How do you achieve the structural change needed for a more inclusive university community? What challenges do female staff face in their careers and what does it take to be a woman in a leadership role? This is what over 40 female staff members from the university discussed on International Women’s…

Understanding the evolving landscape of extremism in the 21st century.

Book project on how European policy is made and implemented, with a focus on how that process can be understood and lead to policy change.

Professor Annetje Ottow will be appointed President of the Executive Board of Leiden University on 8 February 2021. She will be the first woman to be appointed to this post at Leiden University.

LUCIS works with Science ON AIR to put its researchers in the spotlight. For that purpose, several online videos of LUCIS members have been produced.

In November, Springer published a book on The Future of Drone Use, edited by dr. Bart Custers, associate professor at eLaw, the Center for Law and Digital Technologies of Leiden University.

Astronomer and Marxist Anton Pannekoek was a remarkable figure. This book aims to study the connections between his life as a socialist theorist and as a pioneering scientist through the prism of Pannekoek's biography.

Contact details and staff overview of the Leiden University Graduate School of Social and Behavioural Sciences.

Acquiring and maintaining public support is frequently cited as an important requirement for governments fighting non-state actors. But how exactly can public support influence the course of counterterrorism campaigns and thereby contribute to an escalation or de-escalation of violence?

On 23 January 2020, Paula Kemp defended her thesis 'Enforced performance of commercial sales contracts in the Netherlands, Singapore and China'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. H.B. Krans and Prof. M.H. Wissink (RU Groningen).

Having served on the Executive Board for over nine years, the last five of which as Rector Magnificus, Hester Bijl will leave Leiden University at the start of next year. In a new step in her career, she will become Rector Magnificus on the Executive Board of Delft University of Technology (TU Delft)…

The Executive Board has adopted a new Code of Conduct on Integrity for staff. This new code encompasses all the existing regulations within Leiden University, including in the field of research, behaviour towards students and purchasing. 'This Code of Conduct is a very clear statement,' commented Rector…

The Editors of PAIR are always interested in suggestions for themed editions. Anyone wishing to propose a theme and/or to assist as a ‘guest editor’ should contact one of the editors of PAIR.

Can excessive worrying be reduced via stimulation of the vagus nerve?

Lange tijd wisten we ons thuis in een wereld die we meenden te hebben. Het bestaan in deze vertrouwde wereld vormde onze existentie, die we op een eigenlijke wijze op ons namen. Thans is de wereld echter niet meer wat hij was, en zijn we ook zelf niet meer wie we waren. ‘De wereld is weg’, zo dichtte…

Philosophy of law is concerned with the the foundations of law.

Who were the main artists and producers who generated new forms of popular music? What was the music like that was produced by artists in particular urban settings? How were particular lifestyles articulated to identify new audiences and what does this reveal about the way popular music contributed…

Professor Sarah de Rijcke will become the new Rector Magnificus on the Executive Board of Leiden University on 15 January 2026. She will succeed Professor Hester Bijl, who will become Rector Magnificus at Delft University of Technology.

In 2024, many of our students and staff won great prizes and secured important research grants.

Leiden University’s Rector Magnificus, Professor Hester Bijl, has been reappointed for a second term by the Board of Governors.

Research into our history of colonialism and slavery, heart-to-heart conversations at a Keti Koti table, exhibitions, lectures and podcasts that establish the link between present and past. Staff and students participated in the national Slavery Memorial Year in many different ways. What have we learned…

The Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities (KHMW) has appointed five new members from Leiden. Annetje Ottow, Carsten de Dreu, Pancras Hoogendoorn, Ton Schumacher and Maartje van der Woude will be joining the oldest ‘learned society’ in the Netherlands.

In a supplementary decision on 17 May 2022, the Executive Board of Leiden University has concluded that it will publish the titles of seven articles in which there is evidence of malpractice. This concerns a former staff member of the Institute of Psychology. The Executive Board considers it to be in…

Digitalisation to achieve sustainable (administrative) justice.

Why are people sometimes unable to change, even if they want to? Why is it so difficult to change political institutions, or to abandon outdated ways of thinking? This book suggests that we can understand the phenomenon of resistance to change in individuals and institutions by returning to Hegel, one…

Much has been said regarding the global flows of information that are characteristic of modernity; it has been frequently stressed that these conduits are so deeply embedded that local or national environments may be imagined as having a global span. Thus, while we are now well aware that the imagination…

The profile area Political Legitimacy brings together researchers from multiple research institutes within Leiden University.

Schuurman examines how Russia is escalating its covert operations against European countries.

In 2012, the Dutch National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism and the Dutch Probation Service launched a reintegration project for offenders on probation or parole who were (suspected to be) involved in jihadist extremism or terrorism. The initiative's primary goal was to reduce the chance…

The second and final report on the Netherlands‘ crime-terror nexus has analysed all fourteen profiles of individuals arrested in 2015 for offences of terrorism.

This research note argues that the “lone wolf” typology should be fundamentally reconsidered.

This thesis concerns the relation bettween the good reduction of Shimura varieties and the associated loop groups.

As of 1 November 2025, Professor Luc Sels will assume the role of President of Leiden University’s Executive Board.

Teaching during the corona crisis, the high workload and the challenges faced by the Faculty of humanities. In an online working visit to Leiden University on 12 October, Minister for Education, Culture and Science, Ingrid van Engelshoven, discussed the hot topics of the day with the Executive Board,…

This week, Leiden University bade farewell to Henri Lenferink, who is retiring after 20 years as mayor of Leiden.

At a symposium on 26 May, experts, staff and students from Leiden University will discuss what should happen with Rein Dool’s painting in the Academy Building and what the guidelines for the University’s exhibition policy should be. These issues will be explored from diverse perspectives during the…

The Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Universities strategic alliance celebrates its tenth anniversary in 2022. At the ‘The Next Ten Years’ anniversary celebration in the Faculty Club on 12 April, the partners looked back on their achievements and ahead to the major social challenges of the next ten years.

We take it for granted that water comes out of the tap and electricity out of the socket. But that isn’t always the case. Last Tuesday began like any other day, with our board meeting in the morning. But things were soon to change.

The Board of Governors monitors the management and administration of the University as a whole, and assists and advises the Executive Board.

There’s been a lot of commotion about the ‘Apartheid in Israel’ panel discussion being cancelled. The organisers, Students for Palestine, wanted to hold this at Leiden University’s Wijnhaven building in The Hague on 21 March. The Executive Board would only allow the event to go ahead if guarantees…

Martijn Ridderbos has been reappointed vice-chairman of the Executive Board of Leiden University by the Board of Governors.

Egypt serves as a strategic gateway to Africa and the Middle East. For that reasons, Luc Sels, President of the Executive Board and a delegation visited the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo (NVIC) at the end of April. This resulted in new agreements on research and student exchanges.

The brief removal of Rein Dool’s ‘cigar-smoking white men’ painting generated a storm of reactions last November. Students, staff and alumni reflected on this at a symposium on Friday 26 May.

Polarisation in our society is on the rise. What makes people increasingly radical? How do we protect ourselves from extremist, terrorist or criminal threats, be they physical or in the cyber world? And what role do intelligence services play in this?

This project sets out to map, document and analyze instances of squatting in Leiden from 1970 to 1990, in order to set up an online Digital Archive of Squatting in Leiden. This archive will function as an online resource for academic research, as well as a starting point for public activities such as…

Annetje Ottow, president of the Executive Board of Leiden University, has been the new chair of the Leiden-Delft-Erasmus (LDE) strategic alliance for just two months. What does she want to achieve during her two-year chairmanship?

Leiden University has set up two committees to consider issues that are the focus of much attention within our community and society at large. They are the Knowledge Security Committee and the Fossil Fuel Industry Collaboration Committee. Former dean Joanne van der Leun will chair both.