The annual World Economic Forum (WEF) is underway, and it is a key instance for world leaders to adress global and regional challenges. The organisation expects to convene over 3,000 leaders from more than 130 countries. However, there is rising concern about the number of key leaders that will not…

Patients with incurable breast cancer remember more information about their treatment if their doctor is more empathetic during consultations. These are the results of research by psychologists from Leiden University in collaboration with Nivel research institute. Publication in Patient Education and…

In Ancient Egypt, prominent families engaged in ancestor worship to maintain their high standing. Renata Schiavo researched this link between religion and power for her PhD. ‘People were afraid that their ancestors would bring misfortune if the family’s prestige declined.’

A high-ranking delegation from China visited Leiden on 6 November. The party of some 25 officials from the CPPCC – a Chinese advisory body comparable with the Dutch Senate - visited the Leiden Observatory, the Hortus Botanicus and the Asian Library.

The Oncode Institute is a new international network organisation that focuses on making sure that new scientific findings on cancer are implemented in patients as rapidly as possible. Two young female researchers at Leiden University have been selected to join Oncode: Laura Heiman (Leiden Academic…

A political science perspective on our project’s comparative ethnography. I truly enjoyed the one-day conference on February 4th where the research results have been shared with the members of the Advisory Board. The work conducted so far is impressive, and the case studies are very useful in understanding…

The monthly ILS Lunch Seminars have slowly developed into somewhat of a tradition. During this seminar series, all researchers from Leiden Law School can present their research and apprehend in a comfortable setting what researchers from other research programs and institutes are working on.

A team of Dutch and Scottish researchers led by Simon Portegies Zwart (Leiden University) has found an explanation for the chaotic behavior of the orbit of Halley's Comet. The findings are accepted for publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Professor of cardiology Douwe Atsma (LUMC) looks beyond the traditional boundaries of hospitals and healthcare institutions for solutions to increasing pressure on the current healthcare system.

The annual Amnesty International Masterclass on China took place recently in Leiden. The masterclass, which looked at China’s impact on human rights, was given online to students of Law and Chinese.

Professor P.F. (Paul) Wouters has been appointed dean of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences with effect from 1 January 2019. Wouters has been appointed for a period of three years and succeeds Professor Hanna Swaab, whose second term of office as dean expires this year. Swaab will remain…

Sometimes fascination can lead to in-depth research. Such is the case with Wahyu Widodo, who came across the Islamic Walikutuban ritual in Java in 2019, on which he subsequently wrote his PhD dissertation. Widodo: ‘Besides community, it also breeds political loyalty’

Four Leiden researchers will be gaining experience at prominent international research research institutes funded by a Rubicon subsidy from NWO. One international researcher will be coming to Leiden.

Hans-Martien ten Napel recently published a volume with Routledge, Culture, Secularization, and Democracy; Lessons from Alexis de Tocqueville, co-edited with Prof. Sophie van Bijsterveld (Radboud University Nijmegen).

Reijer Passchier, universitair staatsrecht en hoogleraar digitalisering en de democratische rechtsstaat aan de OU, waarschuwt in HP/De Tijd hoe weinig controle we werkelijk hebben over kunstmatige intelligentie, terwijl machtige bedrijven steeds meer invloed krijgen op onze democratische samenleving…

On May 22 eLaw's researcher Helena Ursic spoke at the international conference

Prof. John Bintliff and Dr. Hans Kamermans have been awarded a 4-year EEC grant to develop Enhanced Reality reconstructions in Classical Archaeology.

With his master thesis ‘Passion for Sustainable Fashion’ Public Administration student Wouter Kuin has won the SER thesis award 2018 of the Social Economic Council. He was awarded the prize because of the great relevance for the SER-work, the thorough research, the high analytical level and the good…

Interpersonal communication plays a vital role for the prediction of health behaviours and health campaign effects. That's the way Social and Organisational Psychologist Hanneke Hendriks put it in her dissertation. Hendriks has been awarded the Outstanding Dissertation Award of the International Communication…

Globalsmog Seminar Series #7 Morocco

This year’s edition of the prestigious art festival Ruhrtriennale, carried in diverse locations around the cities of Essen, Bochum and Duisburg (Germany), has re-staged De Materie, ACPA professor Louis Andriessen’s exceptional opera which overcomes traditional patterns of the genre in terms of dramaturgy,…

'Jammed' is released as a limited edition with music composed, recorded and mixed in the Institute of Sonology (Royal Conservatoire, The Hague) between January and June 2022.

In this episode, we talk with Leonie Vreeke and Nina Komrij about the Cool Little Kids research project. CLK explores the effectiveness of training parents of anxiety prone toddlers to prevent their children from developing anxiety on a later age. Want to learn more about their research and discover…

The Dutch legal system perhaps appears at first sight not to be very suited for strategic litigation by interest groups. But judgments such as SyRI and Urgenda show that when an interest group does fulfil all the conditions, anything can happen in court.

Over 80 speakers from around 15 different countries came together to discuss the latest developments in multilingualism during the Conference on Multilingualism 2019 (COM2019). This year’s conference was hosted by Leiden University Centre for Linguistics (LUCL) at Leiden University.

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.

When designing public spaces, noise is often a neglected issue. Architects and urban planners know little about it; noise experts see it mainly as a problem that should be solved simply by reducing the volume. University lecturer Andrea Giolai (LIAS), researcher Kevin Toksöz Fairbairn (ACPA) and Professor…

Marcel Cobussen is professor of Auditory Culture at ACPA. Recently he has published a report (in Dutch) commissioned by the city government of Leiden (NL) on the sonic redesigning of a public space (the Garenmarkt) in Leiden. He is also one of the founders of The Journal of Sonic Studies, an Open Access…

What do a linguist, an artist, a Professor of Conservation and Restoration, and a lecturer at the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science have in common? They all use Artificial Intelligence. On 7 April they discussed the use of AI at Leiden’s Kijkhuis cinema.

Willem Heiser receives the 2017 Psychometric Society Career Award for Lifetime Achievement. 'Receiving this prize from my colleagues makes me very happy.' Heiser is professor emeritus in Psychology, Methodology and Statistics at the Leiden Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences and professor of…

Male scientists owe their position to their brilliance, women to their hard work. Or do they? The Equalista app helps staff and students at the Faculty of Humanities to become aware of gender equality.

Carolien Stolte lectures at the Institute for History within the Faculty of Humanities in Leiden. She intends to use her Veni grant to research the international networks of Indian activists during the period of decolonisation. We spoke to Carolien about her reaction.

In an interview with Leidraad Alumni Magazine (no. 2, 2019), Marieke Liem states that it is almost impossible to compare between murders. ‘In our society we are inclined to frame murderers as monsters. Sometimes there is a very fine line between perpetrator and victim.’

Chemist Sylvestre Bonnet has received a Proof of Concept grant from the European Research Council (ERC). With the grant of 150,000 euros, Bonnet will investigate whether chemotherapy that is activated by light can be used against eye cancer.

Digitalisering ondermijnt de democratische rechtsstaat en verschuift macht van parlementen naar Silicon Valley, waarschuwt Reijer Passchier, hoogleraar digitalisering en beginselen van de democratische rechtstaat (OU) en docent staatsrecht in Leiden, in een podcast van de Publieke Ruimte.

The US attack and the arrest of Venezuelan President Maduro have raised questions worldwide. Two Leiden experts in international law, Anna Marhold and Jens Iverson of the Grotius Centre, told media outlets that this constitutes a violation of international law.

Dr Olga Ceran has been selected as a 2025/26 Mellon/SAR Academic Freedom Fellow. As one of 11 fellows in this year’s cohort, she will work on a project titled ‘The Linguistic Dimension of Academic Freedom: A Human Rights Analysis of Higher
Education in Europe’.

Leila Akkari was appointed Special Professor of Cancer-immune interactions at the Leiden Institute of Chemistry (LIC) on 15 December. Akkari is a researcher at the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI), where she studies the relationship between cancer cells and the immune system, with a particular focus…

Each month we will be spotlighting material we have been reading, or that have been recommended to us that relate to AI and a particular theme.

Als nieuwe hoogleraar Ontwikkelingspsychologie pleit Anna van Duijvenvoorde voor meer samenwerking in de wetenschap. Daarom moedigt ze jonge onderzoekers zich aan te melden bij een netwerk. ‘Het biedt je een bredere blik op de wetenschappelijke wereld.’

While the United States continues to carry out drone strikes, and China conducts large-scale cyber and information operations, Ukrainian and Russian soldiers live in trenches, and NATO sends tanks to the Donbas front to force a breakthrough. Has war changed dramatically in recent decades as a result…

Alumnus Wandile Madalane tells us how his time in Leiden has made it easier for him to engage with renowned figures and how he does NOT miss the rain.

On Wednesday morning, 14 March, Sander Dekker, Minister for Legal Protection, gave a guest lecture to the students of the Master Crisis and Security Management as part of the course Crisis Management. Dr. Sanneke Kuipers presented propositions based on theory to Minister Dekker. After each proposition,…

From the Spanish Flu during WWI to COVID-19: the role of the American government in these Pandemics. Professor Giles Scott-Smith, who together with Dario Fazzi and Gaetano Di Tommaso completed the book project Public Health and the American State, discusses a century of American responses to health…

Much of the literature on space diplomacy houses a Western precedent through the use of mainstream ideas of IR to emphasise space...

The Sustainability Research Cluster fosters dialogue and collaboration among anthropologists and sociologists researching aspects of socio-cultural, ecological, and economic sustainability in and affiliated with the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology. It also seeks to stimulate…

The major aim is to examine the potential of learning the body to produce a similar physiological (autonomic, neuroendocrine, or immune) and physical (e.g., desensitization of persistent physical symptoms) response to placebo medication than to active medication (pharmacological conditioning). If proven…

Knowledge of Muslim societies is essential to function in a globalised world and to fully understand our own Dutch society. Leiden researchers explore the languages, cultures, religions, legal systems and history of Muslim societies and in this way contribute to a centuries-old tradition.

Globalization, migration, technological innovation and climate change pose challenges to citizens in European countries. These challenges test the limits of cross-national and cross-generational solidarities, touching upon the very foundations of governance and society. This research program aims at…

On this page you will find more information about the selected projects of the Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) Fund for 2022.