Instant messaging app Telegram is not faring well in the news – the reason being the illicit activities occurring on the platform. Professor Bart Custers helped Dutch current affairs programme ‘EenVandaag’ respond to questions about the platform.

The interdisciplinary, English-taught minor ‘Violence Studies’ looks at violence from very diverse scientific perspectives. What are the benefits from this approach? Students and lecturers evaluate: ‘This minor’s a goldmine’.

Misleading social media posts are falsely claiming that the Dutch supermarket chain Jumbo uses facial recognition at self-service checkouts. Jumbo denies this, although it has launched trials with AI cameras to combat shoplifting without using facial recognition.

From 1717 onwards, many Dutch textile workers emigrated to Spain, recruited in the Netherlands through Spanish intermediary agents and diplomatic staff. Bourbon Spain wanted to strengthen its economy by founding royal factories and was in desperate need for skilled foreign labour. This example of labour…

To answer questions that look beyond individual entities, network science studies the interactions taking place in complex systems. These complex systems can often have temporal information on when an interaction occurs.

Mensen werken niet alleen liever samen met leden van hun eigen ingroup, ze concurreren er ook liever mee, lieten Leidse onderzoekers in een sociaalpsychologische studie in 51 landen zien. Dit ‘nasty neighbor’- effect was een grote verrassing voor de onderzoekers, totdat ze in studies over dieren doken.…

On Saturday 9 March 2019, Dr. Eduard Fosch-Villaronga got his first publication for his Marie Skłodowska Curie project on the Legal and Ethical Aspects of Healthcare Robot Technology.

Since the demonstration over a year ago on the Wijnhaven campus, Leiden University has developed plans and initiatives to create the safest possible work and study environment for our university community. The Executive Board would like to explain what has happened since and what else we can expect…

Showing your face at dinners and parties at court: it was the way to get noticed by the king in William I's time. Joost Welten's latest book reveals how, during the reign of William I, the elite danced around his throne both literally and figuratively.

Students taking the new bachelor’s course ‘Social Movements and Political Violence’ are about to do something new. In addition to studying textbooks and academic articles, they will actively work with multimedia materials and engage in online storytelling. Course instructor Corinna Jentzsch (Leiden…

Researchers Marit Ruitenberg and Janna Marie Bas-Hoogendam have received NWO-XS grants for their research projects on freezing in Parkinson’s disease and the neurobiology of social anxiety. The grant supports innovative, curiosity-driven research within the social sciences and humanities.

Lecture, Global Histories of Knowledge Seminar

Developmental psychologist Anne Miers of Leiden University is involved in a large-scale research project investigating the efficacy of interventions regarding social skills, resilience and insecurity. The project is funded by a grant from The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research - Health…

PhD defence

Lecture, Discussion

Twee jaar geleden klaagde promovendus Danny Mekić het socialmediaplatform X aan, omdat zijn account, zonder toelichting, onvindbaar werd gemaakt. Hij kreeg gelijk van de rechter, maar X verzet zich ertegen: ‘Twitter wil niet transparant zijn.’

113 Suicide Prevention gave a guest lecture about suicide prevention at the Spanish Steps in Wijnhaven

It increasingly seems that Elon Musk has taken it upon himself to decide what can and cannot be said on Twitter. He bought the platform with the message that there would be room to say whatever you desired, but he himself is casting doubts on that principle.

It sounds credible: ‘Research has shown that…’, but is it really? Read in the research dossier ‘From data to insight: the importance of sound research methods’ how Leiden University contributes to more reliable social science research.

In the Dutch media lots of articles have recently appeared based on interviews with Eveline Crone about the adolescent brain.

A research project by Developmental Psychology professor Carolien Rieffe and researchers of the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science has been voted Smartest Project of the Netherlands 2016.

The steady decline in lethal gun violence in the EU came to halt in 2012 and some countries, such as Sweden, have even noticed an increase since then. An arms race among drug criminals and an increase in the availability of illegal firearms could lead to more criminal and gun violence. This is one of…

Discover insights and advice from Leiden scientists on bullying, how to stop and prevent it. Learn why people bully, how bullied children can get help and what it takes to create a safe environment. Find out how anti-bullying programmes work in schools and why bullying is a serious problem that needs…

Een internationaal consortium onder leiding van Olaf van Vliet heeft een Horizon Europe subsidie van 3,4 miljoen euro gewonnen. In het onderzoek staat centraal hoe wereldwijde sociale veranderingen zoals migratie, digitalisering en de klimaattransitie de arbeidsmarkt beïnvloeden en wat daar de gevolgen…

South Korean smash hit Squid Game is on track to becoming the most successful Netflix production ever. The series is number one in over 90 countries. Professor and Korea expert Remco Breuker can see why South Korean pop culture is becoming so popular, also outside Asia.

Psychologist Ellen de Bruijn studies the effects of hormonal fluctuations on behaviour and on the brain over a woman's life course. With an ERC Consolidator grant, she and 3 PhDs and a postdoc will further her EEG research on the different stages at which girls and women experience strong hormonal f…

Ukrainian Yana Rudenko lived through the Russian occupation of Bucha in March 2022 and thereafter came to Leiden to study. thereafter De Oekraïense Yana Rudenko (24) jaar heeft in maart 2022 de Russische bezetting van Boetsja meegemaakt en is daarna gaan studeren in Leiden.

People from the Dutch islands of Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius say that violence (mainly verbal) is fairly common in families. This is according to research by Leiden University, the University of Curaçao and UNICEF Netherlands. The researchers make recommendations for preventing such violence over…

Employees are now in a better position to negotiate the terms and conditions of their employment. This is mainly visible in wage increases and fringe benefits. Olaf van Vliet, Professor of Economics at Leiden University, spoke to NU.nl about workers' improved negotiating position.

The Dutch Tax and Customs Authority is planning to start enforcing income tax and contribution obligations again following a moratorium lasting several years. The tax authority is doing this in a move to combat sham self-employment; a dossier that continues to be a huge obstacle for the Dutch House…

Children’s brains react in the same way to social feedback as adults’ brains. But handling frustration or aggression after being rejected is a different matter, developmental psychologist Michelle Achterberg has discovered. Using fMRI techniques, the development of the child brain has now been studied…

Zsuzsika Sjoerds seems to be busy with her research, her teaching, and open science advocacy. She will also take over the Twitter account for Dutch scientists. Folllow our cognitive neuroscientist at @NL_Wetenschap from 30 September till 6 October 2019.

Many people work less after turning 60 which is not helping the economy. Egbert Jongen, Professor of Economics, will explore with his team how employers and policymakers can help older employees stay healthy and keep working, even after the statutory retirement age.

PhD defence

Marieke Liem, professor at ISGA, discusses how the number of drug-related murders has not decreased in the last years

Extremist users of Telegram are moving en masse to other chat apps, such as the anonymous SimpleX. In this way, they hope to avoid detection, now that Telegram founder Pavel Durov is going to share personal data of criminal users with authorities.

Lecture, Sociolinguistics & Discourse Studies Series

Adolescents with autism or hearing loss report fewer feelings of guilt and shame than their peers. However, guilt does still serve a ‘corrective function’ in this group. This is what Evelien Broekhof’s dissertation reveals. PhD defence on 4 June.

In our collective journey to bridge social, economic, and cultural inequality in society, we must al play a part, says Wilco van Dijk. Unfortunately, notes Carolien Rieffe, minority groups are often not included in this 'we.' This became a focal point of discussion during the fifth Psychology Connected…

People in the Early Bonze Age used bronze artefacts as a means of payment. This is the conclusion reached by archaeologists Maikel Kuijpers and Catalin Popa in a PLOS ONE article published on 20 January. The discovery led to a surge of media reports.

People in the Early Bonze Age used bronze artefacts as a means of payment. This is the conclusion reached by archaeologists Maikel Kuijpers and Catalin Popa in a PLOS ONE article published on 20 January.

Migration, globalisation, technological developments, climate change: the greatest challenges of our time all affect our labour market. But how exactly? And can we influence this? Professor of Economics Olaf van Vliet regards it as his job to reveal how things really are. ‘That way, we can work on solutions…

It’s often said that citizens have lost trust in their governments. But who exactly are these ‘citizens’? And which aspects of people’s contact with government agencies work better than others? These questions will be discussed at the Crafting Resilience conference (working language is English) on…

The scientific world is a competitive place. Even so, researchers are often prepared to share their findings with colleagues. This applies particularly to men as a group: women are much less willing to share their work, whether it is with other women or with men. This discovery was made by Leiden and…

Four researchers from Leiden University have been awarded prestigious Vici grants the Dutch Research Council (NWO) has announced. The honoured applications are from researchers at the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Leiden Observatory, the LUMC and the Faculty of Archaeology.

Feeling good doesn’t just lift our mood—it also helps us stay flexible and resilient. A new study by an international team of neuroscientists shows that natural brain opioids released after rewards play a key role in broadening attention, offering fresh insights into stress, cognition, and well-bein…