Mozambican politician and child rights activist Graça Machel will receive an honorary doctorate from Leiden University for her commitment to the rights of women and children in Africa and elsewhere. She will be awarded the honorary doctorate on the Dies Natalis, the University’s foundation day, on 8…

Jet Bussemaker, former Minister of Education, Culture and Science, has been appointed Professor at Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) and Leiden University with effect from 1 July 2018. She will be the holder of the new chair in ‘Science, Policy and Societal Impact, focusing on Healthcare'.

2024 was an eventful year for the Faculty of Humanities. Despite becoming the centre of political discussion and budget cuts as faculty ourselves, exceptional research projects were carried out and new initiatives were launched.

Joanne Liu, International President of Médecins Sans Frontières, is the Cleveringa professor for the 2016-2017 academic year. She will deliver the annual Cleveringa lecture on 25 November.The day before this she will give an extra lecture for students and staff on Ebola.

Together with 4 other students and ENGIE, Hein Laterveer, a Public Administration student, won the Rotterdam100, a talent contest for young entrepreneurs with ideas for the ‘Next Economy’. The Dutch winners travelled to Singapore for the international final. Hein talks about this special trip and educational…

After 7.5 years, Jan Kolen is stepping down as Dean of the Faculty of Archaeology. For him, it does not feel like a dramatic moment. ‘It is part of the role: you pass the baton on to someone else.’ He adds with a smile: ‘And I will remain connected to the faculty, so it is not really a farewell.’

In a packed Stadsgehoorzaal, philosopher and Member of the Senate Daan Roovers delivered the 54th Huizinga Lecture. It was a passionate plea for a form of politics thatt is not only about winning, but also about talking and playing.

On 8 December, Dirk Visser was awarded a ‘Gouden Peer’ in intellectual property law by legal platform 'Mr.'. He received the prize after being nominated by 25 fellow experts.

His Surinamese neighbours in Amsterdam gave Russia expert and economic historian Isaac Scarborough an idea: a re-evaluation of the Surinamese economy in the twentieth century. An NWO XS grant will enable him to make a start on this.

Receiving a gift is nice, but giving a present also makes you happy. Development psychologist Mara van der Meulen former member of the Leiden Consortium on Individual Development (L-CID) answered four questions about giving gifts.

The winner of this year’s Jaap Doek Children’s Rights Thesis Award wants to raise more awareness for children who have a parent in detention: ‘It’s time we stop looking the other way and actually think about the impact.’

Leiden University has six top bachelor's programmes according to Keuzigids universiteiten 2025, a consumer guide to university programmes. This puts Leiden in fourth place of the broad-based universities.

On 27 september historian Adam Zamoyski held a captivating lecture on his new book Napoleon: the Man behind the Myth. During this lecture, which was an initiative by Polen in Beeld and the Central and Eastern European Studies Center, Zamoyski answered the question: ‘what were the Napoleonic Wars really…

What are we referring to when we talk about ‘good work’? And what does it mean to be a good employer? Helen Pluut and Merel Cornax address these questions in a recently published editorial.

ELS lab member Helen Pluut concluded this year’s lecture series on Empirical Methods in Legal Research. Helen discussed diary studies as an example of multilevel research designs.

Meet Thomas King, alumnus BA International Studies: ‘I’m currently living in London which is a really amazing experience! I’m a British citizen and I moved to the Netherlands to study BA International Studies back in 2017. I had the best three years ever living in The Hague and studying at Leiden.’

A word from our director

How can we guarantee the safety of the crown witness scheme for both crown witnesses and lawyers? How can we ensure that online conversations between lawyers and their clients remain confidential? And what are the risks of extra secure communication tools?

From 23-25 April 2014, a conference will be held on the topic of Buddhism and Social Justice. This conference confronts the common perception of Buddhism as intrinsically a tradition of peace and justice, and explores the various ways in which historically Buddhist societies of Asia have shaped, transmitted,…

We are excited to share that the article, Does pre‐packed bankruptcy create value? An empirical study of post-bankruptcy employment retention in The Netherlands, by our colleagues, Jan Adriaanse, Jean-Pierre van der Rest, Gert-Jan Boon, and Reinout Vriesendorp, published in the International Insolvency…

Marc Broekema from the Department of Business Studies has received a grant from the Netherlands Institute of Registered Valuators (NiRV) to conduct research into how the value of a business is assessed in legal proceedings.

The short film El Último Consejo (The Last Council), directed by alumna Itandehui Jansen, has won the Emerging Talent Award at the ImagineNative Film & Media Arts Festival in Toronto.

Three scholars of the Faculty of Humanities, Ahmad Al-Jallad, Thomas Fossen, and Tsolin Nalbantian, have received a Veni grant to implement their research plans over the coming years.

Assistant Professor Christopher Green was interviewed on ABC Australia about the recent COVID-19 outbreak in North Korea. Green says that the statistics the isolated country has given are ‘essentially nonsense’.

Book Launch

Even as a teenager Asa Splinter was determined to study Japanese in Leiden. A HAVO diploma and a change in legislation threatened to throw a spanner in the works, but Asa persevered. After ten years of studying, Asa obtained a master’s degree in Japanese and was nominated for the IHLIA thesis award…

Rachel Beckles Willson started her career as a concert pianist but was later captivated by the Middle Eastern stringed instrument called the oud. On 1 December, she was appointed professor by special appointment of 'Intercultural Performing Arts'.

To what extent are there differences between countries in and outside the European Union and the Schengen area in the level of crimmigration, the merger between migration control and crime control, and to what extent can these differences be explained by the way in which state and non-state actors in…

What does the Dutch Ministry of Defence do to fight climate change? And what is Alumna Charlotte van Gemeren’s Role in this? We spoke with Charlotte (class of 2016) and asked her about what’s it like to do a traineeship for the Dutch Government (and how to get in), the lessons learned at International…

Ann Marie Wilson and Andrew DJ Shield have been recently awarded a Leiden Global Interactions SEED grant to support the launch of a new platform for sexuality studies at Leiden University: the Leiden Queer History Network (LQHN).

This year marks a special occasion because it was just ten years ago that the Georgian language was taught for the first time at Leiden University. It is even more exciting that its first professor, Ramaz Kurdadze, will return to Leiden this year to teach students interested in the language. Kurdadze…

In a Leiden Law Blog, lab member Niek Strohmaier and Marc Broekema describe how their research on valuation biases was used by the Delaware Court of Chancery in a recent valuation dispute involving telecom giant AT&T.

Debates about the ‘end’ of the Roman era, how, when, and even if it ended, are still very much alive and raging. However, what happened after the (long) late antique period is a lesser-known and lesser-studied subject. The post-Roman past needs, however, as much energetic investigation and discussion.…

Itandehui Jansen graduated from the Netherlands Film and Television Academy in Amsterdam and is currently making films as part of her PhD project at Leiden University. And with great success. Her films have been shown at the IDFA and the Short Film Corner of Cannes, and have won a number of prizes.…

As a student, university lecturer Berthe Jansen fell under the spell of the Van Manen collection: a collection full of Tibetan writings and objects. A €1.5 million grant now makes it possible to take a really close look at it. 'There is still so much to do and discover.'

On Monday 23 August 2021 the graduation ceremony took place in the Leiden University Academy Building’s Groot Auditorium. Graduates and staff abroad participated online via the Livestream and Zoom.

On Monday 24 August 2020 a small, intimate gathering of graduating students and staff took place in the Leiden University Academy Building’s Groot Auditorium. The other students participated online.

The financial sector, supply chains and ecology. Not necessarily topics you might associate with physics, yet it’s exactly what new professor Diego Garlaschelli is dealing with. The common thread? Complex networks.

In the presence of their families and friends, the thesis supervisors personally addressed each of the students and presented them with their well-deserved master diploma in the Academy Building’s Klein Auditorium.

On Tuesday 23 August 2022 the graduation ceremony took place in Leiden University’s Academy Building. Graduates and their guests greatly enjoyed the festive ceremony.

As part of the HTSM2017 funding program, the LACDR division for Systems Biomedicine and Pharmacology received 1.08 million euros for a research project to develop novel engineering approaches to fight cancer.

Lecture, Book presentation

Honduras recently severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan after 82 years. In doing so, the country is following the trend of other Central American countries that have turned their backs on the Asian island in recent years. Why are these countries making this choice now and what does it mean for Taiwan's…

The Bloomsbury Handbook of Sonic Methodologies is now available. This more than 850-page book offers methods how to study sound as well as how through sound and listening (new) knowledge can be gained.

A tv crew from Euronews came to Leiden to interview Eugenio Cusumano about his work on migrant rescue operations in the Mediterranean. Eugenio is an expert on international relations.

When delegations from Leiden University visit foreign countries, they often arrange a meeting specially for alumni of the country. Mexico was no exception. On Monday 23 October, some thirty alumni got together in Mexico City.

Marije Groos was a PhD researcher at the LUCAS. She completed her thesis on socio-political engagement in Dutch literary periodicals of the fifties. Her promoters are Yra van Dijk, professor of Modern Dutch Literature, and Ton Anbeek, emeritus professor of Modern Dutch Literature.

Last Saturday, the Turfmarkt in The Hague, where during the week thousands of commuters make their way to the many ministries in the city centre, was seething with future young students. It was the Bachelor's Open Day at Leiden University, which took place physically both in Leiden and The Hague. A…

To cover up their deportation plans which targeted Polish Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto, the Nazis re-opened schools. In her inaugural lecture, historian Sarah Cramsey demonstrates with examples how care was used ‘as a weapon’ during the Holocaust. She also stresses that care is a unifying cement in society…