The development plans for the Humanities Campus are changing somewhat. The financial challenges at the Faculty of Humanities and the higher education cuts mean Leiden University has to reduce its spending. One consequence is the Lipsius building will not be rebuilt after demolition in 2031.

On 25 January 2018, at 16:15 hrs, Yannick van den Brink will defend his doctoral thesis titled ‘Voorlopige hechtenis in het Nederlands jeugdstrafrecht’ (‘Pre-trial detention in the Dutch juvenile justice system’) at the Academy Building of Leiden University. The doctoral research is supervised by Professor…

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.

As climate change and ecological degradation’s effects on our mental health becomes more severe, we must all do our best to protect not just the environment, but also our mental well-being. Therefore, on this Sustainability Day, we have collaborated with Healthy University Leiden to focus on the relationship…

More and more people worldwide have infections caused by bacteria that are resistant to many types of antibiotic. Why is this and how big of a problem is it?

A year ago, we looked back at a wonderful 4th international PUPOL conference in Wellington, New Zealand. The conference theme “Collaborative Leadership for a Sustainable Future” could not have been more suitable - unbelievable how our environment has changed in a short time as a result of COVID-19 and…

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.

Statement from the Editorial Board of the Common Market Law Review regarding the UK Brexit referendum campaign:

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,…

With the launch of the Albabtain Leiden University Centre for Arabic Culture, Leiden University and the AbdulAziz Saud Al-Babtain Cultural Foundation will join hands in promoting the understanding of Arabic culture. Have a look at the centre's plans for the years ahead.

An international team of researchers led by Leiden archaeology professor Marie Soressi and Leipzig senior geneticist Matthias Meyer has recovered the DNA of a woman belonging to an Ancient North Eurasian population from a 20,000-year-old pendant. This is the first time DNA analysis has been used to…

Maria Yazdanbakhsh, Professor of Parasitology at the Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC), has been awarded an ERC Advanced Grant of 2.5 million euros. She will investigate why people in Africa and Southeast Asia respond less to certain vaccines than Europeans. Her goal is to find a solution for…

Hybrid Workshop: In person and online on 26 – 27 January 2023.

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.’

An international team of astronomers has discovered a large reservoir of hot gas in the cluster-in-formation around the Spiderweb Galaxy. Based partly on that hot gas, the astronomers predict that the cluster-in-formation will grow into one of the largest objects in the universe. A step closer to discovering…

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.

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.

Historical figures such as Columbus have returned to the centre of public debate. Much remains to be discovered about his legacy and current impact on our society. A new study shows the ecological footprint that the arrival of Europeans left in the Caribbean islands.

On Saturday, February 11, 2023, at the Dies for Alumni event, archaeology alumni Everest Gromoll was awarded the LUF Thesis Prize. His thesis, titled ‘Neolithizers by Nurture’, explores parallels between the only two comparable climatic shifts in the history of modern humans: that of the one 12,000…

Planets existing in other solar systems contain invaluable information about the origin of planets and life. PhD candidate Yapeng Zhang has studied their atmospheres by looking at their smallest parts: isotopes. With her research she hopes to discover what makes our own solar system unique.

The Hortus Botanicus is celebrating its 425-year anniversary this year. It’s the oldest botanical garden in the Netherlands, but how did it come into existence and what kind of research takes place there?

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.’

Micah DenBraber studied at Leiden University College in The Hague while pursuing an internship at the World Resources Institute (WRI), a self-proclaimed ‘think-and-do-tank’, where he built partnerships with the philanthropic sector, among other things.

Martin Richardson, who graduated in 1997 from what was then the Leiden LLM Programme in European Community Law (now: Leiden Adv LLM European and International Business Law, EIBL), has recently been appointed as a Senator of the College of Justice in Scotland, meaning that he is now a judge of the highest…

This year, Leiden University will participate for the first time in the Cultural Talent to the Top monitor. This will provide insight into the University’s diversity policy with regard to staff from a non-western background. The ultimate aim is to promote ethnic and cultural diversity in certain rol…

Three research projects with researchers from Leiden University have received a Dutch Research Council Open Competition Science-M grant. This is for innovative, high-quality fundamental research within the science domain.

The Dutch asylum application centre in Ter Apel is overburdened, an issue that is currently a prominent feature in the Dutch media. In podcast De Verbranders, PhD students Neske Baerwaldt and Wiebe Ruijtenberg engage in dialogue, and use different angles to examine themes related to migration, borders…

PhD candidate Dennis Wander searches for the best of both worlds. That is to say: a cancer drug that is effective and also has minimal side effects. To this end, he makes new molecules inspired by two existing medicines. And not without result: ‘We have created a new variant that is very promising.’…

Dr Nadine Akkerman, lecturer in Early Modern Literature and postdoctoral researcher in Leiden, has written a new book to accompany the exhibition on Elizabeth Stuart and Amalia von Solms at the Historical Museum of The Hague. ‘They were like goddesses, constantly trying to upstage one another,’ says…

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…

Bone remains that are thousands of years old are often too fragmented to be identified. PhD candidate Frido Welker is the first person to be able to distinguish human bones from one another on the basis of old proteins. PhD defence 18 May.

It’s all hands on deck at the moment to resolve the COVID-19 crisis. Researchers from various disciplines are helping where they can, also from the field of artificial intelligence (AI). AI offers great opportunities both at the frontline of the crisis and in its expected aftermath. Leiden professor…

On 21 June, our beloved colleague Joan van der Waals passed away after a long and rewarding life.

On 1 May, Casper de Jonge will be appointed Professor of Greek Language and Literature. ‘Greek literature did not come from Athens alone: authors from Egypt, Syria and Asia Minor also wrote in Greek.’

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.

Nanoparticles that transport medicines to a specific part of the human body are usually broken down in the liver prematurely. Jeroen Bussmann from Leiden University has discovered a new method to prevent this from happening. Publication in ACS Nano.

The University's CO2 footprint has once again decreased. This is the conclusion of the 2022 Sustainability Report. The report also concludes that steps have been taken to integrate sustainability into Leiden University education and research.

The Netherlands Academy for Empirical Legal Studies is now live with website!

A piece of corrugated rubber can function as a simple computer, displaying memory and displaying the ability to count to two. Leiden physicists describe the computing rubber in the journal PNAS. ‘Simple materials can process information, and we want to find the principles behind that.’

During the 80th session of the Geneva-based Institut de Droit International, Aleydis Nissen was awarded the Andrés Bello Prize. The competition was established by James Brown Scott in 1931 and is carried out under the auspices of the Institut.

When professors become emeriti, it usually does not mean they stop working. The Centre for Linguistics (LUCL) will therefore soon have a first: a symposium is going to be organised where all the speakers are emeriti professors. 'Science will always be part of you are.'

In many student cities, the number of corona infections grows, and in Leiden we can also see rising figures. Especially in student housing, it is sometimes difficult to keep your distance, how do you do that? We asked students about mutual agreements in their student housing.

The supermassive black hole at the center of the Circinus galaxy is being fed with gas by two spiral arms. This is what PhD candidate Wout Goesaert discovered. But only a small percentage disappears into the black hole, the rest is ejected.

At the OWL faculty day about 150 newcomers met their fellow students and had a chance to check out the study and research facilities at the Faculty of Science. The OWL introduction week is specially for new international bachelor’s and master’s students at Leiden University.

During an episode of Dutch television talk show PAUW on Monday 24 July, presenter Jeroen Pauw discussed the new threat assessment recently published by the Dutch National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism (NCTV). Jelle van Buuren, Assistant Professor Terrorism and Political Violence at Leiden…

From the very beginning, the Islam has known an oral tradition. It was only two hundred years ago that Muslims starting writing about the history of Islam, on rocks or other hard materials. Arabic epigraphy (study of inscriptions) turns out to be an essential tool in historical genealogy research. Abdullah…