The relationship between academia and democracy is a complicated one. Should policy makers listen to scientists or to citizens? That is the dilemma Valérie Pattyn and Johan Christensen will discuss with a panel of experts during the academic conference EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF).

We are living through an age in which social media platforms have given way to entirely new forms of politics and politicking. It is no exaggeration to say: there is a before and after social media.

The ‘Leids Universiteits Fonds’ (LUF) award grants to research and educational project in various academic fields once a year. This year, Honorata Mazepus, Tanachia Ashikali, and Jaroslaw Kantorowicz of the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs were three of the recipients of such a grant.

From closed government systems in the Middle East to an exceptionally open Dutch government. Public administration lecturer Alex Ingrams is an expert on transparency: ‘Why are some countries secretive? And what role does technology play?’

On 1 August, Egbert Fortuin has been appointed Professor of Russian Language and Linguistics. After a five-year term as vice-dean of the Faculty Board, he is eager to fully devote himself to the study programme. His appointment can therefore be summarised in three words: 'I am back'.

International Day of Education 2024 is dedicated to the role of education in countering hate speech. Assistant Professor Michael Klos says, 'When people are constantly derided online and that goes unpunished, they may start to withdraw from public discourse.'

How ethical is research involving humans and robots? And can research on artificial intelligence cause problems when it ends up in the wrong hands? In any research involving humans or their data, the ethics committee assesses where the issues are. Associate professor at LIACS Suzan Verberne chairs the…

Second-year MIRD students showcase their thesis research on global issues during the 2025 Thesis Symposium, bridging theory and diplomatic practice.

Maxine David is a lecturer in European Politics in the Institute for History and is a busy bee when it comes to teaching. When countries started locking down due to the corona virus, she was in the United States. After some difficulty getting a flight back to her home country, the United Kingdom, she…

The fight against insurgents, guerrillas and resistance movements is an ‘incredibly unpopular’ topic with experts and military personnel, says Professor by Special Appointment of Military History Thijs Brocades Zaalberg in his inaugural lecture. He warns that ignoring these forms of irregular warfare…

eLaw colleagues Bart Custers and Helena Ursic have a new publication in the peer-reviewed journal The European Data Protection Law Review.

In Leiden University's video series on Leiden and The Hague as student cities, students interview each other at their favorite spots. In the fifth video of this series, archaeology student Azra spoke with Biology student Floris in Naturalis Biodiversity Center.

The international regime governing displacement shows a number of gaps, most notably with regard to (internally) displaced people who are not covered by the definition of refugee of the Refugee Convention. These protection gaps translate into solution gaps for displaced people.

The article deals with the influence of the Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons between Switzerland and the EU on the international tax separation, more specifically on the tax separation of tax deductions for natural persons.

More and more companies are watching while you surf the internet. Robbert van Eijk, dual PhD student on the program of Leiden University Dual PhD Centre, wrote his dissertation on this subject. On 29 January, 2019, Van Eijk obtained his doctorate for his research on online privacy.

Following ASEAN Customs Transit System pilots in Cambodia, Lao, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, the ASEAN Customs Transit System (ACTS) system has now been formally launched for general use.

Dr Antonio Missiroli has been appointed as Associate Senior Policy Fellow for Emerging Security Threats at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA).

This volume contains the edition or re-edition of 52 papyri and ostraca, dating from between the third century BCE and the eighth century CE.

As fruit and vegetables ripen, ethylene gas is released. Ethylene also influences the speed at which they ripen. Chemist Tom van Dijkman studied how small and inexpensive sensors can be made that measure ethylene concentrations during transportation. PhD defence 12 May 2016.

How do leaders lead in the face of grief, loss and adversity? This and other questions will be addressed in two online public webinars, on Wednesday 29 and Thursday 30 September. Bert Koenders and Peter van Uhm will be among the speakers.

After more than seven years as Managing Editor of Common Market Law Review, preceded by 22 years as Associate Editor and three years as Secretary to the Editors, Alison McDonnell will be retiring in December 2022.

On 1 October 2024, Dr Jiska Engelbert was appointed as professor by special appointment on the Ien Dales Chair ‘Government as an Employment Organisation’. Her focus is on leadership in digital transitions, digital innovations, and the transformation of public services, with particular attention to local…

Roel Becker and Jelle But recently joined the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law as PhD candidates.

Last Wednesday was the official deadline for students to apply for one of our master’s programmes. Some of our master’s programmes, such as History, organised a last call Q&A for students.

Suzanne van der Pluijm will be appointed Executive Director and Member of the Board of the Faculty of Science with effect from 1 June 2022. She succeeds Ed van den Berg, who has held this position on an interim basis since 1 September 2021 .

Do you practice public engagement? The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has just released a unique set of open-source materials designed to be used in public engagement training workshops.

‘Seated behind her desk, she initiated and influenced embassies, conventions, ambassadorial meetings, sieges, and skirmishes that had kept a war-torn early modern Europe in its grip.’ This is how Nadine Akkerman, researcher as the Leiden Institute for Cultural Disciplines and author of The Correspondence…

Marieke Liem, Associate Professor, at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, was interviewed by RTL Nieuws on Tuesday morning 27 August about the increase in violence with illegal hand grenades in the Netherlands.

This volume contains the first edition of 66 papyri and ostraca in the collection of the Leiden Papyrological Institute.

Terrorist organisation Boko Haram is gaining influence in the region, politicians who do not care about the people, extremists, separatists. The situation in Northern Cameroon is deteriorating. Mora is the last secure city, the area surrounding it is a war zone.

Researchers from the Plant Ecology and Phytochemistry group at the Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL) received an STW (Stichting Technologische Wetenschappen) grant for applied studies in plant herbivore resistance with potential for a novel resistance test.

On Wednesday 9 November, Armin Cuyvers was interviewed on the already infamous UK ‘Internal Market Bill', which was published that day.

Why do innocent people sometimes spend years in prison? EUREX is a registry of miscarriages of justice in Europe that ultimately led to exonerations. The aim is to prevent such mistakes being made in future. One of the initiators is Leiden legal psychologist Linda Geven.

Harm Derks started as Head of the Institute Office on 21 May. After a lengthy test drive in the world of classic cars, he is once again in his element back in the academic world. ‘I really want to get to know people, and also for colleagues to get to know me.’

With the rise of AI, interest in computational linguistics and language models has taken flight. But machines are far from being able to go it alone. In her inaugural lecture, Professor Carole Tiberius will stress the importance of research on word combinations. ‘We know a great deal but there is a…

How should we deal with the post-corona phase? In a video (in Dutch) for the Association of Public Administration, Erwin Muller, Professor of Safety, Security and Law at Leiden University and former vice-chair of the Dutch Safety Board, reflects on the recovery phase and the corona crisis.

This week the Turkish army invaded North East Syria. The Turkish invasion might well have had an unintended side effect: the escapement of thousands of Islamic State terrorists held in captivity. Experts on terrorism and politicians fear a resurrection of the terror group.

As from April 2023 all students at Leiden University, Delft University of Technology and Erasmus University Rotterdam will start using the eduXchange portal to register for a minor.

In a recent study, Dr. Moji Aghajani and colleagues show that adolescents with a severe form of Conduct Disorder (CD) -with limited prosocial emotions- require an unusually large amount of brain capacity to read emotional faces. These effects were found in comparison to CD youth without limited prosocial…

How can party bans be justified? Which parties were banned in post-war Europe – and why? Do militant democracy instruments work? Is an international militant democracy concept in the making?

The ELS lab @Leiden is looking for colleagues to join the newly introduced topic group on Goed Werkgeverschap (‘good employment practices’).

Prof. dr. ir. Bas Rietjens of the Dutch Defense Academy (NLDA) has been appointed Professor by special appointment Intelligence in War and Conflict at Leiden University’s Institute for Security and Global Affairs (ISGA). The appointment of Rietjens is the result of a more intensive collaboration between…

Eduard Fosch-Villaronga and Hadassah Drukarch from eLaw - Center for Law and Digital Technologies, recently published the book ‘AI for Healthcare Robotics’, published by CRC Press from Taylor and Francis Group in their AI for Everything Series.

Janice McNab's Open Letter now occupies the storefront window of Page Not Found bookshop in The Hague.

Mark Klaassen and Peter Rodrigues have published a journal article on the role of the best interests of the child in EU family reunification law in the European Journal of Migration and Law. They conclude that even though the Court of Justice of the European Union has often referred to the best interests…

An X-ray scanner, some small metal balls, and a newly developed algorithm. That is all you need to make a 3D model that enables you to look inside art objects without dismantling them. Thanks to the research of Francien Bossema (Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica and Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer…

Yousef Yousef is a 'self-made man'. But he first obtained his bachelor's degree in tax law in Leiden. 'A CEO needs to have a basic understanding of the principles of law', he says.

On Thursday 12 December, the day of the UK general election, Armin Cuyvers was interviewed by BNR Nieuwsradio.

In honour of Prof. Dr. Gerard Persoon’s and Prof. dr. Ton Dietz’ work and on the occasion of their retirement from Leiden University, Ton Dietz’ and Gerard Persoon’s portraits have been added to the ‘Hall of Fame’ of the Insitute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology.

The Kalshoven-Gieskes Forum, the platform within the Grotius Centre at Leiden University for the research, teaching and dissemination of international humanitarian law (IHL), is proud to present its first Massive Open Online Course (MOOC).