Een mogelijke overname van het Nederlandse cloudbedrijf Solvinity door het Amerikaanse Kyndryl kan ertoe leiden dat de Amerikaanse overheid toegang krijgt tot DigiD-gegevens van Nederlandse burgers. Reijer Passchier, hoogleraar digitalisering en democratische rechtsstaat, waarschuwt op BNR-nieuwsradio…

Digitalisering ondermijnt de democratische rechtsstaat en verschuift macht van parlementen naar Silicon Valley, waarschuwt Reijer Passchier, hoogleraar digitalisering en beginselen van de democratische rechtstaat (OU) en docent staatsrecht in Leiden, in een podcast van de Publieke Ruimte.

An international team of researchers, including scholars from Leiden University, has received a Seed Funding Grant within the Una Europa network. The project, Democracy and AI, focuses on the impact of artificial intelligence on the functioning of democratic systems.

The new Japanese Ambassador, Michii Rokuichiro, visited Leiden University on 2 March.

The Dutch national research organisation NWO has awarded a Veni grant to 21 researchers from Leiden University, two of them are researchers from FGGA: Dovilė Rimkutė and Bart Schuurman.

Advanced LL.M. European and International Human Rights Law and LL.M. European Law students won one of three regional rounds of the Helga Pedersen Moot Court Competition in Athens, qualifying automatically for the final rounds at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

Belle Beems, universitair docent Europees mededingingsrecht, stelt in een uitzending van Kelder & Co, Radio1, dat de grootste uitdaging om grote technologiebedrijven te reguleren niet ligt in nieuwe wetgeving, maar in het effectief handhaven van bestaande regels.

Hervorming van de VN-Veiligheidsraad is urgenter dan ooit. De huidige samenstelling van de Raad weerspiegelt al lang niet meer de huidige machtsverhoudingen, schreef emeritus hoogleraar, Niels Blokker, in een opiniestuk in Dagblad Trouw.

De Faculteit Governance and Global Affairs (FGGA) heeft een facultair team opgesteld om invulling te geven aan Academia in Motion (AiM).

Vasiliki Kosta acted as a speaker during the Dutch-German Science Days held on 26 and 27 November 2025, on the overarching theme ‘Academia in times of global crises: How to deal with the effects on our systems? What can we learn from each other and what can we do together?’.

Beloftes van lokale partijen om asielzoekerscentra te sluiten, gemeenten die dwangsommen aan het COA willen opleggen en de vraag hoe onze rechtsstaat te beschermen tegen autoritaire invloeden met de opkomst van extreem radicaal rechtse partijen: Geerten Boogaard aan het woord in verschillende media.

A group of Leiden students launched the Van Leiden tot Later (From Leiden to Later) media platform on 27 March. In podcasts and videos, they talk with high-profile alumni about the big issues of today. ‘We want to build a bridge between generations.’

Op papier in acht dagen duidelijkheid over asiel, maar in de praktijk duurt de IND-procedure gemiddeld 67 weken. De IND wil de procedure versnellen, mede door nieuwe Europese regels die in juni in werking treden. Mark Klaassen, universitair docent migratierecht duidt de zaak in een uitzending van Ni…

On Friday 12 September 2025, the Opening Ceremony of the European Law LL.M. programme took place in the Lorentz lecture hall at Leiden Law School. Following Dr Barbora Budinska’s and Professor Armin Cuyvers’s warm words of welcome for the incoming students, Dr Darinka Piqani presented two student pr…

Arnold Tukker has been appointed as distinguished visiting professor at Nanjing University in the field of industrial ecology.

Na de informele top in het Belgische kasteel van Alden Biesen wil de Europese Unie vaker gebruikmaken van zogeheten kopgroepen via het instrument van enhanced cooperation om besluitvorming te versnellen. In een interview voor Het Financieele Dagblad analyseert Joris Larik (Leiden University College…

Leiden Law School (departments of Private Law and eLaw) invites you to contribute a chapter in a book on Quantum Technology and Law. The book will consist of contributions based on work presented during the 2026 Quantum & Law conference in Leiden and your contribution as a leading expert in this are…

Nederland bepaalt de leeftijd van asielzoekers deels op uiterlijk en gedrag in een zogenoemde leeftijdsschouw. Verschillende experts, waaronder universitair docent immigratierecht Mark Klaassen, immigratierecht deskundige, wijzen op het belang van een zorgvuldige leeftijdsvaststelling. Dit is nodig…

Nederland bepaalt de leeftijd van asielzoekers deels op uiterlijk en gedrag in een zogenoemde leeftijdsschouw. Verschillende experts, waaronder universitair docent immigratierecht Mark Klaassen, immigratierecht deskundige, wijzen op het belang van een zorgvuldige leeftijdsvaststelling. Dit is nodig…

On Monday 4 September, Professor Christopher Martinez, from the Universidad de Concepción (University of Concepción), Chile, was invited by the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law to introduce his forthcoming book at our university.

Following developments in the US, the EU has now also opened the door for large-scale State aid to its own sustainable industries. A means to curb China’s power. However, this plan is driving the EU and the US apart.

Rosmarijn van Kleef hopes to defend her PhD thesis soon on the liability of football clubs for the misconduct of supporters. In view of the upcoming European Football Championship, a highly topical subject of which a glimpse is given below. The defence will take place on 19 May in Leiden.

The life cycle of comets near the star Beta Pictoris is similar to that of comets in our own solar system. This is the conclusion of a team of astronomers from the Netherlands, France and Brazil. It seems that, just like in our own solar system, there are fewer comets as the star gets older. The researchers,…

While outer space has been explored peacefully for decades, clear rules on lunar mining are lacking. Space law expert Tanja Masson-Zwaan told the BBC that international cooperation is urgently needed to prevent conflict and legal uncertainty.

Ben Van Rompuy, associate professor of European Competiton Law, appeared on 15 April as an expert before the European Parliament's Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection and also authored a briefing paper with recommendations to effectively address Territorial Supply Constraints…

The passport issue concerning ineligible football players seemed to have been resolved, but NAC Breda can cause new unrest with a lawsuit. Stefaan Van den Bogaert, Professor of European Law and sports law expert, comments in ‘NRC’ and ‘Voetbalnieuws’.

According to Brussels, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has systematically been dismantling the rule of law in Hungary since 2010. In a final attempt to do something about this, the EU wants to make payment of subsidies dependent on respect for the rule of law.

ASTRON en de Universiteit Leiden beginnen samen een nieuwe leerstoel over sterrenkunde en AI. Bijzonder hoogleraar Joeri van Leeuwen gaat deze positie vullen.

OpinioJuris, one of the world’s leading international law blogs, has hosted an interdisciplinary online symposium on Professor Carsten Stahn’s new book entitled ‘Confronting Colonial Objects’.

Women’s marches against emergency asylum shelters in the Netherlands are on the rise. In ‘Trouw’ newspaper, Arjan Blokland, Professor of Criminology & Criminal justice, says women face more risks in a sports canteen than when cycling past an asylum shelter.

The European Horizons Youth Security Conference successfully took place on May 9th, 2026. More than 85 students gathered in Leiden to participate in a day filled with panels, workshops, and discussions on international security. The event was organized by students on behalf of European Horizons Leiden…

During the annual State of the Art Conference organised by the Dutch Ministry of Asylum and Migration on 2 June, Talha Gunay and Mark Klaassen from the Department of European Law joined a panel discussion to examine the new EU Return Regulation.

On Architecture Day, residents of The Hague had the chance to take a look inside Spui Campus.

One of the core concepts of the Master programme Crisis & Security Management (CSM) is ‘governance’. In the course Security Networks and Technology, the focus is on the interplay between various levels of security governance and new technological developments.

During the online panel discussion ‘Het spel en de macht’ (the game and the power) held on 9 March, six members of Leiden’s Centre for Dutch Politics and Governance (CNPB) discussed trends regarding the current and previous general elections. Will it be tense, this campaign? ‘Baudet probably still has…

On 27 February 1976, two men wearing motorcycle helmets and carrying loaded guns ring the door of temping agency Cito. A security van has just delivered cash. The suspect later claims in court that he and his friend were just doing a ‘dress rehearsal’ – preparing ahead in other words, but not an actual…

The publication of the recent IPCC report on climate change has not gone unnoticed, to put it mildly, certainly not within the Liveable Planet community.

‘Dutch politics are changing, but they also are characterised by stability; that tension fascinates me.’ Sarah de Lange studies, among other things, the Dutch party system, and specifically how the rise of extremist parties influences democracy. She will start as a professor in Leiden in mid-October…

One million migrant workers are employed in the Netherlands, often in poor conditions. If we want to reduce labour migration, we need to restructure the economy, says economist Olaf van Vliet. Either way, we need to address abuses, says FNV lawyer Imke van Gardingen.

Many students and members of staff at Leiden University are politically active. In the run up to the local elections on 21 March candidates in The Hague and Leiden explain why you should vote for them, and what they want to do if they are elected. In this article, the Leiden candidates.

Various consortia in which Leiden University is represented are beginning interdisciplinary research, which will bring scientific and societal breakthroughs within reach. Knowledge institutions, government and private parties are working closely together on the projects.

Despite an eventful afternoon – with Students for Palestine occupying the Academy Building – political scientist Hélène Landemore gave her Cleveringa Lecture as planned on 26 November. She reflected on the protest and the importance of open debate, within the university and within a democracy.

‘Without that Veni grant, I would never have been able to delve into my subject so deeply. During the first two months, I only read articles and other professional literature. A dream, I would skip home afterwards.’

With great sadness we share the news that Prof. Harold Linnartz passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on Sunday 31 December 2023. We are all in shock, and our thoughts are with his wife and children, other family, and friends. Harold was at the heart of our institute, as a researcher, as a supervisor,…

‘Heritage Under Threat’ and ‘The Rooseveltian Century’ are among the 21 best MOOCs for a general public according to New York Magazine.

On the 442nd anniversary of the foundation of Leiden University, and at the start of the Leiden Asia Year, lawyer Jan Michiel Otto, an expert in the field of law in developing countries, delivered the first Dies lecture. He compared demagogues in Asia who call upon Muslims to turn against their governments…

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.

In this flash interview we get a flash introduction of our President and alumna Annetje Ottow.

The conference Storie del possibile took place in the Ex- lavanderia of Santa Maria della Pietà in the neighbourhood Monte Mario in Rome, on April 21-22 2018. Maria Vasile, PhD candidate of the "Food Citizens?" project, attended the conference and shares her experiences.

79 students, 15 organisations, and 16 projects: within the master’s programme Governance of Sustainability, diverse groups of students worked together with organisations to tackle sustainability challenges. In this blog, Annemiek de Looze reflects on how the power of their transdisciplinary approaches…