A new collaborative monograph of democratic theory, The Sciences of the Democracies, was released by UCL Press on August 7. The book, in the style of a democratic manifesto, is written by a large number of co-authors in a bold attempt to expand and deepen how democracy is studied and understood. Among…

On Wednesday 19 January 2022, the online mid-term review of the legal programmes took place on the platform Let’s Get Digital. It was an interactive afternoon in which 130 participants openly and critically discussed the educational strategy for the legal programmes and the faculty.

When former Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström announced in 2014 that Sweden would become the first state to implement a feminist approach to its foreign policy, her idea was met with giggles. [1] But the concept quickly spread around the world. In May 2022, the Netherlands became the 10th state…

Comparing gazes between Turin and other cities in the global north.

Participating in discussions as a student, at an administrative level? Jonatan Wirix-Speetjens has done so for the past two years as assessor of the Faculty of Humanities. Ebrar Kaya will take over the position of assessor starting this September. In this interview we look back and ahead at the asse…

As convener for the EASA Network for the Anthropology of Race and Ethnicity, Jasmijn Rana organized a two-day symposium on Decolonizing European Anthropology. It brought together anthropologists from different European countries and non-European anthropologists working in and on Europe. Discussions…

Leiden University has a new Executive Board. Since 8 February 2021, Annetje Ottow has been the new President and Hester Bijl the new Rector Magnificus of the Board, while Martijn Ridderbos has continued in his role as Vice-Chairman.

This Justice for Children Call to Action offers a new starting point to place children at the heart of an emerging global movement for justice. It strives to ensure that, in collective efforts to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, no child is left behind.

This year’s University elections will be held from 25 to 29 May. You get to choose who will represent you this coming year in the University Council as well as the faculty council of the Science Faculty. This week, the various student parties will introduce themselves. Today: Lijst Vooruitstrevende…

On September 12th, the faculty of Governance and Global Affairs organized a lecture and debate together with the organization Prinsjesfestival. The event was about 100 years of universal rights to vote, specifically women’s rights to vote.

Leiden University has become a partner of the Global Coalition for Social Justice.

Cognitive neuroscientist Anne Urai is part of the Neuromatch Conference team. With the prize for open science, Neuromatch wants to reduce or remove barriers in financing, education, and closed networks among well-funded labs that many scientists face, by providing always-affordable, pay-what-you-can…

With the What's Next? series we hope to inspire current Media Technology MSc students, show the variety of paths taken after the studies, and bring together alumni. Editions of the series are generally organized around a particular theme by Media Technology MSc students themselves, and followed by social…

Darinka Piqani and Moritz Jesse, both from the Europa Institute Leiden, were invited as speakers at the Centre for Constitutionalism and Human Rights, established at the Faculty of Law of Charles University, Prague.

On Friday 27 September, through all weathers, Bachelor of Psychology graduates gathered at the Hooglandse Kerk with family and friends to receive their diplomas.

With the What's Next? series we hope to inspire current Media Technology MSc students, show the variety of paths taken after the studies, and bring together alumni. Editions of the series are generally organized around a particular theme by Media Technology MSc students themselves, and followed by social…

The Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Centre for BOLD Cities uses multidisciplinary big data research to help find solutions for urban problems. ‘BOLD’ stands for ‘Big, Open and Linked Data’. Data science is one of the Centre’s main disciplines.

The Max van der Stoel Human Rights Award is presented every two years on 10 December (Human Rights Day) in recognition of outstanding academic works in the field of international human rights.

The overlapping of intergovernmental organizations sharing Member States is one of the key challenges for achieving effective regional integration.

Professor Jan-Bart Gewald has been appointed as the new director of the African Studies Centre in Leiden with effect from 1 September 2017, for a period of five years. Professor Gewald will succeed Ton Dietz, who will be retiring in September.

Doctorates, scholarships, or a trip around the world during a sabbatical: when it comes to our careers, we often talk about what went well. The CV of Failures exhibition at the Herta Mohr Building shows the other side of the coin. On large boards, university staff talk about rejections, setbacks, and…

A hidden disability can make studying a considerable challenge, partly because of the disability itself, but also because others may not realise that extra support is justified. To overcome this problem, the Faculty of Humanities is introducing the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower.

The European Parliament’s newly created Subcommittee on Tax Matters held a public hearing on the EU’s work on harmful tax practices on the 1st of December.

On 20 June 2024, Jamal El Ouahi successfully defended his PhD thesis at Leiden University.

One of the EU's most heralded weapons against tax avoidance and evasion falls prey to political whims, is applied arbitrarily, and lacks transparency, according to tax observers and lawmakers.

Do you practice public engagement? The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has just released a unique set of open-source materials designed to be used in public engagement training workshops.

Leiden University has the highest percentage of female professors of all the Dutch Universities. At 24 per cent, Leiden is well ahead of the other universities in the Netherlands.

On Thursday 11 November, Women in International Security Netherlands (WIIS-NL) held its inaugural webinar event on 11 November with four speakers in conjunction with the International Centre for Terrorism (ICCT) and the Chair UN Studies in Peace and Justice at Leiden University.

The worldwide protests following the police violence in the United States show how deep-rooted and wide-spread racism is across the world. As an academic institution doing research on law & society, the Van Vollenhoven Institute is very much aware of systemic racism and speaks out in support of these…

Kai Hebel explains how the 1975 Helsinki Accords shaped European diplomacy and why their spirit remains urgently relevant in an era of renewed geopolitical in the Guardian.

Starting on Thursday 16 May 2019, the Faculty of Archaeology features a new mini exhibition, ‘Archaeology&ME’. Ten showcases address the public’s connection with archaeology. They show how archaeology matters to them and how it constitutes a bridge between the past, present and future.

OSCL members, amongst which our representative in the Archaeology faculty, were part of Data Carpentry for Social Sciences. Here's what happened.

Camille Lefebvre, PhD candidate at the Graduate School of International Studies of Université Laval and the Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance and Society of Leiden Law School, has been selected as a recipient of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Fellowship and Leadership Program.

On 20 November 2025, eLaw hosted the second capacity-building session of the BIAS project, coinciding with the city’s first snowfall of the year. The training brought together HR practitioners, scholars, consultants, and policymakers to discuss the opportunities and challenges of using AI systems in…

The Student Cabinet, a shadow cabinet with students from the Dutch universities, has presented its first ‘coalition agreement’. As Minister for New Democracy, Leiden student Zeineb Romdhane says inclusion should form ‘the basis of our democracy’.

The 20th Biennial International Conference on Baroque Music will be hosted by the Haute École de Musique de Genève-Neuchâtel at its Geneva campus from Wednesday 28 June 2023 to Sunday 2 July 2023 inclusive.

The UK has recently been facing racist violence outbreaks. Tahir Abbas, Professor of Radicalisation Studies, discusses this in an article on Hyphen.

Last year Leiden University appointed an extra 25 female professors. With these appointments the Executive Board has increased the percentage of women in the highest academic role.

At Orientation Week Leiden, a record 1,378 new international students got to know the city and one another. From a cracking karaoke party to fishing plastic out of the canals – see what they got up to in the photos!

Leiden University organized its first university-wide iftar, an event aimed at fostering connection and dialogue on cultural and religious diversity. This initiative was made possible by the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, POPcorner-FSW, student association SABR, and POPcorner The Hague.

With a barbecue at the Scheveningen beach the Leiden Science Buddy Programme was kicked off on 7 August. In this first round, 64 new international students are paired to current students. These buddies will do their very best to make the new students feel right at home in Leiden.

On January 7th Minister van Engelshoven of Education, Culture and Science of The Netherlands announced that the project Island(er)s at the Helm: Co-creating sustainable and inclusive solutions for social adaptation to climate challenges in the (Dutch) Caribbean is one of two projects awarded with funding…

Biodiversity and healthy ecosystems continue to decline in Europe, which has serious consequences for human welfare. These are findings of a report that was formally approved by delegates from 127 governments during a UN plenary in Medellin, Colombia. Leiden researcher Alexander van Oudenhoven was one…

Autistic people have problems communicating their borders towards the non-autistic community and often do not feel respected. To not only change daily life for autistic people, but also the scientific community from within Carolien Rieffe (Developmental Psychology) addresses this issue in her research…

A lot of municipalities work with a points system to encourage construction projects to take biodiversity and creating green areas into account. But this way of working also benefits local neighbourhoods and residents, master's student Marije Sesink discovered. She based her study on The Hague.

The Faculty of Science launched the new Academic Year on 21 September with a special We Are Science talk show. Dean Paul Wouters starred in his role as talk show host and received a wide variety of guests.

Researchers, policymakers and funders have to take more account of the effect of sex and gender in scientific research. This is the view presented in an advice paper published by LERU, the League of European Research Universities. The lead author is Vice-Rector Simone Buitendijk.

Many traces of the city's slavery history can be found in Leiden but the public isn't always aware of them. The initiators of 'Mapping Slavery in Leiden' want to change this with guided tours and street markers. Representatives of the University and other Leiden institutions will be giving the first…

Historians and experts in American studies from Leiden University are holding an online international conference about the arrival of the Pilgrims in America and the consequences for the indigenous societies. We asked four questions to two of its organisers, American Studies expert Joke Kardux and historian…

On 11 January 2022, the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences opened the new year during a livestreamed reception. Dean Paul Wouters and Executive Director of Studies Kristiaan van der Heijden were the hosts. After several faculty prizes were awarded, our Dean expressed a new year’s resolution…