From Roman ships to the ‘Gordon’ cavalry mask. Alumnus Tom Hazenberg was involved in spectacular finds that put the Dutch frontiers of the Roman Empire on the map. His mission is to give heritage back to the people.

Lucia Langerak was awarded a Master’s degree in Egyptology with cum laude honours in 2018. Her bachelor’s degree was also with cum laude honours. ‘I’m an exceptional Egyptologist, if only because I’ve never been to Egypt.’ She is now the coordinator of the Access & Support Platform at the University…

Merijn Tinga hit the headlines in 2016 as the Plastic Soup Surfer. In force six winds, the Leiden biologist ventured across the English Channel on a hydrofoil kiteboard made from plastic bottles. Interview with this Leiden artist who is fighting the mountain of plastic waste and finding his feet as…

Raised by his grandmother and grandfather, trained as a doctor, the medical director of a camp for Eritrean refugees: Ephrem Tesfay was anything but a typical student when he arrived in Leiden in 2019. Still, he fit in well with the ‘youngsters’.

In Dutch TV programme Early Birds, Marvin and Kevin Groen (26) showed viewers areas of nature in the city that often go unnoticed. These good-natured brothers - twins, in fact - were a big hit with the viewers. How much influence do they have on one another's studies and work?

Alumnus Jelte Liemburg, aged 29, aims to visit every single one of the 500 museums in the Netherlands that take part in the national museum pass scheme.

Marleen Hogendoorn (36) studied Dutch Language and Culture at Leiden University and is now editor-in-chief of the feminist monthly OPZIJ.

There are many tributaries to Rosalin Kuiper’s story and they all lead to the sea. The 28-year-old sailor was one of the five-person Team Malizia in the world’s most prestigious sailing competition: the Ocean Race.

Limburg lawyer Roger Cox has caused a legal revolution. With high-profile cases against the Dutch state and Shell oil company, he transformed the law into a tool to enforce climate policy. Leidraad alumni magazine spoke to him about a life defined by radical choices for a better world.

It’s only been six years since bestselling author Jeroen Windmeijer (56) decided to become a full-time writer. Since then, he’s put Leiden and the university on the map with his gripping thrillers. From his desk on the Rapenburg canal, he now travels the world with his steadily growing body of work.

Many alumni are frontline health workers and are working day and night to treat thousands of corona patients. Intensivist Michael Frank (53) is one of them. As head of intensive care at the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Dordrecht, he is steering his department through the corona crisis.

At a time when statues of figures from history have an uncertain future Valika Smeulders has just become Head of History at Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum. What changes does she want to make? And how does she look back on her Languages and Cultures of Latin America degree programme in Leiden?

Monique Koemans werkt sinds 2,5 jaar op de Nederlandse ambassade in de Verenigde Staten. 'Leiden is een opvallende rode draad in mijn leven.'

A packaging-free shop, small mobile homes, solar panels on all Leiden's roofs… Jeroen Schrama, alumnus of Public Administration, is a creative world improver. ‘If we really want to save the world, we have to make much more radical choices.’

Professor of Psychiatry Anne Speckens studied medicine in Leiden and did her psychiatry training there too. She opened the Radboudumc Center for Mindfulness in Nijmegen. What does she do there and how does she look back on her time as a student?

As an exchange student, alumna Jessica Ma was already looking for a bridge between statistics and the real world. In Leiden, she gained the experience to follow her interests and, after a few detours, she landed her ideal job with Disney in the United States.

Charlotte Poot (31) is co-founder and chair of Hospital Hero, an app that prepares children for a hospital visit. She studied and obtained her PhD at the LUMC.

This section contains an overview of our Alumni, the career prospect beyond the PhD and "Alumni in the picture" where we give you a few examples of the careers of some of our alumni after receiving their doctorate degree.

In the National Think Tank, 20 young academics spend four months mulling over a solution to a societal problem. Two Leiden alumni tell us more.

Leiden University is proud of her alumni. Alumni contribute in many different ways to the growth and development of the university. The university also contributes to ongoing personal and professional development of her alumni.

Alumnus Anoma van der Veere did Japanese studies and talks in this interview about his studies in Leiden and his work as a researcher at the Leiden Asia Centre and as Japanese correspondent in Tokyo.

Alumna Nadeshda Jayakody (25) from Australia graduated cum laude in Human Rights Law. What did she learn in Leiden that has been most useful? ‘I had to pretend that I already worked for an NGO.’

Part Two: Land Ahoy! Casa Blanca

Part Three: A Change of Course

Graduates of Leiden University College The Hague, Juliette Nicolai and Elena Venturoni on their recent win in the Global Health Case Challenge 2019, Copenhagen.

Many Science Based Business students receive their first job offer during or right after their internship.

‘In Hong Kong, the elderly found our popular nature routes boring, so they now cycle our action-packed routes through New York.’ What once started as an assignment for the Master Programme Media Technology, has grown into the international market leader in the field of virtual reality exercises for…

After various jobs as an archaeologist, alumnus Ruurd Kok became a journalist. For the ‘Traces of Leiden University’ series, he explored the past of university buildings. ‘To me, history is interesting when you can touch it.’

Part One: Casting off, Amsterdam

From mandrill teeth to the microstructure of bones: archaeology alumna Simone Lemmers (31) is determined to reveal the past by studying old remains. Her curiosity has led to a very international career, also in the UK, where she witnessed the Brexit referendum.

Jiska Ogier studied notarial law, which wasn’t always easy because she went to lectures in a wheelchair. As a student she pushed to make society accessible. And with her law degree and lived experience she has now made this her work. ‘You can achieve a lot with creative solutions.’

Jacques Waisvisz (98) is one of our oldest living alumni. As a Jewish student in the Second World War, he was forbidden from completing his studies. How does he look back at that time, and what was life like afterwards? ‘No one thought that the situation here would become so bad.’

The whole world is waiting anxiously for sufficient supplies of coronavirus vaccines. As Launch Navigator at Pfizer, alumnus Dennis de Mik must help ensure that the Netherlands receives 19.8 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. How is he going about this and how has his Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences…

What does life look like after International Studies? For Chris Colijn who graduated in 2018, it involves working on his master’s in Russian and Eurasian Studies, in combination with a bustling traineeship for “Raam of Rusland”, a think tank, focusing on Russian and Ukrainian politics, economy and culture.…

Over 100 Leiden University alumni gathered in the heart of Brussels for the annual Leiden Alumni in Brussels Event on 29 February. The European Banking Federation (EBF) generously hosted the event for the second time at their premises on Avenue des Arts.

Her plan was to obtain a PhD, but, during her master’s, alumnus Sangbreeta Moitra discovered that her true interest lay in applying neuroscience in everyday life.

Laura van Broekhoven always knew she wanted to study archaeology, and that’s exactly what she did. Now this Leiden alumna is director of the Pitt Rivers Museum, one of the four museums of the University of Oxford.

With increasing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere and their detrimental effect on the global climate, modern society needs to push for more renewable energy sources. Storing widely accessible and abundant solar energy in chemical bonds in the form of molecular fuel via artificial photosynthesis…

Leiden University is keen to remain in contact with our alumni, and we do all we can to encourage mutual contacts.

Every year 200 students graduate from Leiden University College The Hague. Currently, there are over 1500 alumni who have completed the Liberal Arts and Sciences programme in The Hague. After which, you all pursued your own course path. At LUC we aim to stay in touch with you, to learn from your experiences…

After graduation, the Institute of Public Administration, and especially the Alumni Committee, would like to stay in touch with you.

The representation of women in science is improving, also at the Faculty of Science. On 8 March – International Women's Day – we highlight the work of female scientists from our faculty.

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…

A good network can be an invaluable aid in getting your career off to a flying start.

After graduating from Leiden University College The Hague, our students spread out all over the world to continue their studies, do an internship or already start a job. Every other week we will catch up with one of our alumni and put them in the spotlight. They will share their LUC experience and talk…

For the next "What’s Next?" talk series we have invited two former Media Technology students - Jeroen Jillissen (Google) and Marcin Pakulnicki (ING Bank) to talk about their journeys after Media Technology, and considering their positions, to reflect on what it means to be developing technologies that…

PhD candidates are encouraged to start thinking about job prospects well before the defence of their thesis. Many PhD graduates find employment in an academic or semi-academic environment.

Alumni play an important part in building bridges between the University and society. Leiden University therefore works to maintain and strengthen the links with its graduates and to develop an informed and committed network of alumni.