Leiden University’s Political Science and International Studies programmes have consolidated their firm academic reputation. In the 2017 QS World University Rankings, Leiden ranks 26th among the most valued institutes worldwide. Within the Netherlands, Leiden has retained the first position.

Computer Science on place 51 in QS World Universities Ranking 2011

The Faculty’s traditional New Year’s reception, like everything else these days, was transformed into an online event this year. Dean Paul Wouters as the host led us through the programme filled with the Casimir Teaching Award, the Pieter de la Court Medals, the Master’s Thesis Prizes, and a short lecture…

... together our steps make the journey!

On Saturday 9 February 2019 we celebrated the International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2019 in Leiden! View the photos of this festive day, with contributions from Robbert Dijkgraaf and Ewine van Dishoeck, and numerous fascinating workshops and exciting experiments.

Kerstin Perez has reached the position of Assistant Professor of Particle Physics at the renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). For people from minority groups this is by no means a common experience. Perez will explain how improvements can be made at the annual Diversity and Inclusion…

The Faculty of Science has presented an infographic with tips and tricks for work stress. The reason for this was the Personnel Monitor 2018, which showed that work pressure is a problem for many employees at the Faculty. ‘It is important to start the discussion about work pressure, and to break the…

On Friday 9 September, Jeanin van Hooft, Professor of Gastrointestinal and Liver Diseases, will deliver her inaugural lecture titled: 'The scope of connection'. She emphasises the value of collaboration and connection for scientific research. In addition, she pleads for more diversity; according to…

The Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences has become a lot healthier, thanks to the first Healthy Faculty event on 29 and 30 October, 2015. Health Psychology master’s students organised workshops for both students and staff. Many of them attended these inspiring workshops and already put the gained…

Festival

A new university-wide survey is now open to all involved in conducting, teaching, advising on, or supporting research related activities at Leiden University, aiming to better understand the current state of Open Science awareness and practice. Initiated by Archaeology’s then PhD candidate, now guest…

Science diplomacy, broadly defined as all activities at the intersection of science and foreign policy, has become a buzzword during the past ten years.

The Microscopy Unit houses, maintains and coordinates most of the microscopy equipment of the IBL. The available equipment ranges from conventional light and fluorescence microscopes, to confocal laser scanning and electron microscopes. In addition, infrastructure is available for histology, including…

The Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research (LACDR) is responsible for the research and education in Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences carried out at Leiden University.

As of February 1st, 2018, Sarah de Rijcke has been appointed as Professor of Science, Technology and Innovation Studies, especially Science and Evaluation Studies, at Leiden University. The chair is located at the Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS).

This September a new Masters Track

Does the university value teaching less than research? Can you advance in science without academic awards? Which scholars inspire you? Does the university pay enough attention to both your academic achievements and your personal well-being?

The European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST) has awarded its 2016 John Ziman Award for ‘a significant innovative cooperation in a venture to promote public interaction with science and technology’ to the Leiden Manifesto for Research Metrics. This manifesto is led by Diana…

In Green Bank, Virginia are some giant radio telescopes which astronomers use to study objects deep in space. Because these telescopes are built to capture very faint redio signals, the area around the observatory is officially a 'radio-quiet' zone, without WiFi, radio or Cell signal. Photographers…

In the interests of knowledge exchange and research, a delegation from the China Academy of Chinese Medicinal Sciences (CACMS) in Beijing paid a visit to the Hortus botanicus in Leiden. The visit was part of a joint research study on herbal medicine.

Over the last few years, human Rights have become subject of intense debates in historiography. Sam Moyn’s provocative book The Last Utopia (2010) made in particular clear how important it is to investigate precisely which meaning human rights have been given in a particular context. During the research…

The Europa Instituut is pleased to announce that this week a new handbook “EU State Aids” (31 Chapters, 1500 pages) was published.

“Go Within”, saxophonist and ACPA PhD Don-Paul Kahl's debut solo album features the techniques of saxophone playing without mouthpiece.

Researchers at the Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology - Paul Nieuwbeerta, Anouk Bosma, Esther van Ginneken, Hanneke Palmen and Maria Berghuis - have received 800,000 euro from the Dutch Custodial Institutions Agency (DJI) of the Ministry of Security and Justice to investigate living conditions…

The United Nations fall short in their recently published guide to address hunger without surpassing the 1.5-degree climate threshold. This initial version is a significant step, according to a group of researchers including those of Leiden University. However, they miss an essential topic: reducing…

Barbara Gravendeel has been appointed as the new scientific director of Hortus botanicus Leiden. Additionally, she has been named Professor of Plants and Society. Gravendeel succeeds Paul Keßler, who held the position for nineteen years. Currently, she works as a group leader at Naturalis Biodiversity…

Minister Kajsa Ollongren has offered the new training programme for council members at the congress for council members in Den Bosch. The training program is compiled by the Centre for Professional Learning at Leiden University in The Hague, and is made available to all (new) council members by the…

On 15 May the Space Law Moot Court Competition was held in the council chamber of Leiden Town Hall, organised by the International Institute of Air and Space Law (IIASL).

On 2 June, Prof. Mayke Kaag gave a keynote speech at the UN Headquarters in New York. The meeting was organised by the UN’s Security Sector Reform & Governance Unit.

The UN is highly critical of the Netherlands over the effect of its Work and Income (Capacity for Work) Act (WIA). Contrary to agreements, workers who are less than 35% incapacitated for work receive no benefits and the income of their partner is taken into account when they apply for welfare benefits.…

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) was established in 1919 based on the premise that social justice is a condition for lasting peace. On 7 February 2019 the ILO celebrated its 100th anniversary with an international symposium to consider the future of the ILO.

Of the 150 elected representatives, 24 studied or conducted their PhD research in Leiden. Who are they and which degrees are most popular among these MPs?

The challenge: Building a tool to detect chemical compounds that individually cause non-lethal stress to bacteria, but that are lethal in combination. A team of thirteen Leiden students are taking up this challenge in the annual ‘international Genetically Engineered Machine’ (iGEM) competition for applications…

Immediately connect with the needs of industry with your master’s degree. The new course Practical Aspects of Quality Management in Pharma and Biotech provides just that. The LACDR and LUMC set up the course together with the Biotech Training Facility, located at the Leiden Bio Science Park. The first…

On 15 November Joost Visser started as Professor of Large Scale Software and Data Science at the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS). He will head the software engineering research at LIACS and becomes head of the ICT in Business and the Public Sector master's program.

Education is more than just knowledge transfer: students also develop numerous important skills. But which skills are addressed in which courses? And how can we help students train these skills? The Science Skills team is actively engaging with teachers to answer these questions for all courses. Want…

Colleagues from three departments were treated to cake by Vice Dean Jan Crijns. This was to celebrate the ratings, excellent and above-average, awarded in the Keuzegids, the master’s programmes guide for 2025.

Last January, 20th, a new NSE-lunch-discussion took place. The NSE is an annual national survey among all bachelor and master students, and asks them about may topics regarding their programmes. During the lunch discussion, we highlighted several topics that stood out in the NSE-results for our program:…

Many of our staff and students have won an award, received a grant, obtained an academic fellowship for their quality or have been socially engaged due to their specific expertise. See below for an overview per year.

Last week, our The Hague Diplomacy Platform was awarded a 10.000 euro grant from the KNAW's 'Valued'-fund to help us in our efforts in science communication and spreading knowledge about diplomacy to a wider public.

On 17 June, primary school pupils in Leiden will get the chance to explore science in an interactive and engaging way. The exciting new show ‘Wetenschapswonders’ is the initiative of master’s students Boele Visser and Ilse Hordijk, from the Rino Foundation. ‘I’m happy to help build a bridge between…

Are you curious about how the human skeleton works? Discover this and more on 3 October in Leiden and on 4 October in The Hague.

Promotor: Prof.dr. J.N. Kok, Co-Promotor: W.A. Kosters

Global science research serves the needs of the Global North, and is driven by the values and interests of a small number of companies, governments and funding bodies, finds a major new international study published today. As such, the authors find, science, technology and innovation research is not…

The first Leiden Science Family Day on Saturday 6 October was a great success. During the ‘Weekend of Science’ more than 700 visitors, including 350 children, visited the Faculty of Science. With a program full of experiments, lectures, guided tours and demonstrations, visitors were given a glimpse…

This dissertation sheds light on politics, education and linguistic identity by studying the case of the College of Jerusalem, founded by the Brothers of the Christian Schools.

Phage therapy is a novel yet unmatured therapeutic approach in the face of the crisis of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Dr. Tingjie Guo received a grant from the Elise Mathilde Fund and the LUF to develop innovative phage-antibiotic combination treatment strategy for combating AMR.

Prof. Hermen Overkleeft has been awarded the 2015 Jeremy Knowles Award of the Royal Society of Chemistry for his innovative and insightful development of activity-based protein probes for the imaging and identification of enzymes in health and disease.

“Is it possible to restore antibiotic sensitivity in resistant bacteria?” Dr. Tingjie Guo wondered. “Watch me and learn”, phage responded. Dr. Tingjie Guo received an open competition XS domain ENW grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO) to investigate the evolutionary trade-off of antimicrobial…