Can we truly connect with each other through video calls? Yes, according to a recent study. Psychologists found our bodies synchronise almost as much in digital conversations as in real life. But this doesn’t mean we should skip in-person meetings altogether, says researcher Fabiola Diana.

A collaboration between linguists, geographers and anthropologists aims to uncover how languages spread across South America over thousands of years. Associate Professor Rik van Gijn is responsible for the linguistic side of this NWO project.

Anthropologist Marit Brun captured Leiden’s student life during her studies, which won her the ‘Best Leiden photo’ competition. She now wants to continue with photography and making travel guides with a nod to anthropology.

In many Central and Eastern European countries, a period of greater openness emerged in the late 1980s. How did this affect the future perspective of residents? And can we learn anything from this period for our current times? University lecturer Dorine Schellens delves into the literature to investigate…

Hanneke Hulst explaines how she is trying to bridge the gap between science and health care. ‘For a neuroscientist to actually contribute to solutions for patients, you have to work across disciplines.’

Asylum seekers wanting to get to Australia often end up in a detention centre on the tiny island state of Nauru. What effect does this ‘outsourcing’ of asylum seekers have on human rights? PhD candidate Patrick van Berlo went to Australia to investigate.

Assistant professor Joost Willemse firmly believes that as a teacher, you’re never done learning. ‘Students ask questions about things you’ve never thought of yourself. Ultimately, that makes you better at your job.’ That’s why he always encourages his students to ask questions. And it’s appreciated:…

Nadine Akkerman has received a subsidy of two million euros from the European Research Council (ERC) for research into 16th and 17th century English manuscripts. Akkerman: ‘Working with handwritten texts and unravelling their mysteries is one of my passions, and it’s especially rewarding when this work…

They can play a role in metabolic disorders and can break down tough plant fibers: β-glycosidases are enzymes that play many roles in nature. Fredj Ben Bdira changed these enzymes in order to enhance the production of clean energy and to improve the treatment of patients with metabolic diseases.

Cybersecurity doesn’t start with your first job – it starts with your first phone. According to Sofian Fesenko, a student of Crisis and Security Management (CSM), digital resilience needs to be built from a young age. That’s why he developed an educational card game to raise children’s awareness of…

Secret services are engaging in increasingly extreme forms of cyber espionage. But nobody talks about this. Dennis Broeders knows why and is trying to have an open conversation about new forms of espionage. As Professor of Global Security and Technology, he will give his inaugural lecture on Friday…

Since 2009-2010, the West viewed China as more assertive. Especially after Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, the country abandoned Deng Xiaoping’s ‘low profile’ foreign policy. Friso Stevens explains in his dissertation where this change has come from. The dissertation defence is on 28 March.

Leiden PhD student Xuequan Zhou has designed a new promising molecule that efficiently kills cancer cells, but does not harm healthy tissue. The trick: the drug is only active when irradiated with light. Zhou’s new compound does this extra efficiently by cleverly self-organising into nanoparticles.…

It is often thought that immigration threatens the solidarity on which redistribution relies. But looking at the post-war period, PhD candidate Emily Anne Wolff finds that this is not the case.

The most famous cat in science is Schrödinger's cat, the quantum mechanical mammal, which can exist in a superposition, a state that is alive as well as dead. The moment you look at it, one of both options is chosen. Leiden University physicists simulated an experiment to catch this mysterious moment…

As of 1 May 2018, Nicole de Voogd has been appointed as Professor by special appointment Global change and marine ecosystems at the Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML). She is currently senior researcher at Naturalis Biodiversity Center in the field of tropical marine ecosystems.

Leiden University is under fire: it is allegedly doing too little to tackle antisemitism. Rector Hester Bijl responds to this accusation and to a video from 2014 on social media in which extreme remarks are made. ‘We can be short about such comments: they are unacceptable. The university is and always…

The refugee crisis and terror threats call for better European cooperation, was the message from Piet Hein Donner in his Cleveringa lecture on 26 November in the Academy Building. ‘Opting for an open and pluriform community takes courage.’

A true shower of awards for students from the Faculty of Science during the annual KHMW Young Talent Awards ceremony. On Monday, 25 November, no less than nine first-year students received a prize for the best academic results in their first year. In addition, there were graduation prizes for master’s…

How can we best treat infectious diseases in people with obesity? Hospital pharmacist and PhD researcher Koen van Rhee studied how obesity affects blood levels of two commonly used medicines. He also developed a method for pharmaceutical companies to test new drugs on this patient group.

Both Leon Jacobse and Thom Hersbach from Marc Koper's research group obtained their PhDs cum laude. They both investigated changes on the surface of a platinum electrode. Jacobse studied this at a positive voltage, Hersbach at a negative voltage. Platinum has the potential to convert renewable energy…

The research group headed by Leiden chemist Marc Koper has discovered a catalyst that minimizes the production of chlorine gas during salt water electrolysis. The invention can enable the direct production of hydrogen from seawater. The article has been published in the Journal of the American Chemical…

From 1967 to 1982, the United Nations undertook several peacekeeping operations in the Middle East. In his thesis from the Institute for History, Diego Salama examines how these operations were connected and their impact on the region.

Three Leiden professors have recently been awarded the most prestigious scientific accolade in the Netherlands: Maria Yazdanbakhsh and Marc Koper have been awarded a Spinoza Prize and Judi Mesman a Stevin Prize. They received their prizes on 13 October.

The Queens of the Nile exhibition at the National Museum of Antiquities finally affords the wives of the pharoahs the attention they deserve. Thanks to guest curator Olaf Kaper, students and PhD candidates gained valuable experience in museum curating.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is often portrayed as a technological saviour for addressing climate change. But there are risks associated with its use, observes Barrie Sander.

People who have negative expectations about a treatment actually experience more pain. Merve Karacaoglu discovered in her PhD research that anxious and pessimistic individuals are particularly susceptible to this nocebo effect. However, this sensitivity comes with a silver lining.

From painful joints to intense fatigue: a third of rheumatism patients suffer serious effects from this chronic condition and rely long-term on medication. Leiden psychologists are to receive a subsidy from the Netherlands Arthritis Foundation to investigate whether placebo techniques can help patients…

Is Europe skilling for sustainable food?

Healthy lifestyle campaigns are often unsuccessful. It is hard to get people to eat healthily or do more exercise. Behavioural science expertise should be drawn on at a much earlier stage in policy development, say twelve behavioural scientists in a position paper. They will present the paper to Maarten…

Ian Simpson is a relatively new face at the Faculty of Archaeology. Starting as an assistant professor in the Heritage and Society department in 2018, he is one of the faculty’s members in critical heritage studies and looks both at the past as well as the future. ‘I study how heritage can be employed…

In this new column, colleagues share stories and experiences about working and living abroad. The first story is written by Marie-Agnes Dittrich, guest lecturer at the Institute for History. She is a musicologist at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. Below, she tells about her experience…

In Spring 2023, Leiden University’s Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs (FGGA) launched a new Honours Class ‘Model European Union Simulation: Policies, Negotiations and Transatlantic Experiential Learning’.

People in leadership roles are unlikely to discuss leadership skills with their colleagues. But that is precisely what we as a university would like them to do. Because trust in one another’s abilities will make us an agile university that innovates and makes room for talent.

What happens in young people's brains when they win money for someone else? Psychologist Elisabeth Schreuders has shown that the brain responds differently according to the type of friendship and that the response is strongest with stable relationships later in adolescence. PhD defence on 6 March.

Global Ethnography alumna Elleke Schreur has won the FSW Thesis Prize 2024 and has also been nominated for the University's Thesis Prize 2024. As part of the master's programme in Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology, Elleke's research explores how the experiences of homeless people differ…

Sending migrants back. Open borders. These are the kinds of words that are used, but what does the situation really look like at these borders? Professor of Law and Society Maartje van der Woude, an expert in crimmigration, is researching precisely this.

Assistant Professor Anna Dlabacova has been awarded a Starting Grant by the European Research Council. She will use this grant of around 1.5 million euros to conduct research on the Dutch vernacular ‘book of hours’.

How are supermassive black holes born? That is the question astronomer Elena Maria Rossi is trying to answer. But how do you investigate something you cannot see?

Speakers from all over the world offered their interesting views on the relationship between humans and animals during the LUCAS Graduate Conference, based around the central theme ‘Animals: Theory, Practice, and Representation’.

Leiden University and four other Dutch universities will appoint 51 PhD candidates to conduct solution-oriented research for and with the African continent.

According to New York Magazine, the massive open online course (MOOC) ‘The Rooseveltian Century’ by Professor by Special Appointment Giles Scott-Smith is one of the best online courses. We asked him why you should take the course and how it came about.

How does a farmer decide if his cow is a prize winner? An anthropologist studying these farmers should not only look at the farmers themselves, but should in particular learn how they see the world. This is what Cristina Grasseni, the new Professor of Anthropology contends. Inaugural address on 30 O…

Researchers from the Institute of Public Administration and the Institute of Security and Global Affairs at FGGA are launching a new research programme: Governing Polarized Societies (GPS). The programme will focus on the way in which governments are dealing with the increasing polarisation in society.…

Victoria Nyst's love for sign language was sparked when she accidentally ended up at a deaf school while studying African linguistics. The university lecturer has since been awarded a Vici grant to research the history of these languages.

Antoaneta Dimitrova, Hoogleraar Comparative Governance, analyseerde als coördinator van het drie jaar durende internationale onderzoeksproject EU-Strat de relatie tussen de EU en de landen van het Oostelijk Partnerschap en deelde haar expertise over dit onderwerp in een artikel in Trouw.

Karwan Fatah-Black and Lauren Lauret are co-authors of Geketend voor Hollands Glorie (The Chains of Holland’s Glory) that studies the political and economic connections between South Holland and slavery. The findings of this research will be presented with Dr. Joris van den Tol (Radboud University)…

Do you want to promote the interests of students or staff? If you do, put yourself forward as a candidate for the University Council or the Faculty Council between 5 and 8 April. Two council members, PhD candidate Elisabeth Kerr and Law student Mante Kaaks, tell us about their experiences.

What does the future of quantum look like? Vedran Dunjko (Assistant professor at LIACS and LION) is co-founder of the applied quantum algorithms (aQa) leiden interdepartmental initiative research that will investigate this. They are part of the Quantum Delta NL consortium that was recently awarded substantial…

How does music affect a test subject’s brain? That was just one of the questions on the minds of the people who came to the LIBC public day to hear Rebecca Schaefer’s talk, as well as to hear from other top researchers about their investigations into music. The five woodwind players in the Calefax reed…