When professor Frank Israel graduated at Leiden Observatory some forty years ago, little did he know that one of his theories would be making headlines in 2018 - in the form of a 3D animation on the Internet, no less.

New Danish legislation could mean that citizens will have copyright to their bodies, faces and voices. The Dutch government is also proposing similar legislation. Dirk Visser commented on the issue in NRC newspaper and on BNR radio.

A team of Leiden researchers has won the Ammodo Science Award for innovative humanities research on perceptions of cultural heritage.

Just start somewhere: whether it's videos, board games, theatre performances, or festivals. That was one of the key insights Sophie Wintermans gained during the Science Communication Summer School. In her view, the Summer School is a great step for any scientist interested in science communication.

From 12 to 16 April the joint Career Services of the faculties present on Campus The Hague organised the Online Campus The Hague Career Event. Around 600 students signed up! Every day of the week, they could join presentations, webinars and workshops presented by alumni, professionals and Career advisors,…

Poetry, video editing, musical art: the first installment of the 48 Hour Project, in which students created a piece of art in only two days, has resulted in a wide variety of creativity. For participants, it was a glimmer of light in a rather dark year of lockdowns: “I felt like I was physically there with…

Health psychologist Aleksandrina Skvortsova has made clever use of the Pavlov effect to link the ‘cuddle’ hormone oxytocin with the placebo effect. This effect can alter the level of oxytocin in the body, making it possible for people to reduce the amount of medicine they need while still feeling good.…

Recently, the booklet 'Blended Learning, het versterken van het onderwijs op de Universiteit Leiden' has been launched. Sonja Wagenaar, educational adviser at ICLON, was project manager of the three-year Blended Learning Program in which blended learning training was implemented in the studies Psychology,…

An endoscopic camera was used to record images of reused medieval fragments on the inside of book bindings from the 16th and 17th centuries. The unique images were made as part of the project ‘FragmEndoscopy: An Innovative Way to Discover Hidden Heritage inside Early Modern Book Bindings’, funded by…

How can we better prepare students for their practicals, so that they learn more from them? Marjo de Graauw and her colleagues want to renew science education. Together they will develop interactive teaching materials to introduce students to laboratory courses. They are receiving a SURF grant of €100,000…

Feeling nostalgic, Professor in Public Administration Science Bernard Steunenberg explains how some years ago he would occasionally show a TV broadcast to his students, first removing the videotape from its big box and putting it in a VHS player. Today, a student from Maastricht, sitting in the train…

Master's students of Vitality & Ageing work together with older individuals in the so-called ‘Living Lab’ to combat loneliness. You can watch four brief video’s that show their creative solutions for the course ‘the older individual’ that is coordinated by health psychologist Sandra van Dijk and former…

More than 100 teachers, educators and policymakers from 25 countries gathered in Leiden from 18 October for the Space Education International Workshop. Their goal is to inspire children using astronomy and space sciences.

The knowledge cafe in De Balie in Amsterdam has navigation as its topic. Ineke van der Ham was main guest, and discussed navigation ability together with experts on cartography, animal navigation and navigation technology. A video of the interactive event can be accessed through the link below.

Prof. em. Wim Blockmans (Leiden University) has given an interview to ‘De Nieuwe Wereld’ (in Dutch). He talks about his latest book 'Medezeggenschap. Politieke participatie in Europa vóór 1800'. Take also a look at the YouTube channel of this Dutch philosophy collective as other videos feature medievalists…

What makes South Korean films successful? In the first part of the video series 'The World of the Korean Wave', University Lecturer Peter Verstraten discusses the recent success of South Korean cinema.

Fans of the Korean music movement K-pop go through hell for their idols. In return, artists care deeply about their fans: they even get to decide their hair color. In the video series 'The World of the Korean Wave', PhD candidate Flora Smit takes a closer look at this relationship.

Schrödinger's cat is famously dead and alive, hidden in its closed box. As soon as one opens the box up to peek inside, the cat suddenly turns dead or alive. This is the 'measurement problem', that has stumped physicists for almost a century now. PhD student Tom van der Reep dared to look for a way…

In a new video lecture (in English) on Universiteit van Nederland, astrophycisist Yamila Miguel tells us about the discovery of the most bizarre planets outside of our solar system.

On Thursday 3 November, Leiden University celebrated the official opening of two wall formulas in the Leiden city centre. Snell's law and the formula for the Lorentz force shine on two walls in the heart of Leiden. TV channel Omroep West interviewed the initiators Sense Jan van der Molen and Ivo van…

In what settings do great ideas turn op? Quanta Magazine follows top scientists to their favorite places to think, tinker and create. Leiden astronomer Ewine van Dischoeck showed the magazine the Noordwijk beach. 'Somebody from the Netherlands is unavoidably linked with water.'

Grass, nettles, dandelions: we should banish them from our gardens, right? Wrong! Weeds can help cool, fertilise and increase biodiversity in your garden. In this episode of The University of the Netherlands, biologist Nienke Beets lists the advantages of more green in our villages and towns.

The discovery of a new Mersenne prime was discussed on national TV by Hendrik Lenstra and Bas Jansen, who defended his thesis on Mersenne Primes in december, and by Ionica Smeets.

The Humanities Faculty welcomes Thea Hilhorst as a professor. Due to the cooperation between the universities in Leiden, The Hague and Rotterdam, she will be appointed professor at Leiden University in addition to her current position as a professor in Rotterdam. Hilhorst discusses her field and this…

Chinese State-backed entities have taken tiny stakes in parts of two Alibaba subsidiaries that oversee a video platform and web browser. Professor Rogier Creemers argues on CNBC this move is part of a larger plan for tech regulation.

In February 2015, Al Shabaab produced a video in which it calls for an attack on malls in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

From an academic study with local residents to a specially developed newspaper: humanities scholars contributed to Leiden European City of Science in various ways. In this video, they look back on a special year.

K-pop is wildly popular. Fans all over the world sing along to the Korean songs, often without understanding exactly what the lyrics mean. University lecturer Mirae Kim explains why these songs are so difficult to translate in the video series

On Saturday 13 May, the 11th edition of the International Cultural Festival took place. This festival brings together international students, Dutch students and inhabitants of Leiden for a trip around the world in one day.

Once it was considered the Switzerland of the Middle East, but today Lebanon is a country deeply affected by the economic crisis, political stalemate and an international context of growing tensions.

In the Western world, kimchi is on an unstoppable rise, but in South Korea the dish is actually losing popularity. Professor Katarzyna Cwiertka explains how this is possible in the video series 'The World of the Korean Wave'.

The Belgium Netherlands Artificial Intelligence conference (BNAIC) is an annually organized conference bringing together AI researchers from all over the Benelux. This year it was supposed to be held for the first time in Leiden. Due to the continuing lock-down, it was organized online. A trend started…

Lecturers had a week to convert their courses to online teaching. An enormous challenge because remote teaching was definitely not commonplace at Leiden University. Professor of International Relations Madeleine Hosli’s students were just about to begin internships at international organisations in…

How do the residents of the Kooi neighbourhood in Leiden find living there? What can we do about loneliness? In this extraordinary academic year, students have been conducting all sorts of research, in Leiden. They presented their initial findings and recommendations at a Learning with the City meeting…

Een orang-oetan lacht niet gauw hard om een video waarin een soortgenoot dat ook doet. Een peuter doet het meer dan een volwassene, een Japanner weer iets minder. Chris Riddell leerde uit zijn vele experimenten ook dat geduld loont. Hij promoveert 16 september.

2020 is a year in which we need to reinvent ourselves, including within our faculty's marketing department. For years, colleagues have been organising introduction activities such as the Bachelor's Open Days, Master's Open Days and Online Experiences. From March onwards, everything had to change.

An image has great powers of persuasion. It is said that ‘a picture is worth more than a thousand words’. But these days, images can easily be manipulated with severe consequences. ‘Perhaps it’s time to reconsider the value we attach to images’, says Elize de Mul, whose PhD thesis deals with ‘digital…

Due to its success, the Leiden2022 Q&A has been extended and is looking for even more thought-provoking, interesting or unusual questions.

The Academic Language Centre (ATC) is one of the cornerstones of Leiden University. Director Gea Hakker explains how this organisation is providing quality (online) language courses and meeting new demands.

Subproject of the NWO Smart Culture Grant research project 'The Critical Visitor'.

You can do a degree in Artificial Intelligence at Leiden University, but its role is also increasing in other degree programmes.

The Faculty of Science adopted an action plan Diversity and Inclusiveness in 2015. In this action plan, the Faculty commits to a number of actions to further improve diversity and inclusion for staff and students, such as more female full professors at the faculty, and encourages initiatives that foster…

My ERC Starting Grant, funded with €1.5 million for 5 years as part of the Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, is focused on building the early warning system WARN-D to reliably forecast depression in young adults before it occurs. Why depression, and why prediction?

Dr Kim Duistermaat (NVIC) en Niels Groot (TU Delft)

Computers are capable of making incredibly accurate predictions on the basis of machine learning. In other words, these computers can learn without intervention once they have been pre-programmed by humans. At LIACS, we explore and push the borders of what a revolutionary new generation of algorithms…

Graduates of Book and Digital Media Studies have a strong foundation in the history, theory, and practice of textual media—manuscript, print, and digital. They pursue careers in publishing, libraries, cultural heritage, and academia.