Decades of evidence suggests that the trillions of microorganisms living in people’s guts, called the microbiome, can influence the brain. And now, new research says they might influence how people feel day-to-day, too. Laura Steenbergen explains.

Beatriz Pañeda Murcia, from the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, will be present at our Faculty as a guest PhD researcher over the coming months.

On 28 November 2025, Leiden University and PLNT Leiden hosted “The Knowledge Orchard” - an event aimed at starting up/ enhancing interdisciplinary cooperation between academics at Leiden University, and improving collaboration between Leiden researchers and external partners in research and educatio…

Crises like climate change and loss of biodiversity threaten our planet. That’s why sustainability is an important topic in research and education across Leiden University. On this website you read how scientists from many disciplines work together in researching sustainability.

The Faculty of Archaeology, in the persons of Marlena Antczak and Lennart Kruijer, had three pictures included in the exhibition 'Heritage on the Move'. The whole collection of 18 pictures can be seen from 3 December 2018 until 7 January 2019 at the Oude UB Building, Rapenburg 70, Leiden.

CFP: Two-day PhD/ Research MA masterclass Feminist Theory with and around the work of Prof. dr. Lynne Huffer organised by the OZSW in cooperation with NOG

On the passing of Anique Schüller

Wouter Moerland is on a two-year secondment as ecology adviser at the Municipality of Leiden. This biology alumnus talks animatedly about his work. ‘We’re working hard to increase nature’s chances in town.’

What do I do if Mum or Dad gets the virus? Could the slide at the playground have coronavirus on it? Can children die of the virus too? On 15 April, the National Science Agenda organised an hour-long session on Facebook to give children the chance to ask their questions about coronavirus. Leiden psychologist…

Security in the broadest sense of the word was the key focus in the Interfaculty Conference on 4 April in Leiden. With almost 200 attendees and such well-known speakers as Dick Schoof, Pieter van Vollenhoven and Ad Verbrugge, the first conference was a success.

Igor recently started his research master's in Archaeology. Now he is awarded the prestigious Raymond and Beverly Sackler Scholarship. The scholarship is given to promising master's students and PhD candidates and Igor is the first student of Archaeology to receive the grant. We interviewed Igor about…

Thirty years ago, the Leiden Journal of International Law (LJIL) was born, at a time when the writing of histories was hardly a popular endeavor for international legal scholars. In his 1987 article ‘Probleme der Völkerrechtsgeschichte’ (‘The Problems of International Legal History’), Heinhard Steiger…

Bringing Dutch and international students together. One way to do that is by playing Archery Attack, archaeology student Timothy Stikkelorum suggested. On 13 November, he and his team, a committee from the Terra study association, won the Van Bergen Prize with their idea.

Political scientist Leila Demarest tells about her research to Nigeria’s National Assembly. How do politicians cooperate and how are public resources distributed among the different regions?

Three major research projects involving Leiden scientists have been awarded a grant from NWO’s Gravitation Programme. The projects are on innovation processes, organs-on-chips and quantum software.

On 14 and 15 March, students can register as candidates for a place in the University Council (UR) or one of the faculty councils. But what do these participation bodies do? UR member Femke van der Meulen takes us through the agenda for the next meeting.

An anatomical model of a heart, a mechanical digger or photos of mother and grandmother. Research interests and personal motivations have been given a place in the thirteen new portraits of women now on display in the Senate Chamber. ‘That cat isn't just a cute lap cat.'

The first larger quantum computers will soon be available. These computers need new software. Researchers at Leiden University have been awarded a Gravitation grant to develop the necessary software. They will be collaborating with colleagues from other research institutions.

In the Spring semester of 2017, two courses will be offered by the Numata Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies, Dr. Helmut Tauscher. One is oriented at the BA level (starting February 23), the other at the MA level (starting February 20).

Fourteen women professors are to be given a place in the classic portrait gallery in Leiden University’s Senate Chamber. The portraits will be unveiled on 8 March – International Women’s Day – by former Minister of Education, Culture and Science Jet Bussemaker and Rector Magnificus Carel Stolker.

The International Resource Panel of the United Nations Environment Programme, with CML researcher Ester van der Voet as member, has prepared a report called Global Resources Outlook 2019: Natural Resources for the Future We Want. It examines the trends in natural resources and their corresponding consumption…

Every year diplomatic representatives of Latin American countries, researchers and students come together during a conference of the GRULAC region group. This year different researchers talked about their work during a visit to the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs in The Hague.

This year a record number of students - more than 3,500 - will be taking part in the EL CID introduction week. Who are they and why did they opt for Leiden University? 'I want to get the absolute most out of my student time.'

It sounds futuristic, but it is possible: the creation of miniature organs of patients in order to study them and see how diseases develop and can be treated. This is what researchers from the LUMC, Twente University (UT), UMCG, TU Delft and the Hubrecht Institute hope to achieve in the next ten years…

The Centre for Public Values & Ethics (CPVE) is an interdisciplinary, academic centre of expertise aiming to conduct and disseminate scientific research on normative issues in the public sector, in particular the fulfillment of public office and the planning, making and executing of public policy, both…

How should jurisdictions, both on the national and on the supra-national level, handle the interaction between public and private law where it regards the regulation of financial markets?

The Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology conducts extensive research on imprisonment. Sending a person to prison is the most severe form of punishment that can be applied in the criminal justice systems of European countries. In most countries, the number of prisoners has risen in recent decades.…

You can find an overview of events organized by the Platform for Post-Colonial Readings below.

Rector Magnificus Carel Stolker will retire on 8 February. If there’s one theme running through his career, it’s the links between the University and society. In this series of pre-retirement discussions, Stolker will talk one last time to people from within and without the University. In this edition…

The European Homicide Monitor (EHM) offers a standardized framework for countries and regions to compare homicide characteristics, patterns and trends.

The Hague Journal of Diplomacy regularly publishes reviews of recent books within the field of diplomacy and global affairs, written in English, Spanish, French, or German.

Physical chemist Rik Mom developed a revolutionary way to investigate catalysts in action in detail. For this work he received the distinction cum laude during his PhD defence on 29 June.

Chinese universities have big ambitions to be among the leading international higher education institutions. What does this mean in terms of opportunities for researchers at the universities of Leiden, Delft and Rotterdam? Staff at the universities recently discussed the issue.

Nico Staring, researcher in Egyptian art, culture and history, is taking part in the Leiden-Turin excavations in Saqqara, Egypt. The site of Saqqara is interesting because it was utilized as a cemetery but also the veneration of gods for a period of more than 3000 years, between ca. 3000 BCE to the…

The logo of Leiden University, with letters as small as a bacterium. Researchers from LUMC and the Institute of Biology have created the smallest logo of our university ever produced. It is a piece of fun with a serious real-world application: the new microscope with which the logo was made allows scientists…

On 22 May, the Dutch House of Representatives invited one hundred citizens to pose critical questions regarding the Ministries’ annual reports. This followed on from the annual ‘Accountability Day’. Caspar van den Berg, Associate Professor of Public Administration, helped think about how citizens could…

Fred Janssen is curious about how best to teach students and students to gain a good understanding of complex ‘swamp situations’. This is the subject of his inaugural lecture as Professor of Science Education at the ICLON and the Faculty of Science. Inaugural address 19 June 2017.

What is public leadership? How does one promote research on public leadership? These and other questions will be addressed at the official presentation of the research and development agenda ‘Moving forward with public leadership’ on Wednesday 11 April. Mayor of The Hague Pauline Krikke and Rector Magnificus…

No evidence found that increasing migration leads to an increase in politically and ideologically motivated criminality. Migration flows have, however resulted in increased polarisation in the Netherlands.

From 23 to 27 January 2017, the Child Law Department and the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies of Leiden Law School organized the first regional edition of the Leiden University Frontiers of Children’s Rights Summer School. The Frontiers of Children’s Rights in the ASEAN Region was set…

With RoMeincraft, you get to play the popular computer game Minecraft while learning about the ancient Romans. RoMeincraft, the project of the VALUE Foundation founded by (at the time) archaeologists from Leiden University, is at the interface between knowledge about the past and computer games.

Fleur Visser was awarded a Veni grant by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). She is one of seventeen promising young Leiden scientists, who get the opportunity to develop their own ideas over a period of three years. Veni-funding is part of NWO's Talent Scheme, concerning…

For his ground-breaking chemical biological research, a VICI-grant has been awarded to Mario van der Stelt, professor of Molecular physiology at Leiden University. In a new research line, he aims to discover binding sites for new medicines against inflammations in the brain.

As long as we humans have existed, we have told each other stories. But how does a story change each time it is told? Which elements stick and which ones are forgotten? This is what Max van Duijn and Tessa Verhoef will research in their Lowlands Whispers experiment at Lowlands Festival.

Higher temperatures are resulting in changes to vegetation and soil in mountain areas throughout the world. An international research team including Leiden ecologist Ellen Cieraad published an article on 25 January in Nature on the disruption to the ecosystem.

The number of victims of child abuse is estimated to be higher during the first lockdown compared with a period without a lockdown. This is mainly due to an increase in the number of victims of emotional neglect, including educational neglect and witnessing domestic abuse. Families with children about…

On 14 December 2017 Charlotte Mol was awarded the fifth Jaap Doek Child Law Thesis Prize for her thesis: ‘The Child's Right to Representation of Article 12 UNCRC in Family Law Proceedings: A comparison and evaluation of the legal frameworks in Australia, France, the Netherlands and South Africa’. This…

Professor Sjoerd Douma has been named the top lecturer on Coursera, the best-known platform for online courses. Students gave him an average score of 9.8 - almost unheard of for a lecturer in International Tax Law.

Co-production it is called: collaboration between citizens and public servants with reference to public services. Carola van Eijk defends het PhD thesis on this subject at the Institute of Public Administration in The Hague. Defense 11 October 2017.