The Executive Board appointed Sanneke Kuipers as full professor effective January 1, 2022. Her chair is Crisis Governance. She combines this chair with her position as education director of ISGA, the Institute of Security and Global Affairs. A conversation about working 24/7 in crisis management, her…

‘Teaching is not merely a profession; it’s a calling.’ These were the words of Ayo Adedokun on winning the LUS Teaching Prize at the opening of the academic year on 6 September. The prize is for the best lecturer of the year.

Organisations like the UN and the EU should be given more powers to combat transboundary problems. This is the message of a report published by the Swedish SNS Democracy Council, whose authors include Prof. Jan Aart Scholte of Leiden University. The researchers also wrote the following article.

Countries that import plastic waste recycle an average of at least 63 percent of it. This is surprising, as we previously believed that the vast majority was incinerated or ended up as litter. This was discovered by PhD candidate Kai Li and his colleagues from the Institute of Environmental Sciences in…

Young Academy Leiden (YAL) will change its board this month and welcome six new members. Outgoing chair Rachel Plak and incoming chair Ahmed Mahfouz talk about what the platform has achieved for young academics over the past year and what the plans are for the future.

Professor Marc Koper researches how you can use electrical energy to make or break chemical bonds. He has just been awarded a Spinoza Prize, the Netherlands’ highest personal science award, for his fundamental research into how this form of electrolysis works.

They are not always in the spotlight but are essential to our scientific research: Leiden research support professionals. And their network is growing and professionalising all the time. Over a hundred such professionals shared knowledge and gained inspiration at the Leiden Research Support Network…

For some it will sound like music to their ears, but for others is may sound less appealing: now the advice on working from home has changed, we can once again go to the office. After a period of working from home, which for some lasted almost two years (with maybe a short break), it can be a big transition.…

ESA’s space telescope Gaia, which maps the Milky Way, completes its active phase of scanning the sky on 15 January. Over the past decade, Gaia has made more than three trillion observations of about two billion stars and other cosmic objects. ‘Gaia is already the discovery machine of the decade,’ Leiden…

For thirty years, the Dutch Newspaper AD conducted an annual search for the best herring. This came to an end when economist Ben Vollaard, based on a statistical analysis, claimed it was rigged. But that claim doesn't smell right, says Leiden statistician Richard Gill. ‘The way you code and process…

Two deans: one leaving and one just arriving. Paul Wouters was deputising at the Faculty from March up to December. As of January he returns to his 'ordinary' role as dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences. Jasper Knoester is taking over from him, as he will be leaving Groningen for Leiden. How did…

Access to education for people from the lower socio-economic class has improved immensely in Europe from the 1950s onwards. Yet the Roma and Sinti were unable to reap benefits from this. PhD candidate Anita van der Hulst researched why so few Roma and Sinti went on to higher education. PhD defence on…

High-quality education, research involving multiple faculties, collaboration between universities and central government funding to make all this possible: these were the topics covered in a working visit of the Standing Committee for Education, Culture and Science (OCW) to the Association of Universities…

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…

It was a memorable start to September. While Leiden marked the opening of the academic year, The Hague celebrated the launch of three new degree programmes. Students were welcomed on a blue carpet rolled out at the entrance to the lecture halls.

It’s been exactly 20 years since Luris first began working with Leiden’s researchers and students to create an impact on society. To celebrate this anniversary, staff look back on their most memorable projects. Spoiler: they all had difficulty choosing one single project.

Speaking for the Executive Board, Timo Kos reflects on the university’s security policy and what lies ahead. ‘We want to keep our buildings open, but we also need to be able to guarantee the safety of everyone there. It’s a real balancing act.’

For more than 35 years they helped put American Studies on the map: Joke Kardux and Eduard van de Bilt. This spring, the couple retired. A farewell interview.

What happens in the brains of people with psychiatric illnesses? With a €23.23 million gravity grant, scientists from different fields will search for biological causes over the next decade. ‘By joining forces, we hope to improve diagnosis and treatment for patients with these diseases.’

A million people in the Netherlands attempt to quit smoking each year, often without lasting success. Health psychologist Kristell Penfornis carried out doctoral research into the role of self-image in smoking cessation. “If smoking is normal in your social circle, it more easily becomes part of your…

What does it mean to protect against disaster in the context of climate change and other cascading environmental crises? Although the question of protection against disasters has long been discussed in the case of humanitarian assistance (Redfield, 2012), current debates on climate change and other…

Conference

Prof.dr. E.M. Rossi Prof.dr. K.H. Kuijken dr. S. van Velzen Summary Almost one hundred of stellar-mass black hole mergers have been detected via gravitational waves in the last ten years. However, the physical origin of these merging binary systems is still debated. One proposed formation scenario involves…

Most historians of medicine interested in the Dutch East Indies have focused on the role of two allegedly incompatible medical traditions: western and traditional medicine. They thereby overlook various other medical traditions that were present as well as the way medical traditions are selectively…

Didactics

Prof.dr. C. ten Cate Prof.dr. S.C. Vernes (Max Planck Institute) Summary In this thesis, I investigated the neurogenetic properties of Neotropical bat species. Bats represent the second largest mammalian order (Chiroptera) in the world, with Neotropical bats constituting about 13% of the total number…

dr. R. Ramautar Prof.dr. T. Hankemeier Summary Metabolomics is een krachtige tool om inzicht te verkrijgen in de complexiteit van de menselijke biologie en de pathofysiologie van ziekten⁠. Door het metaboloom te analyseren, wat verwijst naar de verzameling van stofwisselingsproducten die aanwezig zijn…

Lecture

Evenement

The Schoof government, which has since assumed a caretaker role, presented its coalition agreement last year, followed later by its budget. As expected, higher education is facing severe cuts. In the coming period, the Executive Board will regularly (see updates below) look at the consequences of what…

Screening documentary

In a period of rising threats to constitutional government within countries and among them, it is a crucial time to study the rule of law in transnational context. This framework paper defines core concepts, analyzes the relation of national and international law and institutions from a rule-of-law…

Lecture, COGLOSS Seminar

Prof.dr. G. Kroonen Prof.dr. K. Kristiansen (University of Gothenburg) Summary Latin is one of the most important Indo-European languages in European history. Between the dissolution of Proto-Indo-European on the Pontic-Caspian steppe and the first attestation of written Latin on the Italian Peninsula,…

The solar system’s smallest worlds have long seemed especially menacing. Fears that comets might herald – or perhaps cause – the destruction of life-giving environments stretch back into antiquity.

Lecture

PhD defence

Prof.dr. L.P.H.M. Buskens Prof.dr. A.W. Bedner Summary This dissertation has approached marriage and divorce among Muslims in ‘peripheral’ areas in Indonesia from various angles, employing legal analysis as well as historical and ethnographic research. The study seeks to understand the intricate relationship…

Prof.dr. M. Haentjens Prof.dr. W. den Ouden Summary Ten years ago, the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) was created. For the first time in history, European banking supervision was centralized. In the SSM, the European Central Bank (ECB) cooperates closely with the National Competent Authorities (NCAs),…

Leadership, Personal development, Management

Arts and culture, Studium Generale

Prof.dr H. Linnartz Prof.dr. E.F. van Dishoeck Summary Complexe organische moleculen (COM's) zijn gedetecteerd in objecten in verschillende evolutie stadia van sterren⁠. Veel van deze COM's zullen zich naar verwachting vormen in interstellair ijs en later overgaan in de gasfase⁠. Daarom is interstellair…

Full-day International Workshop

Lecture, VVIK lecture

Prof.dr. R.H. Bremmer dr. M.H. Porck Prof.dr. P.Th.J.M. Vossen (VU) Summary “Veranderen, wijzigen, of aanpassen?” Het kiezen van het juiste woord, bijvoorbeeld bij het opstellen van een tekst of toespraak, wordt eenvoudiger met een thesaurus⁠. Deze woordenboeken zijn enorm waardevol voor het opzoeken…

From energy transition to the nitrogen crisis: artificial intelligence can be of great help. Researchers from the three universities in Zuid-Holland are seizing the opportunity. Three of them talk about collaborative research in the AI for Energy and Sustainability focus group within the Zuid-Holland…

Before the SSH labs in the Sylvius building will open their doors in the new academic year, there are still some obstacles to overcome. But when everything has been taken care of, the laboratories will be a place ‘where you can do almost everything you would ever want to do in your lab research.’

Space telescope Euclid is capable of unravelling the secrets of the universe. That is what the images published by ESA today show, according to astronomers working with the telescope's data. The images exceed all expectations. Scientists within the Euclid consortium, including astronomers Henk Hoekstra…

Yousef Yousef is a 'self-made man'. But he first obtained his bachelor's degree in tax law in Leiden. 'A CEO needs to have a basic understanding of the principles of law', he says.

Why do people commit violence? A question that may not occupy many minds, but one that Don Weenink has been researching for many years. Since 1 March, the sociologist has held the title of professor of Violence and Policing.