its ambitions.

Preventie, signalering en opsporing van seksuele uitbuiting van jongeren kan effectiever via buren, klasgenoten en andere mensen uit hun sociale leefomgeving. Dit volgt na onderzoek van universitair docent Ieke de Vries in samenwerking met het Centrum Kinderhandel en Mensenhandel (CKM).