This academic year, we are welcoming several international students who have started studying at FGGA with a prestigious scholarship. We asked them about their background, their reasons for applying, and the application process. Congratulations to all students who have been awarded a scholarship!

Yao Yuan, a PhD candidate from the Company Law Department, has recently concluded a research visit at the Lauterpacht Research Centre for International Law, University of Cambridge. This experience has significantly advanced her doctoral work and enhanced her international academic connections.

In the course ‘Research Design CSM’ Dr. Elke Devroe and Moniek Akerboom organized this year a competitive research conference where students of the Master Crisis and Security Management (CSM) presented their research design in order to gain some (fictive) funding on their proposal.

The Dutch Open Government Act (Wet open overheid (Woo)) has been in effect for several months now. Yet various government authorities were in the news recently due to violations of the right to information. Newspaper Trouw investigated whether political unwillingness is on the rise.

How to deal with the Pyongyang regime? Is North Korea irrational? Prof. Remco Breuker proposes a new approach.

Protestant missionaries have provided the earliest and most detailed sources regarding the ritual art of the Papuan peoples of the Geelvink Bay. Raymond Corbey brings these sources to bear on circa 300 ritual objects and their itineraries in the book KORWAR - Northwest New Guinea ritual art according…

Joost Kok, Professor of Computer Science at the Faculty of Science, has been appointed Dean of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science (EEMCS) at the University of Twente. He will succeed Prof. Peter Apers, and start at 1 February 2018.

In an op-ed and an interview in Dutch newspaper ‘de Volkskrant’, Reijer Passchier, Assistant Professor in Constitutional Law at Leiden University and Professor of Digitalisation and the Democratic Constitutional State at the Open University, stresses that Europe needs to take radical steps to tackle…

In July and August 2017, Magdalena Jozwiak, researcher at the eLaw department, is going to teach the course on ‘Privacy and surveillance in an information age: comparative law perspectives’ at the Kuala Lumpur campus of the Australian Monash University, within the framework of the Monash Law Malaysia…

Marco Cinelli from Leiden University College (LUC) and the Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML) was awarded the 2024 EURO Award for the Best EJOR Paper at the European Conference on Operational Research in Copenhagen.

More and more reports appear in de media claiming that Frontex, the organisation coordinating the joint border control of the European Union, has been helping the Greek coastguard to stop asylum seekers at sea. In doing so, has Frontex endangered the lives of migrants?

Postdoc Intigam Mamedov comments in The Conversation on the recent peace talks between Russia and the USA regarding the war in Ukraine.

Professor emeritus Frank Pieke speaks on BBC and BBC Vietnamese about Xi Jinpings ongoing fight against corruption within the Communist Party.

During the Summer School, held at Leiden Law School in Leiden and the Hague, the participants were offered a wealth of lectures and workshops on international and regional children’s rights issues affecting children, families and communities.

On 27 January 2020, Dr Yannick van den Brink, Assistant Professor at the Department of Child Law, participated in a live webinar titled ‘Pre-Trial Detention of Children in India’.

Cells in our bodies are often threatened by errors in our own proteins. The FLOW consortium, comprising scientists from various institutions including Leiden, is poised to meticulously map out for the first time how cells control proteins, correcting or removing faulty ones. This endeavour holds promise…

Chemical biologists from Leiden, led by Dr Mario van der Stelt, have discovered substances that can reduce inflammation processes in the brain. This is a first step in the development of potential medicines for the treatment of brain diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Published in Proceedings…

The call for a social media ban for children is louder than ever. Professor of Children's Rights Ton Liefaard argues in ‘Trouw’ newspaper that this would be unwise. 'For children, online and offline aren't different worlds'.

On 10 December Walter Burkard won the Jaap Doek Children’s Rights Thesis Award 2020 for his thesis on climate change and children’s rights. The prize for the best master’s thesis in the field of children’s rights is awarded every year by Defence for Children and the Department of Child Law of Leiden…

Students from the International School Wassenaar took part in piloting a Children’s Rights module designed by Leiden Law School. They learned about their human rights and created advocacy campaigns to stand up for the rights of children around the world.

President Donald Trump’s decision to freeze U.S. foreign aid is raising concerns about ceding global influence to China. The Associated Press explores how this shift could weaken America’s soft power, traditionally used to build alliances and counter adversaries.

Leiden University is featured by French magazine L’Express as one of Europe’s leading ‘schools of power’, highlighting its Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs and the Institute of Security and Global Affairs in The Hague and its role in training future leaders in politics, diplomacy, and securi…

While the U.S. reconsiders its global commitments, Japan remains a stable partner, having cultivated the roots of its bilateral partnerships in the Indo-Pacific region and expanded its commitment to global health.

‘Am I setting a good example myself?’ Hanneke Hulst wonders. As Recognition and Rewards project leader, she maintains that we should stop expecting researchers to be experts at everything, even though she herself keeps a lot of balls in the air.

In a newly published article in East Asia Forum (Australian National University), Salvador Santino Regilme, reflects on the global significance of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s arrest and trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.

On 12 June 2025, Advocate General Ćapeta delivered her Opinion in WS and Others v Frontex, a Grand Chamber case currently pending before the Court of Justice of the European Union. The case concerns a Syrian family that was returned to Turkey in what is arguably a violation of the principle of non-refoulement…

Eva Lammers is currently studying for a master's degree in labour law at Leiden University and expects to graduate in autumn 2023. Lammers did her internship at law firm JPR in Deventer and was thrown in at the deep end from the start. 'Assignments aren’t arranged for you, you've got to arrange them…

The Wall Street Journal reviews historian Eric Storm's new book 'Nationalism: A World History', which examines the complex history and development of nationalism and nation-states.

Children have the right to play and relax. Games, social media and video platforms are attractive new ways to do that. However, hardly any online games are designed specifically for children, nor do they factor in children's rights.

Nearly all students have faced many challenges this academic year. Students Nasreen Javanjoo (Religious Studies) and Marcos Cordova (Literary Studies) talk about their experiences of studying in the time of coronavirus.

Veel vrouwen in een opvanghuis kampen met een posttraumatische stressstoornis (PTSS). Deze PTSS-klachten herkennen en direct behandelen biedt volgens het Leids Universitair Behandel en Expertise Centrum (LUBEC) de meeste kans op succes. Daarom werkt LUBEC per 1 september samen met vrouwenopvangorganisatie…

On 11 and 12 April 2024, the University of Namur will host the colloquium "Mobilités et échanges dans l’espace rhéno-mosan (IXe–XVe s.)". The programme can be found below.

Intensive and decisive days are coming for the future of MERCOSUR’s external relations. In around two weeks, the regional organization’s negotiating and technical teams will publish the new conditions for the common customs tariff

Workshop brings multidisciplinary experts together to produce interdisciplinary outcomes on the EU’s Proposal for a Regulation to prevent and combat child sexual abuse.

In brain diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, proteins clump together to form fibres. ‘Chaperone proteins’ unravel those fibres, but in the test tube biochemist Anne Wentink saw that this can also cause new problems. She is going to find out what happens inside cells to determine what a drug…

The stadtholder’s court in the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands has long been underestimated. Real courts and the associated court culture were to be found elsewhere in Europe. PhD candidate Quinten Somsen is trying to reverse this image. ‘The stadtholder’s court was actually very lively.’

For the eleventh time in a row, Leiden University’s unique liberal arts and sciences programme has been awarded the ‘Top Rated Programme’ quality seal by Keuzegids universiteiten 2024.

The ERC project Early Medieval English in Nineteenth-Century Europe (EMERGENCE), led by Thijs Porck (Leiden University) is hiring 1 postdoctoral researcher and 2 PhD's. Details on the individual projects can be found below. Deadline for applications: 1 March 2024.

In this video, Joseph S. Nye Jr. discusses the new challenges faced by public diplomacy practitioners in the modern global information environment.

During the Faculty Staff Meeting of August 28th, Corinne Hofman spoke about her time on the Faculty Board. “I look back on a rich decade in which I have seen the Faculty, and the University as a whole, change at a rapid pace.”

Joachim Koops, Professor of Security Studies and Scientific Director of Leiden University’s Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) has been awarded a ‘Jean Monnet Chair’ with a focus on ‘The European Union’s Role in Security and Global Affairs’ (EURISGA).

On 18 March the municipal elections will be held, and you can cast your vote strategically for what you consider important in your town. This raises at least three important questions: what is strategic voting, how do you know if you are a strategic voter yourself, and what do you need to do to use…

The Australian parliament passed a law banning social media for youth under sixteen in late November. This solves nothing, argues Simone van der Hof, Professor of Law and Digital Technologies, in NRC. ‘Services should be held to the law.’

As part of the career orientation of the Master’s Vitality and Ageing, students visit various healthcare, policy and research organisations throughout the year. Students get introduced to relevant organisations where they have the possibility for a graduation internship and career opportunities. This…

What should the EU do to support Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova? How can the European Union adapt its policies towards these countries in a very difficult and challenging geopolitical context? Ten years after its inception, the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) has fallen short of accomplishing its…

Workshop, 21-22 June On 21-22 June, Dr. C.V. Weeda (Leiden University) and Marie-Louise Leonard (University Ca’ Foscari Venezia) organize a workshop on Worker's health and material environment in Port Cities. The workshop focuses on interdisciplinary discussion. ReMA-students are given the opportunity…

Vivian van der Linde completed her masters Crisis & Security Management in the summer of 2020 by writing a thesis on Dieselgate. Freshly graduated, she felt she wanted to do more with her research. But how do you go about that, having just finished studying? Together with her thesis supervisor Wouter Jong…

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.…

There’s been a lot of commotion about the ‘Apartheid in Israel’ panel discussion being cancelled. The organisers, Students for Palestine, wanted to hold this at Leiden University’s Wijnhaven building in The Hague on 21 March. The Executive Board would only allow the event to go ahead if guarantees…

In the eighteenth century, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) housed its enslaved people on ‘Slave Island’ in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka. Today ‘Slave Island’ is under serious threat from property developers. Senior lecturer Alicia Schrikker, together with her Sri Lankan colleagues Iromi Perera…