Give organisms like plants and animals the freedom to move, interact and meet their own needs, and they will thrive on their own, says Professor Geert de Snoo. Our interference often ends up doing more harm than good.

The LUMC, Leiden University and The Hague University of Applied Sciences want to help health professionals support behaviour change in the population. Such change would help people live healthier lives and reduce their risk of disease. The Municipality of The Hague is supporting this educational project…

Queen Juliana was not, as is often claimed, a monarch with an unstable character who was completely under the influence of spiritual healer Greet Hofmans. Furthermore, her religious circle of friends was not a sect with a political agenda. That is what Han van Bree concludes on the basis of a new archival…

Korrie Korevaart, a former director and lecturer in Dutch language and culture at Leiden University, has been made a member of the Order of Orange-Nassau. Korevaart, who has retired but is still a guest member of staff at the university, has received the honour for her work at the Faculty of Humanities…

How did you get to where you are now? This is a key question in the Academic Life Course board game, developed by and for academics. ‘In a normal working week we hardly ever talk about the career choices we make, but with this game, we do.’

The 20th anniversary of the Lorentz Center will be celebrated on 28 June 2017 with the opening of an exhibition in the Oude UB. For two decades already, the Center has been a place of retreat for groups of international academics who want to explore a single issue.

President Putin will be officially opening the Netherlands–Russia Year on 8 April in Amsterdam. Leiden Slavist Sjeng Scheijen was responsible for putting together the cultural programme. How much freedom did he have in doing so? ‘The Dutch photography project on the demolition of Sochi districts was…

Stilzitten doet alumnus Bart Jansen niet graag. Zo geeft hij les in onder meer Nederland, Maleisië en Curaçao, houdt hij zich naast het recht ook graag bezig met kunst en mystiek en vindt hij naar eigen zeggen ‘alles wat fout gaat’ wel interessant aan de rechtsfilosofie. ‘Ik ben gek op veelzijdige mensen;…

How can we ensure that we act climate-proof and climate-neutral? We asked climate and earth scientist and lecturer at the Climate Change course Joeri Reinders.

Leiden Law Cast is a podcast made by Leiden Law School, Leiden University, for everyone who wants to learn more about current legal issues.

Lotje Zuur sometimes has to perform disfiguring operations. As a head and neck surgeon, she removes parts of the mouth, throat or face of people with cancer. Now a promising treatment may make such operations unnecessary. What would this mean for patients? This is what her inaugural speech on 19 September…

With a recently published major research project and an exhibition at the Rijksmuseum, the struggle for independence in Indonesia has been thrusted back into the spotlight. Leiden University is devoting attention to this topic as well. History students Sander van der Horst and Melle van Maanen joined…

Leiden has scored highly with the recent Vici awards. Of the 31 Vici winners announced by NWO, 4 are researchers in Leiden. The winners are: Professor of Family and Child Studies Marian Bakermans-Kranenburg, information scientist Peter Grünwald, astronomer Linnartz and Professor of Buddhism Jonathan…

The Rutte-III coalition agreement has been presented and the commentary is flooding in. Public administration experts Arco Timmermans and Gerard Breeman examined the new agreement – as they have done for every coalition agreement since 1963 - and made a systematic analysis of it: it is very much about…

For the first time, we’re seeing what Euclid sees. The telescope’s initial observations have provided a wealth of new information about our universe. But according to cosmologist Alessandra Silvestri, this is just the beginning. The research helps us gain a deeper understanding of the past, present,…

An archaeologist as a modern-day shaman. An unexpected comparison Professor by Special Appointment of Public Archaeology Luc Amkreutz will make in his inaugural lecture.

Ward Hoskens started ten years ago as an intern at one of Leiden's most iconic buildings: the Pieterskerk. Now he is doing his PhD on the question of how the function of this 'church that is no longer a church' changed over recent centuries.

In 2025, our colleagues from the Institute of Psychology once again made a strong presence in the media. From (inter)national newspapers to podcasts, discover where they shared their expertise in the media this year.

It is a warm day. The sun is shining brightly while biologist Marco Roos makes his way through the bushes towards a peculiar little plant. Insects buzz, birds chirp. In the background rises the LUMC: at the Bio Science Park in Leiden, people and nature come together in a special way.

On 27 February 1976, two men wearing motorcycle helmets and carrying loaded guns ring the door of temping agency Cito. A security van has just delivered cash. The suspect later claims in court that he and his friend were just doing a ‘dress rehearsal’ – preparing ahead in other words, but not an actual…

Op dinsdag 3 november is Ilektra Antonaki cum laude gepromoveerd op haar proefschrift over kapitaalbewegingen binnen de Europese Unie.

PhD defence

PhD defence

PhD defence

On 4 May, Leiden University remembered the victims of the Second World War from our university community. Alumni, students and present and former staff of the University came together for this Hour of Remembrance.

Emeritus professor Willem Otterspeer received a royal honour from mayor Henri Lenferink on Tuesday 20 September. The university historian was appointed Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau.

Good news for Linguistics alumna Anne-Mieke Thieme, who has won the thesis prize awarded by the European Federation of National Institutions for Language (EFNIL). ‘I emailed my thesis supervisor right away.’

After a period of maintenance, the 'Photographer' telescope is available once again for visits at the Old Observatory.

Nico Schrijver, voorzitter van het College voor de Rechten van de Mens en emeritus-hoogleraar internationaal recht, was te gast in Nieuwsuur over het dringend CRM advies met betrekking tot het Gaza-conflict. ‘Nederland is volgens het internationale recht verplicht om actief op te treden bij dreigende…

Over the past 40 days people in Bulgaria been demonstrating against the deep-rooted corruption in the country. The anger of the protesters is directed predominantly at the government of Prime Minister Borisov. But not all arrows are aimed at their own leaders, some are also pointing towards Brussels.…

On December 6th, 2024, Rector Hester Bijl welcomed participants at the Leiden Jewish Studies Association’s First Annual Conference “Jews at Home: From Creation to Corona” and also presented two Leiden University students with the inaugural Leiden Jewish Studies Association “Best Thesis in Jewish Studies”…

A pregnant woman from Drenthe will lose her baby directly after it is born. A juvenile court has already ruled during her pregnancy that the infant will go to a foster family. The court believes that the child would risk physical neglect.

On 15 April 2016, the All-European Final of the ELMC took place at the European Court of Justice in Luxemburg. Emma Gheorghiu, a student on the Advanced LL.M. in European and International Business Law at Leiden Law School, took home the trophy for the prestigious award for best Advocate General.

On Saturday 19 November 2016 the students (9 – 12 years old) and several parents of the Transvaal University visited the Leiden University College (LUC) The Hague. The aim of the visit was to get acquainted with several scientific issues in an interactive session.

An international team of more than 200 astronomers from 18 countries has published hundreds of thousands of unknown galaxies. The data are part of a project lead by Leiden professor of Observational cosmology Huub Röttgering. Both Dutch and international media reported extensively about the publica…

A fresh semester means a fresh faculty calendar. There is plenty to do at the faculty again in the coming months. Five interesting activities are listed below.