Professor Emeritus by special appointment Adriaan van der Weel has co-authored a manifesto on the importance of higher-reading.

e-Sides is a Horizon 2020 project which aims at mapping ethical, legal, societal and economic challenges of the big data technologies. eLaw- Center for Law and Digital Technologies- is one of the members of the e-SIDES research consortium and its role within the project is to develop the systematic…

The increasing Technological opportunities of Virtual Reality (VR) increasingly resemble the real world (and more). In Japan VR holidays are very popular and VR porn is emerging.

In just over a decade, Uber has revolutionised how we move around our cities. The ride-hailing app was a game-changer: you just tapped your phone and a cab would find you. You even paid through the app. However, some of the Uber’s more controversial practices have triggered the interest of law enforcement,…

The European Commission has granted budget for the project INFORM (Introduction of the data protection reform to the judicial system). Dr. Bart Custers, associate professor and head of research at eLaw, the Center for Law and Digital Technologies, has written the proposal with nine partner organizations…

eLaw – Center for Law and Digital Technologies is pleased to announce the launch of the official website of the RESOCIAL project. The website, developed by Maelle Picout, research assistant at eLaw within the RESOCIAL project, provides a central platform for updates, research outputs, and insights into…

This month, it came out that a subdistrict court judge used ChatGPT to formulate a ruling. The judge included some text generated by the popular AI chatbot in his decision. This resulted in a lot of media commotion, raising doubts as to whether using ChatGPT in court is permissible and responsible.

Simone van der Hof has been awarded funding for a Marie Curie Initial Training (PhD) Network for NETHATE. NETHATE will bring together an interdisciplinary team of world-leading researchers to tackle an ambitious & relevant research project on the nature of hate. The NETHATE Consortium, an international…

On Wednesday 6 March, eLaw - Center for Law and Digital Technologies will be hosting Professor Margot Kaminski, an eminent scholar from Colorado Law School, for a research morning on her new paper on Participatory Data Governance, co-authored with Dr Gianclaudio Malgieri, Associate Professor at eL…

It is becoming increasingly common to collect data from children and young people through digital means. The impact of this so-called ‘dataveillance’ on children, who are monitored from birth via smartphones and Fitbits, is great.

Researchers of eLaw, the Center for Law and Digital Technologies at Leiden University, published their research in Nature Machine Intelligence. The publication, written by Eduard Fosch-Villaronga, Pranav Khanna, Hadassah Drukarch, and Bart Custers, focuses on the legal and regulatory implications of…

In a new episode of The Digital Period podcast, Gianclaudio Malgieri, Associate Professor at eLaw, discusses vulnerability and data protection. He explores how power, intersectionality, and value-based design can support more empathetic and participatory technologies.

Media outlets Investico, de Groene Amsterdammer and Trouw reported on the wide-scale collection by the Dutch police of personal data of demonstrators and their family members. Bart Schermer, Professor of Privacy and Cybercrime, commented on the issue.

Dr. Eduard Fosch-Villaronga and his supervisor Dr. Bart Custers received a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action (MSCA) fund for research on legal and regulatory aspects of healthcare robot and artificial intelligence technologies.

Pavel Durov, CEO of chat and messaging app Telegram, was arrested in France last week. The Russian tech billionaire flew into Paris by private jet and was arrested on suspicion of cybercrimes. Telegram allegedly facilitates criminal activities such as money laundering. This raises the question of how…

Dr Mark Leiser, Assistant Professor in Law and Digital Technologies at eLaw, is part of a successful €1.5 million bid for a research grant from the acclaimed Volkswagen Institute on “Reclaiming individual autonomy and democratic discourse online: How to rebalance human and algorithmic decision makin…

On November 22nd 2017, eLaw - the Center for Law and Digital Technologies at Leiden University, will co-organize a workshop on the ethical, legal and socio-economic implications of big data together with partners of the e-SIDES project.

Tracks Inspector, a Dutch company that develops innovative software, commissioned research to eLaw to investigate the use of cyber agent technology for intelligence agencies and secret services.

In March 2019 a new Computer Crime Act took effect in the Netherlands. As a result, Dutch police now have extensive powers to tackle cybercrime. Innocent citizens could be adversely affected if these new powers are not used with restraint, Bart Custers (Head of Research at eLaw - Center for Law and…

This week, Bart Custers, Professor of Law & Data Science and Head of eLaw – Center for Law and Digital Technologies, has been named Mr. of the Week by the Dutch legal magazine Mr. The occasion for this is the 40th anniversary of eLaw that will be celebrated this week.

In May 2021, Professor Bart Custers, Dr Mark Leiser and Dr Eduard Fosch Villaronga (all affiliated to eLaw, the Center for Law and Digital Technologies of Leiden University) will teach a course on Law and Technology at Haifa University, Israel.

Groenlinks-PvdA has reported two PVV MPs to police for spreading fake images of party leader Frans Timmermans. Bart Schermer spoke to the Volkskrant about the AI images: 'Freedom of speech ends when you threaten others with violence or incite violence.'

Last month, eLaw had a strong presence at the annual Computers, Privacy and Data Protection (CPDP) conference in Brussels. All Law and Digital Technologies master's students attended the programme and many of our researchers made contributions: moderating panels, hosting book clubs, and presenting ongoing…

VVI Research Meetings 2022-2023

On 22–24 October 2025, Leiden University welcomed scholars, policymakers and higher education leaders for the Una Europa Conference on Academic Freedom. Organised by the AFITE project team and supported by Una Europa Seed Funding 2024, the three-day programme examined current pressures on academic freedom…

Nu belastingsystemen over grenzen gaan, speelt de politiek een steeds grotere rol. Irma Mosquera Valderrama pleit voor een wereldwijd, inclusief systeem.

The way age is determined by the IND is being questioned as a result of several court rulings. The problem is that it is difficult to determine whether a young asylum seeker is just over or under the age of 18. So far there is no suitable way to determine exactly how old someone is, Mark Klaassen, associate…

Inaugural lecture

Libraries in the Netherlands are removing books that contain references to Black Pete. According to the director of the Public Library Association, a logical and fitting response in the spirit of the times.

A new social media campaign launched by students from across Europe, including Frederik Behre from the Europa Institute, is aiming to motivate young Europeans to go to the polls.

This page features an overview of relevant lectures, publications and conference papers.

The basic program comprises a total of twelve courses organized by the Research School, that have been purpose-developed for training and support of PhD students and Research MA students who specialize in Medieval Studies (history, art history, and literary history, in particular).

Maria Pichou is selected to act as a judge for the 2019 International Criminal Court Moot Court Competition (ICCMCC). Dr. Maria Pichou is Assistant Professor at Leiden University College The Hague.

Countries in the Global South, including India, Indonesia, Brazil, and Nigeria, are gaining increasing influence in the world economy and in international decision-making. The Netherlands and Europe should strengthen ties with these countries to avoid being sidelined, according to the urgent advice…

Information obtained from Czech intelligence authorities has shown that politicians from several European countries, including the Netherlands, are involved in a Russian bribery scandal. Wim Voermans, Professor of Constitutional Law, comments on this in Dutch newspaper ‘NRC’.

On 5 April 2017, Prof. Christa Tobler gave a guest lecture at the Centre for European Studies of the O.P Jindal Global University in Delhi on the topic of „“Brexit“ - what is it about and what could it mean for India?“

In collaboration with the University of Amsterdam, the Europa Institute hosted a roundtable on Thursday 30 May on the theme of the upcoming European elections. The consequences of these elections extend far beyond the European Parliament's political composition: they affect how the European Union is…

The Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies is delighted that Brooks Daly will rejoin the LL.M. (Adv.) in International Dispute Settlement and Arbitration as a Visiting Professor in 2024.

Dutch coalition parties VVD and CDA want to tighten asylum policy and have launched a plan to grant two types of statuses to refugees. They also intend to partially restrict the right to family reunification. However, this plan is facing strong opposition. With the proposal, the government can expect…

Doing a PhD on the side? External PhD candidates, like Joost Van der Helm, just get on and ‘do it’. Besides his hectic job as a justice at the Court of Appeal in The Hague, Van der Helm managed to still find time to write a PhD dissertation.

Claire Vergerio, political scientist at Leiden University, has been awarded a VENI grant by Dutch research organisation NWO. This will allow her to conduct an in-depth analysis of the legal rights and duties of non-state actors involved in warfare. The aim is to tackle some persistent blindspots in…

On 15 February 2022, Irma Mosquera Valderrama, Professor of Tax Governance, holder of the EU Jean Monnet Chair on EU Tax Governance EUTAXGOV and Principal Investigator of the ERC funded project GLOBTAXGOV, participated in the High-Level Webinar Taxation and Business in Africa.

Each year it is estimated that thousands of people fall victim to human trafficking in the Netherlands. Many of these victims are minors. Assistant Professor of Criminal Law Luuk Esser conducted research on the current legislation to combat human trafficking. His PhD defence is on 25 September.

Dive into the CJEU’s recent judgment in Case C-356/21 on non-discrimination from three unique perspectives on the 16 February at 17.00 hrs. Abogada Rosa Oyarzabal, Professor Christa Tobler, and Dr Olga Ceran will give you an insider’s view of the case in its legal and national context.

In opdracht van het WODC doen onderzoekers van de Universiteit Leiden onderzoek naar de landelijke daling van het aantal jeugdbeschermingsmaatregelen en jeugdreclasseringstrajecten. Bij dit interdisciplinaire onderzoek zijn onderzoekers van de afdelingen Jeugdrecht en Gezondheidsrecht, Bedrijfswetenschappen…

This new rotating professorship has been established to offer renowned academics the opportunity to teach and conduct research on international children's rights, while at the same time unlocking knowledge that has been acquired worldwide on children's rights.

Valedictory lecture

During the 7th annual meeting of the Association for Researchers in Psychology and Health (ARPH) Sylvia van Beugen, from the Health, Medical and Neuropsychology unit, was awarded with the ’Best PhD Thesis Award’ for her dissertation ‘Psychodermatology 2.0: Towards improved assessment and effective digital…

Student Session