The Centre for Science and Technology Studies (Leiden University) has adopted a new governance structure. As of January 1, 2019, the centre will be led by Prof. Sarah de Rijcke, who has been appointed by the board of the Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences (FSW) as the new scientific director…

Dr. Stephan Hacker, an assistant professor in the department of Molecular Physiology at the Leiden Institute of Chemistry of Leiden University has been elected secretary of the board of APNet, the Assistant Professor Network Netherlands. Hacker will take a leading role in the young network organisation…

Theoretical research does not always give us the right solution to a problem in society. This message, loud and clear, is delivered during the final presentations of the Master Honours Class 'Social Innovation in Action'.

Huiselijk geweld is een ingrijpend probleem in Nederland, met jaarlijkse fatale gevolgen. De impact gaat verder dan alleen de slachtoffers zelf en raakt ook nabestaanden en de samenleving als geheel. Tot nu toe/Momenteel ontbreekt het echter aan een gestructureerde manier om fatale gevallen systematisch…

As of 1 August, Anika Bexkens has been appointed Professor of Evidence-Based Clinical Practice for Child and Adolescent Mental Health. Her research focuses on the optimal application of scientific knowledge in practice. ‘Scientists and practitioners often speak past each other.’

What does the future of quantum look like? Vedran Dunjko (Assistant professor at LIACS and LION) is co-founder of the applied quantum algorithms (aQa) leiden interdepartmental initiative research that will investigate this. They are part of the Quantum Delta NL consortium that was recently awarded substantial…

A month ago it was Marc Baggelaar, and now Hans Kistemaker too has obtained his PhD cum laude at the Leiden Institute for Chemistry (LIC). ‘He has made ground-breaking contributions to the world of protein modification,’ says PhD supervisor Gijs van der Marel. Kistemaker obtained his PhD on 11 May…

Alisa van de Haar is one of three humanities scholars to win a KNAW Early Career Award this year. The university lecturer of Ancient French Literature is receiving the award for her innovative research on multilingualism and migration. 'It would be nice to use this to set up a project with students.…

On the 13th of December 2017 Ana Lucia Araujo came to Leiden to discuss the long history of the demand for reparations for slavery. In the basement of the Van Stockum bookstore she presented her recent book on this issue and discussed the research project with Karwan Fatah-Black.

FactRank is a new online tool that automatically detects ‘checkable’ claims made by politicians in parliamentary debates or tweets, and therefore enables fact-checkers to work much faster. Alexander Pleijter, a researcher and lecturer in Journalism and New Media, helped develop FactRank.

Good news for international collaboration: the EU’s International Credit Mobility programme has awarded 163 grants to students and researchers from Leiden University and partner universities in 19 countries outside the EU. The grants are for 19 projects that have arisen from existing partnerships.

How can chimpanzees, so closely related to humans, have almost no sense of rhythm? ‘The best students ever’ and behavioural biologist Michelle Spierings demonstrated that chimps can actually drum and move rhythmically—each following their own unique beat.

It’s become somewhat of a tradition at Leiden University: the strategic conference at the end of June each year. About a hundred staff including the faculty boards, academic directors, directors of the expertise centres and Administration and Central Services, the representative councils and student…

On 14 May, curator and professor Ruurd Halbertsma will be leaving the National Museum of Antiquities (RMO) after forty years of dedicated service. In fact, it will be a double farewell: Venusval (‘Venus trap’), the last part of his trilogy about Tjalling Kingma, the fictional curator of the classical…

On September 13 and 14 Utrecht University, Leiden University and Maastricht University are organizing a two day conference on Procedural rights in criminal proceedings in the European Union, offering a venue for practitioners and young scholars to exchange experiences and ideas on this subject matter.…

PhD student Janine Westendorp and her colleagues conducted literature research on what patients with cancer and their loved ones perceive as harmful communication from healthcare providers. The results were published in the journal Psycho-Oncology and are released as a poster to distribute to healthcare…

It matters a lot whether a fatwa is given by a female or male Islamic scholar, discovered doctoral student Nor Ismah.

Pharmacologist Liesbeth de Lange has won the Lewis B. Sheiner Lecturer Award from the International Society of Pharmacometrics (ISoP). As Professor of Predictive Pharmacology she is working, among other things, on a mathematical model that can predict drug concentrations in the brain. On the occasion…

The life of a students is not always easy and many students find it difficult to share their problems with each other. For that reason, the study advisers and coordinators of studies of Campus The Hague organise the symposium OpenUp!. This event was awarded with the Van Bergen Prize.

During the meeting on 26 February with the future users of Aleida Nijland, design agency Studio Linse presented the interior design. The design is based on earlier input from users, and focuses on functionality, comfort and a future-proof working environment. The interior has been designed to be a pleasant,…

The COIn grants enable researchers to improve the infrastructure for their research. The four initiators of two projects explain how the grant has helped them.

Dr Mariana Françozo has been awarded a prestigious NWO Vici grant for a five year research project that brings together Indigenous communities, museum collections and interdisciplinary scholarship. Her project focuses on the histories and contemporary challenges of two Indigenous peoples in South America:…

Binnen de Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen (FSW) vinden op 1 april 2026 twee wisselingen van de wacht plaats. Shelley van der Veek wordt de nieuwe directeur onderwijs van het Instituut Pedagogische Wetenschappen. Carlijn Bergwerff, afzwaaiend directeur onderwijs van het instituut, verhuist naar het…

Assistant professor Max van Duijn is the new chair of The Young Academy. He aims to support young academics, bring research closer to society and make academia more resilient.

What began as a PhD project has grown into a website with 120,000 unique visitors each year. With the platform OpenML, researcher Jan van Rijn is contributing to open science, aiming to make machine learning more transparent, accessible, and fair.

Karwan Fatah-Black, a historian at Leiden University’s Faculty of Humanities and senior researcher at the KITLV/Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies, has been appointed as the UNESCO Chair holder in Comparative History of Slavery and the Transition to Citizenship.

Young people in forensic practice navigate between street culture, digital networks and care; worlds that are increasingly intertwined. This calls for a different way of seeing and acting. Dual PhD candidate Jeffrey Jhanjan explores how professionals can better understand and support these young peo…

With the introduction of the House of Cyber the Dutch government seeks to address a long standing concern among politicians, policymakers, and cybersecurity experts: the fragmentation of the Dutch cybersecurity governance landscape. A proposed solution is not only timely, but very understandable.

The EU aims to combat tax avoidance with a blacklist, but this policy has far reaching consequences for non European countries. It leads to unequal treatment and largely fails to achieve its goals. This is shown by Federica Casano’s PhD research.

Professor Miguel John Versluys of Leiden University has been recognised with the esteemed Humboldt Research Award, a testament to his groundbreaking work in global archaeology, reception-studies and the deep history of globalisation. The award, granted by the Alexander von Humbold-Stiftung, celebrates…

How do migrants navigate key life events? Researchers from the Living on the Other Side project looked at the experiences of migrants who have settled in Morocco. During a recent tour through Morocco, they shared their insights with respondents and fellow researchers.

Seminar

Symposium

Masterclass

Valedictory lecture

Lecture

Lecture

In 2020, many of our staff and students have again won prestigious prizes and been awarded important research subsidies.

In November, Leiden organized a book presentation to celebrate the first Dutch translation of the collected works of the twentieth-century poet W.H. Auden. A poetry translation contest added lustre to the occasion. There were no fewer than three winners.

Thijs Porck, expert in medieval English, has won the LUCAS Public Prize because he has made his research and education visible to a wider audience. Thijs has reached the national media, secondary schools and a lot of views with his blogs and videos. The prize consists of a certificate, trophy, 1000…

2025 was a year full of impact and milestones for FGGA: From a record number of graduates and new programmes to international collaborations, prestigious awards and research that pushes boundaries and provides insight into current challenges.

Workshops

Lecture, China Seminar

Lecture

Lecture, LUCDH Lunch Lecture