At the symposium ‘Diversity and Inclusion in the Police: from Aspiration to Reality’, the central question was how organisations can truly embody diversity and inclusion. The high level of interest (it was fully booked in no time) demonstrates that the topic is pressing—both in academia and in pract…

We are delighted to welcome Dr. Danny Steed and Dr. Kubo Mačák as Visiting Fellows of The Hague Program for Cyber Norms at Leiden University’s Institute of Security and Global Affairs from 1 Apr 2019 - 26 Apr 2019.

In the academic world interest in interdisciplinary research is growing. It can help to solve the big challenges of our times. But starting a research project that covers several disciplines is not always easy. This was one of the conclusions at a Young Academy Leiden (YAL) symposium. What are the c…

Friso Selten recently started a PhD position that is part of the SAILS program. This PhD project is a collaboration between FGGA, LIACS, and eLaw, and is supervised by Bram Klievink (FGGA), Joost Broekens (LIACS), and Francien Deschene (eLaw). In the project Friso will investigate the influence of artificial…

Putting our interns to work’ is the third-year slogan for the Master’s Programme in Medicine at Leiden University. After their regular residency periods, students are encouraged to find an internship in demanding sectors where they would like to work after completing their studies. In the MasterMindsChallenge,…

Oud-studenten gingen op 30 augustus weer de collegezalen in om hun vaste plekje op de banken op te zoeken tijdens Leiden Revisited. Bezoekers konden genieten van inspirerende lezingen, maar ook van een gezellige borrel, buffet, en livemuziek.

The Applied Machine Learning Days AMLD is a global platform that brings together experts and participants from over 40 countries across industry, academia, and government in the field of Machine Learning. In this year’s edition, members of the BIAS project organized a track around the topic Fairness…

As of 1 January 2020 Daan Weggemans has succeeded Ruth Prins as programme director of the bachelor Security Studies. We asked him several questions about himself and his new position.

As a result of the refugee crisis and the terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels, the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee (RNM) is stepping up immigration controls in the Dutch borderlands. These measures are part of the so-called Mobile Security Monitor (in Dutch: Mobiel Toezicht Veiligheid), “Schengen…

From 16 to 18 August, 30 participants from 18 different countries gathered online to participate in the Online Summer Programme: Preventing, Detecting and Responding to Violent Extremism, organised by Leiden University’s Centre for Professional Learning (CPL) together with the International Centre for…

We are pleased to announce a groundbreaking research study delving into crucial aspects of safety and responsibility in the domain of personal care robots, explicitly focusing on robotic lower-limb exoskeletons.

Leiden University has received Wisselstroom funding for three projects to improve the information provision for prospective students and help them choose and transfer between study programmes.

On Monday 18 March at 10:45 a deadly shooting took place on the 24 Oktoberplein in Utrecht, killing three people and severely injuring five others. Leiden University expresses its solidarity with the families left behind in the wake of this horrendous and regrettable incident. Several researchers of…

At the Capstone Conference, Honours College students of the Humanities Lab presented their final projects. In small groups, they conducted research on relevant societal issues – gathering insights from a multitude of disciplines. ‘The aim is to learn as much as possible from each other.’

The project MiCRop receives 20.3 million euros from the Gravitation programme of the Dutch Research Council (NWO). MiCRop will unravel the microbial community around crops. This knowledge will help to develop more sustainable crops that require fewer fertilizers and pesticides. Leiden professors Jos…

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…

Women are more often diagnosed with depression, whereas ADHD is much more frequently detected in men. And there are other more striking differences. What role does the brain play in mental health and what is the influence of the environment? For answers to these questions, listen to the ‘(Un)gendered…

The first global safety summit on Artificial Intelligence is a fact. Prime Minister Sunak organised the conference because he believes that the issues related to AI can only be dealt with by governments. But the real issue with AI remained undiscussed at the summit, Reijer Passchier claims in Dutch…

Researchers from Leiden University are working with Ouwehands Zoo to improve our understanding of emotions and intelligence in orangutans. Visitors to the zoo can now watch orangutans as they play with computer touch screens.

Carolien Stolte has received an Early Career Award from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). She received this award for her research into the role of informal Afro-Asian networks in the Cold War. For this innovative research she received the award, an amount of 15,000 euros, and…

How will future technological developments influence our everyday lives? This is the key question during the Brave New World symposium on 2 and 3 November.

The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel exports the technology of occupation around the world, Antony Lowenstein, Verso Books, 2023

Carlotta Rigotti and Eduard Fosch-Villaronga have published a new article that offers an insightful and critical literature review on fairness and AI in the labour market as part of the BIAS project.

Eduard Fosch-Villaronga from eLaw - Center for Law and Digital Technologies, and Hadassah Drukarch, explored the role of intersectionality within (rehabilitation) robot design, testbed, and standards. Being oblivious to these considerations may give way to the development of robots that fall short of…

Cristina Del Real, Assistant Professor in Cyber Crisis at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, participated in the presentation of the Office of Science and Technology (OficinaC) of the Spanish Congress of Deputies (the Spanish Parliament). She is an expert on cyber security, one of the four…

On 24 November a High-Level panel discussion on the occasion of the signing ceremony of the memorandum of understanding between the NATO Civil-Military Cooperation Centre of Excellence and the Institute of Security and Global Affairs and the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs took place at Campus…

LegalTech: the use of technology and software to provide legal services and support the legal sector. On 1 November, the GovTech Summit 2022 took place in the World Forum in The Hague. During the summit, technological innovations in the public sector were addressed from a number of different perspectives.…

The quantum computer is on its way, but is society ready for it? Quantum computers have a reputation of being difficult to grasp because of their complexity. This limits society’s ability to envision future applications creating a gap between society and quantum computers. A consortium of 14 knowledge…

A film and quiz at the Old Observatory, a film whose ending you decide or a political satire in The Hague. These are some of the options at Science & Cinema, the 444 edition, a special programme during LIFF, the Leiden International Film Festival.

The Netherlands cannot stop European labour migrants coming here. Nor does The Hague have much influence on the influx of asylum seekers. But experts believe that we should be able to reduce the need for labour migrants by using intelligent economic policies.

Cláudio de Sá predicted the preferences of people using rankings. He adjusted ‘classical’ machine learning approaches, making them suitable for predicting preferences. His work can be applied in the prediction of election results. PhD defence on 16 December.

From November 4 to 10, the exposition CRITTERS will be exhibited in Naturalis Biodiversity Center during Beyond Human Festival. In CRITTERS artists and researchers are looking for a connection between technology and natural organisms. When does technology become a natural being? And when we examine…

The Dutch police face complex challenges, from organised crime and polarisation to digitalisation and new forms of crime. To deal with this effectively, they need innovation and intensive collaboration, says Professor by Special Appointment of Police Studies, Monica den Boer, in her inaugural lectur…

Eduard Fosch-Villaronga from eLaw - Center for Law and Digital Technologies, together with Hadassah Drukarch and Carlos Calleja, explores how compliance tools could be used as data generators for policy purposes to optimise regulatory frameworks for existing and emerging robot technologies.

Abstract sounds that draw visitors upstairs, an 'escape womb' and a Christmas game that gets you thinking about the limits of creating our own happiness. Master's students of Media Technology created a special exhibition on the theme of 'self', in the Old School art centre in the Pieterskerkhof in…

Just like scientific articles, patents cite scientific literature to support their findings. These references provide valuable information on how science is used to develop practical applications. However, extracting this information from patents is not that simple.

Over 100 participants joined the first grant matchmaking and working session on the call for the Dutch National Research Agenda, on 25 June in the PLNT building. They explored topics ranging from health care to smart cities.

On 23 March 2017, his Majesty King Willem-Alexander visited The Hague Security Delta: a network in which businesses, knowledge institutions and governments work together on knowledge development and innovation in the field of security. This includes the Cyber Security Academy, where the Master's programme…

Joachim Koops has been appointed as scientific director of the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) of Leiden University in The Hague. ‘ISGA is in the position to connect research to policy in the field of security and global affairs, a remarkable combination for this young and creative institute.…

On Thursday 12 December, the last ILS Lunch Seminar of 2019 took place. Cecily Rose and Eduard Fosch Villaronga gave two very insightful presentation on their current and future research.

Jelle van Buuren bespreekt de link tussen radicalisering en psychiatrische problematiek.

Politicians from Forum voor Democratie (FVD) regularly retweet anti-Semitic accounts. They therefore promote players from a social media network in which anti-Semitism is commonplace. This ranges from conspiracy theories about George Soros to hate speech about Jewish people drinking children’s blood.…

Data science is of vital importance in preventing future outbreaks of viruses, Professor of Data Science Aske Plaat argues. Inaugural lecture entitled ‘Data Science and Ebola’ on 13 April.

Dr. Mark Westmoreland (Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology) and Dr. Francesco Ragazzi (Institute of Political Science) have been awarded a Seed grant for their project, ‘Other “ways of knowing”: should we prepare for a post-textual turn in the social sciences?’. The grant amounts…

A team of Dutch scientists has built a supercomputer the size of four pizza boxes. The Little Green Machine II has the computing power of 10,000 PCs and will be used by researchers in oceanography, computer science, artificial intelligence, financial modeling and astronomy. The computer is based at…

The second instalment of the Humanities Lab - the three-year honours programme of the Humanities – has reached its conclusion. On 12 May, 11 groups of honours student presented their work in the Arsenaal building.

From 11 to 17 September, Leiden will be all about art and science. What can the combination of these two domains do for us? And how can cooperation between them be strengthened? Several public events and a brand new symposium for specialists should answer these questions.

In 2022, for one year, Leiden will be European City of Science. For humanities scholars, this offers enormous opportunities to bring their work to the attention of citizens. Rob Zwijnenberg, chairman of the steering committee that coordinates the faculty's contributions, talks about these opportunit…

We often assume that highly gifted children always perform at maximum capacity. Psychologist Bart Vogelaar discovered that this group too benefits from training and explanation. Strangely enough, the benefits are the same for both groups. PhD defence 18 January.

During the ‘intelligent lockdown’ in the Netherlands this spring, the respondents in a Leiden study reported a mild increase in their stress levels. This extra stress could have a negative effect on families, particularly if parents already had psychological problems before the corona crisis.