Are you curious about other disciplines and would you like to develop yourself more broadly alongside your bachelor studies? Then the Honours College is for you!

A special type of mirror to reflect X-rays has more possible applications than space research. Targeted radiation therapy for cancer, for example. Next to his full-time job, physicist David Girou mapped out the possibilities. He will receive his PhD on 14 June.

The shock wave triggered by one of the five galaxies making up the iconic Stephan’s Quintet appears to be less disruptive than previously thought, with the shock likely being cushioned by dust particles in the surrounding gas. This is according to the analysis of the first scientific observations of…

Arts and culture

Social

A hidden disability can make studying a considerable challenge, partly because of the disability itself, but also because others may not realise that extra support is justified. To overcome this problem, the Faculty of Humanities is introducing the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower.

Cognitive neuroscientist Anne Urai is part of the Neuromatch Conference team. With the prize for open science, Neuromatch wants to reduce or remove barriers in financing, education, and closed networks among well-funded labs that many scientists face, by providing always-affordable, pay-what-you-can…

Alumna Lauren Antonides has won the Roggeveen Prize for her thesis on the regional identity of Zeelandic Flanders. She will receive a sum of 1,000 euros.

Leiden and The Hague have an extra 450 trees thanks to a special campaign to mark the 450th anniversary of the Relief of Leiden and Leiden University’s foundation. Over the past few months, Stadslab Leiden has worked on an initiative to plant young trees with the residents of the two cities.

What if you get excluded? Are apps against fear and stress effective? How do you keep your brain in shape? The first season of the new podcastseries ‘BreinGeheim’ is about the social contexts of adolescent development and how teens become resilient individuals. Leiden-based behavioural scientist sit…

No fewer than seven Leiden FWN students received a Young Talent Award from the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences on Monday, 29 November. Mark van den Bosch and Karlijn Kruiswijk won a graduation prize, a group of young astronomers won the ET Outreach Award and the other five students each received an…

This Thursday, January 18th 2024, our esteemed colleague Jan Zaanen passed away. Jan was one of our star scientists, larger than life, with an unabashed, boisterous drive for the best of physics at the Institute Lorentz, at the Leiden Institute of Physics and in the full international scientific community.…

At faculty and study programme level there are various regulations in place to ensure that everything runs as it should. For example, there are thesis and faculty regulations, as well as rules and guidelines on assessments, exams, degree classifications and plagiarism.

Cosine Marco Beijersbergen has been appointed as one of the distinguished 62 fellows of the Netherlands Academy of Engineering (NAE). With these fellows, the NAE emphasises the importance of technological innovation for sustainable social change. The inauguration is on 13 November.

Physicist Milan Allan will build an instrument that will bring superconductivity research further. He has been awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant of 2 million euros over the next five years. With his PairNoise programme he aims to detect paired electrons as they occur just above the temperature at which…

Debate, Roundtable discussion

The Scriptiewerkplaats (thesis workshop) is an initiative of Leiden University, TU Delft, Erasmus University Rotterdam, and the municipality of The Hague. Students conduct research based on issues that are currently happening in The Hague South-West. We interviewed Mandy Koenraads, Scriptiewerkplaats…

This Student Support FSW newsletter tells you all about the services provided by the FSW POPcorner, Career Service, and Community Engagement Service. You can read about upcoming activities and vacancies, and pick up tips on study skills, personal and professional development, student well-being, study…

Health Day has won the LUF Relationship-Promoting Activities Prize (LUF RAP). This 5,000-euro prize is awarded to an initiative by Leiden University students that brings the academic community together.

Three Leiden students will be sharing their knowledge of history while playing video games. The livestreams are part of the ‘Streaming the Past’ project and will be available on the popular streaming platform Twitch. The first livestream will be on Thursday 20 May.

The project will further the development of policies, practices, and capabilities in responsible academic career assessment.

Charlotte Parree won the Jaap Doek Children's Rights Thesis Prize on Tuesday afternoon, 6 December, with her thesis entitled 'Suffering knows no age; active termination of life does.' The prize was awarded for the tenth time by em. prof. Jaap Doek.

Professor Johan Frijns treats people with hearing loss, conducts research on hearing implants, and gladly shares his knowledge about electrical stimulation of the nervous system.

Finance, Social

Psychologist Floor van Meer won the first Trial & Error Award for her research on the effect of being distracted while eating on eating behavior. This award from the Journal of Trial & Error (JOTE) honors the often underappreciated aspect of research: learning from errors. For her publication, Van Meer…

Astronomers led by Leiden PhD candidate Richelle van Capelleveen have, for the first time, discovered an exoplanet that has carved a bright gap in the protoplanetary disc around its star. This rare observation provides new insights into how young planets shape their surroundings.

During illness, the stiffness or viscosity of cells can change. Tom Evers demonstrated this by measuring such properties of human immune cells for the first time. ‘The stiffness of certain cells could be a way to make a diagnosis,’ Evers said. He defended his thesis on March 26th.