On Monday 9 September, police officer Wendell C. (Dordrecht) shot and killed his two children and himself. The mother was also shot and died later that night in the hospital. Marieke Liem, Associate Professor at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) spoke with Dutch news website ‘BN DeStem’…

It is becoming increasingly common for large Dutch municipalities, including the Municipality of Amsterdam, to allow special enforcement officers to wear religious symbols such as the kippah and headscarf. Dutch Minister of Justice Dilan Yesilgöz and PVV party leader Geert Wilders are opposed to this…

With the official launch of the Al-Babtain Leiden University Centre for Arabic Culture, Leiden University and the AbdulAziz Saud Al-Babtain Cultural Foundation have opened the door for new opportunities of cultural and academic exchange. Have a look at last week's festivities.

On 18 March 2019, Gökmen Tanis shot three people in a tram in Utrecht. He shot a fourth victim after exiting the tram on the 24 Oktoberplein. On 1 July, the criminal trial against Tanis started with presumably only one possible outcome: a life sentence.

Leiden Professor of Number Theory Manjul Bhargava has been awarded a Fields Medal, widely regarded as the Nobel Prize for Maths. Bhargava is a professor in Princeton, and since 2010 has also been the holder of the Stieltjes chair in Leiden.

The importance of digitalization has become even more evident during the Corona crisis. Society and the Dutch economy are therefore rapidly digitizing. This calls for a good balance between seizing opportunities and reducing risks.

On 10 June 2021, the ESIL Interest Group on the EU as a Global Actor organised a joint webinar with the University of Salamanca, Faculty of Law on ‘The externalisation of EU migration policies in light of EU constitutional principles and values: a global actor to trust?’

The Jan Brouwer thesis award for social sciences 2015 was awarded last April 14th to Master graduate in Public Administration Raffael Hanschmann for his thesis “The impact of the economic crisis on EU environmental policy making. Insights from discourse network analysis”.

Darinka Piqani visited the Law Faculty of the University of Tirana (Albania) on 16-20 January 2023 and lectured on the transparency and the right to information in EU law. These lectures were held in the context of the Research Expertise from the Academic Diaspora (READ) Fellowship that Dr Piqani holds…

The legal relationship between Switzerland and the EU dates back to the 1950s and 1960s, when Switzerland concluded its first agreements with the then European Communities. Since then, numerous other agreements have been concluded. In view of this long history of development, it is not surprising that…

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…

Which brilliant scientist will be our Discoverer of the Year 2019? Will it be a physicist, biologist, drug discoverer or an astronomer? Or an environmental scientist, a mathematician, chemist or computer scientist? As of now, you can cast your vote.

Markus Davidsen, assistant professor of Religious Studies, is the winner of the 2021 Impact Prize. He is receiving the prize of 1,000 euros for the material he has developed for religious education in secondary schools.

Geert de Snoo is making the transition from the Netherlands Institute of Ecology to the management of KNAW. Starting 1 October, the professor of Environmental Biology will begin his role as Director of Research Policy in a new, consensus-based management team.

Ben Van Rompuy, assistant professor of EU competition law, was an invited expert at the 23th Latin American and Caribbean Competition Forum (LACCF) organised in Quito, Ecuador on 28-29 September 2023.

eLaw - Center for Law and Digital Technologies, is well represented at a number of activities in Leiden this week concerning Technology and Society!

Mass claims are increasingly common in the Netherlands. Branda Katan, Professor by special appointment in Corporate Law, spoke to news website NU.nl about the chances of their success: ‘A lot of time and money goes into these cases.’

Urgent sociatal challenges such as global warming, international security and migration can not be solved by national parliaments. The House of Representatives loses control over problems that are being tackled at European level. The recommendations of the state commission are inadequate.

In de uitzending van Café Kockelmann op18 april werd aandacht besteed aan twee belangrijke politieke thema’s: het vertrek van Pieter Omtzigt na 21 jaar uit politiek Den Haag en de roerige totstandkoming van de voorjaarsnota. Wim Voermans, hoogleraar Staatsrecht, was te gast in de uitzending.

Geert Wilders is fiercely opposing asylum seekers' centres during his election campaign. Marloes van Noorloos, Professor of Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure, commented in the ‘Reformatorisch Dagblad’ on whether he is guilty of incitement: 'Wilders’ statements do not explicitly refer to violence.'

Annemarie Drahmann and Gert Jan Geertjes contribute to the Matra Rule of Law Training Programme of the Netherlands Helsinki Committee.

In just over a decade, Uber has revolutionised how we move around our cities. The ride-hailing app was a game-changer: you just tapped your phone and a cab would find you. You even paid through the app. However, some of the Uber’s more controversial practices have triggered the interest of law enforcement,…

New volume in the Jus Post Bellum series

The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) has granted health psychologist Andrea Evers a visiting professorship funding for Luana Colloca. This funding is linked to the KNAW’s Visiting Professors Programme which enables outstanding foreign researchers to spend time working in the Netherlands.…

Asteroids, pieces of matter orbiting round the sun, have turned out to be extremely valuable. Asteroid Psyche contains a quantity of metals that together are worth more than the entire global economy. NASA is heading for it.

From 14 to 15 September 2023, Simona Demkova, AI researcher at the Europa Institute, participated in the INDIGO Project Final Conference, where she provided valuable perspectives on the implications of AI for European public law.

Aleksandrina Skvortsova has been awarded a Rubicon grant by the NWO. She will use it to conduct research at McGill University in Canada into whether memories and stress influence how we experience pain.

On Monday 14 December the yearly research colloquium of the research programme ‘Effective Protection of Fundamental Rights in a Pluralist World’ (EPFR) took place.

Will Belgian politician Didier Reynders become the new secretary-general of the Council of Europa? At the end of January he submitted his candidacy and he now only has one rival: the Croatian Minister of Foreign Affairs Marija Burić.

On 10 February 2025, Melanie Fink presented her recently awarded NWO Veni project at Leiden University’s SAILS Lunch Time-seminars.

New edited volume by Mies Grijns (VVI), Hoko Horii (KITLV/VVI), Sulistyowati Irianto (Universitas Indonesia) and Pinky Saptandari (Airlangga University).

According to Gerrard Boot, Professor of Labour Law, the recommendations of the Committee he chaired on model agreements (Boot Committee) are only partly reflected in the plans of Karien van Gennip, the Dutch Minister of Social Affairs and Employment. The minister is working on a legal presumption of…

Stijn Bussels and Bram van Oostveldt have both contributed with an article in the book of Caroline van Eck: Idols to Museum Pieces. The Nature of Sculpture, its Historiography and Exhibition History, 1640-1880.

The future is digital. That is why the new Humanities Hub for Digital Research Skills, and Media (in short: Humanities Hub) will soon open its doors in the Johan Huizinga building. This Hub brings together a number of innovative labs that are in line with the development of the new Humanities Campus,…

Women, the elderly, LGBT people and children are all at risk because artificial intelligence, algorithms and exoskeletons are tailored to the straight white male. Research conducted by Leiden University aims to ensure that new developments work for everyone.

The Dutch Ministry of Finance says that new rules have significantly reduced tax avoidance via 'transit country' the Netherlands. Jan Vleggeert, Professor of Tax Law, has voiced his reservations about this claim in the media.

In June 2016, Janine Geerling and Marjo de Graauw were awarded a LUF-grant of €10.000 to design a digital laboratory support tool for the 2nd year BFW practical course on biochemistry (BC2p). With the help of a team of student assistants, Janine and Marjo managed to design a BFW LabBuddy tool that allows…

The Dutch scientists Quirine Eijkman and Jan-Peter Loof have been appointed vice-presidents in the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights.

As part of its plans to introduce a stricter asylum policy, the Dutch cabinet wants to expand checks at internal borders within the EU. Professor of Law and Society Maartje van der Woude tells Dutch daily newspaper NRC that this is a symbolic measure: ‘Border checks will not counter the right to seek…

A number of farmers and the exchange agency SUSP are accused of deception in their deployment of foreign interns. The agricultural companies allegedly gave the interns too heavy a workload for an internship. NOS reports that the Netherlands Labour Authority has announced its intention to fine these…

On 15 June 2022 Professor Anthropology of Sustainability and Livelihood Marja Spierenburg was one of the invited speakers at the round table in the House of Representatives of The Netherlands.

On 21 January 2021, Fachrizal Afandi defended his thesis ‘Maintaining Order: Public Prosecutors in Post-Authoritarian Countries, the case of Indonesia’. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. A.W. Bedner and Prof. J.H. Crijns.

Does the university value teaching less than research? Can you advance in science without academic awards? Which scholars inspire you? Does the university pay enough attention to both your academic achievements and your personal well-being?

Almost two weeks after the general elections in the Netherlands, negotiations between the leaders of the four parties who were expected to form a new coalition government are still not going smoothly. Ronald Plasterk, appointed as ‘scout’ to explore possible alliances, has said he will need one more…

Within the scope of Leiden European City of Science, the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) presented the quadrennial Lorentz Medal to Daan Frenkel in the Academy Building yesterday. The ceremony was in collaboration with the Lorentz Center and was attended by Robbert Dijkgraaf, Minister…

Political scientist Ruud Koole (Institute Political Science, Leiden University) has been appointed to a state commission that will investigate whether the Dutch parliamentary system and the parliamentary democracy need to be reformed.

In the aftermath of the childcare benefits affair in the Netherlands, the treatment of citizens by public authorities is more often a subject of discussion. This also applies to the period within which citizens can lodge an objection to a government decision.

Universitair docent immigratierecht, Mark Klaassen, zegt in een uitzending van RTL-nieuws dat de voorlopige verkiezingsuitslag weinig directe invloed zal hebben op de asielinistroom. ‘Ongeacht welke partij de grootste wordt, kan Nederland weinig veranderen in hoeverre mensen hier nationale bescherming…

A report by interest group Tax Justice Network shows that the Netherlands is still one of the most attractive countries for companies when it comes to tax: we hold a dubious fourth position on a list of seventy coutries. In Dutch magazine Vrij Nederland Jan Vleggeert, Professor of Tax Law, explains…

Het rapport van de Commissie Sorgdrager naar aanleiding van de Hawija-zaak, wijst uit dat Defensie niet transparant is over eigen fouten. Wim Voermans, hoogleraar Staatsrecht, bevestigt in Nieuwsuur dat ‘Defensie een patroon laat zien van verkeerd en onjuist informeren van de Tweede Kamer.’