With what skills do Humanities students distinguish themselves on the labour market? How can we offer students insight into their personal profile? Can they train and monitor their skills and increase their chances on the labour market this way?

In March, the Honours Academy will be launching two new Master Honours Classes. In these classes, students with a curious mind will have the opportunity to do research into the relationship between humans and nature or to work on an innovation for the healthcare sector. ‘This will allow students from…

The scaling up of municipalities means that local authorities are too often losing sight of citizens. This warning was given by Job Cohen on 30 November on his departure from Leiden University as Thorbecke professor. ‘The Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations has got some work to do.'

With the new academic year, the Honours Academy welcomes a new assessor: Maarten Kolpa. What does an assessor do? And what can he do for honours students? Maarten talks about it in an interview.

The Municipality of The Hague, Leiden University and CBRE Investment Management (CBRE IM) will together try to realise a University building in the former Hudson’s Bay premises at Grote Marktstraat 48-50/Spui 3. This will facilitate the growth of Campus The Hague. A cooperation agreement was signed…

Over the coming year, a quartermaster will explore the possibility of a Leiden Law Park in the centre of Leiden. In a building close to Leiden Law School, researchers, students and legal companies and start-ups would together address the topics of technology, law and ethics.

De klimaattransitie is in volle gang: de vervuilende industrie moet plaatsmaken voor duurzame productiemethoden. Werknemers in deze industrie zullen hierdoor nieuwe banen moeten vinden. Dat zal niet iedereen lukken. Heb oog voor die groep, waarschuwt politiek econoom Lars van Doorn.

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

Leiden University and four other Dutch universities will appoint 51 PhD candidates to conduct solution-oriented research for and with the African continent.

The monthly ILS Lunch Seminars bring together colleagues and students from Leiden Law School, by providing an informal setting to hear what researchers from other research programs and institutes are working on. On Thursday 19 April the next edition of the ILS Lunch Seminars takes place, featuring presentations…

On the south coast of Sri Lanka is a colonial fort. Since it became a world heritage site, the fortified town of Galle has suddenly become a major tourist attraction. This has its pros and cons, says PhD candidate Uditha Jinadasa. PhD defence on 12 March.

If European countries rely solely on technological advances, they won't be able to limit global heating to 1.5 degrees. Households will also need to change their lifestyles. This 'inconvenient truth' is the result of calculations done by industrial ecologist Stephanie Cap. ‘It's not a popular message,…

Since 2009-2010, the West viewed China as more assertive. Especially after Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, the country abandoned Deng Xiaoping’s ‘low profile’ foreign policy. Friso Stevens explains in his dissertation where this change has come from. The dissertation defence is on 28 March.

Universities are there for future generations; how can we make sure we pass them on intact? Leiden academics responded to the address given by Cambridge professor Stefan Collini at the opening of the academic year.

The Dutch universities are conducting a joint campaign to promote open access: free access to academic and scientific publications. Many Leiden researchers support open access. Given that it involves a shift in the financing from the reader to the author, they point out the need for effective agreements…

How can the people of Leiden age as well as possible? And what is needed to reduce health disparities? That is the mission of Leiden Healthy Society Center, a new partnership between the Municipality of Leiden, Leiden University and many other partners in the city.

In the academic year 2022-2023 the Social Resilience and Security interdisciplinary programme will offer a new minor for students who are interested in studying interpersonal violence and who are entering the third year of their Bachelor's degree. The announcement went down well with students: the available…

Mirjam van Reisen favours big data built up from local inputs in developing countries and suitable for local use. The new Professor of Computing for Society at Leiden's Faculty of Science connects data science with development sociology. Inaugural lecture 10 March.

Friday 25 April 2025 | Leiden University Institute of Security and Global Affairs – The Hague

On 12 September 2024, the official ceremony opening the academic year 24-25 for students of the European Law master’s programme took place at Leiden Law School, organised by the Europa Institute.

Providing each cancer patient with the right treatment remains a challenge. Oncode Accelerator aims to change this by innovating the way we develop cancer treatments, thus ensuring the patient is at the heart of the process.

For the Bachelor Honours Class 'Mass Extinction', students produced podcasts about the past, the present and the future of mass extinctions. What exactly is lost when a species goes extinct? What are the practical consequences? But also: does humanity have the moral duty to protect other species?

The association agreement between the EU and Ukraine is highly important for peace in Ukraine, and it is therefore essential that Europe weathers these difficult times. These were the words of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on 27 November during his Europe Lecture at Leiden University.

Africa needs a narrative that is consistent with the developments that are taking place all around the continent. In these developments, talented youth, creative tech hubs, and leapfrogging play a big role. We need to invest accordingly.

King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima attended a meeting at Leiden University on 1 October to prepare for their state visit to China. China experts informed them about such topics as the image that Chinese people have of the Netherlands.

The financial sector, supply chains and ecology. Not necessarily topics you might associate with physics, yet it’s exactly what new professor Diego Garlaschelli is dealing with. The common thread? Complex networks.

The Netherlands has a lot of world-class speed skaters and footballers. Clever statistical analyses could help them perform even better. Leiden University is working on this together with Delft and Amsterdam.

CML grants three Stans Awards each year, known as the best PhD paper, best student thesis and best outreach from the past year. The CML staff nominated students and colleagues and this year’s jury Prof.dr. Koos Biesmeijer and Prof.dr. Nicole de Voogd made the final decision.

Worldwide, countries are barely prepared for major borderless crises such as extreme natural disasters or other unexpected calamities that destabilise society, Professor of Political Science, Arjen Boin, warns. In his inaugural address on 23 October he makes some recommendations.

Clothes designer, manager at a multinational or dermatologist: the twenty refugee students who are taking part in the Preparatory Study Year in Leiden (VJL) are burning with ambition. The study year started on Thursday 26 January in festive style.

‘The Netherlands’ response to coronavirus is inconsistent.’ These are the words of Leiden political scientist Arjen Boin, an expert in crisis management. Vulnerable groups such as the elderly need more personalised advice. ‘It would be better to cancel bridge tournaments than football games.’

Skills training for students, researchers and entrepreneurs and guidance for start-ups. These are the prime tasks of the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship – HUBspot – a joint initiative of Leiden University, the University of Applied Sciences Leiden and the municipality of Leiden.

Most Leiden master’s students who graduated between October 2016 and September 2018 soon found a job that was related to their degree programme. These are the results of the 2019 Dutch National Alumni Survey (NAE: Nationale Alumni Enquête). The effects of the coronavirus crisis on the labour market…

Yousef Yousef (39), a successful entrepreneur in the water-quality industry, recently joined the Advisory Board at Leiden Law School. Read the interview about his career.

The effects on local government of the financial crisis that began in 2007 are still largely unknown. As a case study, Jan Porth conducted statistical analyses of the implications for Dutch municipal finances. The crisis became most apparent in the sale of municipal land to private companies and households.…

Are you working at Leiden University and researching migration regimes outside of the Global North? Are you interested in doing fieldwork or a research visit at one of our partner universities? Then you might want to join the Leiden team of the EU funded Marie Curie Staff Exchange Network on non western…

In collaboration with: Leiden University Institute for Area Studies, the Netherlands & Mar Chrysostom Chair, Mahatma Gandhi University, India

Climate change is affecting all areas of human life. 2024 has been the hottest year on record and natural disasters are becoming increasingly frequent around the globe. Every year since 1995, national delegations come together to address the climate crisis through the Conference of the Parties to the…

Working together, sharing information, communicating and having the same goals. At the official opening on 30 November, biologist Koos Biesmeijer compared Beehive, Leiden University's new student centre in The Hague, with the activities in a real beehive.

An Institute of Environmental Sciences, ambitious goals for energy, water and CO2 emissions. Leiden University plans to take the lead on sustainability - in research, teaching and raising awareness.

The Olympic Games will start in Brazil on 5 August. You can find out more about this fascinating but complex country in a series of lectures organised by Studium Generale.

Before Maria Gabriela Palacio Ludeña became a lecturer International Studies at Leiden University, she was a public administrator in Ecuador. Her whole life she had a desire to teach and eventually she wound up at Leiden University.

Exploring logging's real impact: Insights from Anthropologist Tessa Minter in the Solomon Islands.

LUCIS is well connected to the Dutch National Research Agenda (Nationale Wetenschapsagenda/NWA). Both Petra Sijpesteijn and Jan Michiel Otto have a seat in the preparatory committees of two NWA routes. Other LUCIS members are involved as well. The themes of the NWA will be an important driver in future…

A special beginning of this unique faculty year 2020 - 2021: on Wednesday 2 September, the opening of the faculty year took place online from the renovated Arsenaal building. The opening started with a round table with nine special guests and was followed by a quiz and the presenting of the Faculty…

How to reduce aggression when two parties are at odds? PhD research by psychologist Lennart Reddmann's shows that it can help to offer them a peaceful alternative. However, the attacking party benefits the most from such a solution.

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.

Alumnus Stan van Haasteren went to Northern Ireland in 1995 as a freelance journalist with a guitar strapped to his back and recently wrote a book about his experiences in Belfast. ‘The big difference with then is that today there is no more violence. But it's still a divided city.’

Working towards resilient communities, transparency in science and connecting with the employment market – these are the three key themes being addressed by the departments of Social and Behavioural Sciences at Dutch universities. On 11 February, they presented a joint sector plan to Marcelis Boereboom,…

Authors: Pierre-Bruno Ruffini and Olga Krasnyak