Home to the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, The Hague is the perfect backdrop to explore conceptions of justice in our global society. Questions of human rights, peace, security and the environment present legal and policy challenges for governmental and non-governmental…

Summer School

The fragmentary is everywhere: we encounter fragments in social media (Tiktok, Twitter), in personal memories from our childhood, and in traditions from our cultural heritage.

Young people in forensic practice navigate between street culture, digital networks and care; worlds that are increasingly intertwined. This calls for a different way of seeing and acting. Dual PhD candidate Jeffrey Jhanjan explores how professionals can better understand and support these young peo…

On January 5, Rosa Winter will obtain her doctorate in arithmetic geometry. She researched solutions of equations that define so-called ‘del Pezzo surfaces’. ‘I like geometry because I can imagine and draw the shapes and objects,’ says Winter. ‘That makes abstract mathematics feel more tangible.’

Ewa Snaar-Jagalska, Shuning He and colleagues from IBL, LION and LACDR reported on a new zebrafish study to understand micrometastasis of human cancer cells. They discovered a novel role for neutrophils in assisting metastasis formation, which provides critical insights for anti-cancer therapies.

On Sunday, November 9 2025, Prof. dr. Sarah Cramsey presented a film at the “Eastern Neighbors” Film Festival in The Hague.

Eighteen students who obtained excellent results in the minor Intelligence Studies received the annual Kluitersprijs.

Bringing Dutch and international students together. One way to do that is by playing Archery Attack, archaeology student Timothy Stikkelorum suggested. On 13 November, he and his team, a committee from the Terra study association, won the Van Bergen Prize with their idea.

Launched in early March, GlobalSCAPE is an EU-funded project seeking to understand the current state of science communication globally, especially in non-western countries. Through the Department of Science Communication & Society, Leiden University is one of the main partners of the project, which…

As a critical commemoration of its centenary, this book presents a mosaic of one hundred carefully curated fragments by expert authors, shedding light on politics, economy, society, culture, gender, and arts in a hundred years of Turkey.

The IHL Clinic offers outstanding LLM candidates the chance to work pro bono on KGF projects and gain practical experience in humanitarian law in cooperation with practitioners working in the humanitarian field.

On Safer Internet Day (Tuesday 6 February), UNICEF Netherlands organised a symposium on the theme of 'Children's rights in the digital world' in collaboration with Leiden University and Kennisnet. Simone van der Hof and Ton Liefaard contributed to the symposium.

The call for a social media ban for children is louder than ever. Professor of Children's Rights Ton Liefaard argues in ‘Trouw’ newspaper that this would be unwise. 'For children, online and offline aren't different worlds'.

A new document casts doubt on the Dutch Public Prosecution Service’s role in the large-scale Sky ECC encryption bust, previously attributed to France. Bart Schermer, Professor of Law and Digital Technology, commented in ‘de Volkskrant’ newspaper.

The Jaap Doek Children’s Rights Thesis Award is an annual award for the best thesis in the field of Children’s Rights granted by Defence for Children and the Department of Child Law of Leiden Law School.

How can we stop the endless stream of spam we receive in our mailbox? Journalist Warner van der Louw of Dutch newspaper ‘Trouw’ puts the question to Bart Custers, Professor of Law and Data Science at eLaw, Center for Law and Digital Technologies.

On Tuesday 29 November a sculpture made by Willem Knaup Verdwenen Jodenbuurt (Vanished Jewish Neighbourhood) was unveiled in the Cleveringa Lecture Room in a niche made especially for it. Speeches were given by Professor Rick Lawson, Eric Daalder and Professor Joanne van der Leun.

Access to justice is essential for children to be able to exercise and claim their human rights. On 30 April 2019, Chrisje Sandelowsky represented Leiden University at a closed roundtable in Geneva to support this cause.

The Children’s Rights Observatory is pleased to launch the Spanish version of the website. This new feature of the website is a result of the partnership between Leiden Law School and the Center for Constitutional Studies of the Mexican Supreme Court (CEC-SCJN).

eLaw, Center for Law and Digital Technologies of Leiden University, invites you to contribute a chapter in a book on law and artificial intelligence (AI).

On November 30, 2023, the research group Institutions for Conflict Resolution (COI) organized a stakeholder meeting on governmental problem-solving and its implications for legitimacy. COI is a joint collaboration between the Universities of Leiden, Utrecht, and Nijmegen as part of the Dutch Sector…

From Wednesday 20 October 2021 to Thursday 21 April 2022, Leiden Children’s Rights Observatory and the Centre for Constitutional Studies of the Supreme Court of Mexico organize an Online Webinar Series on Children’s Access to Justice and the Optional Protocol on a Communications Procedure (OP3)

On 3 November 2017 in The Hague Institute for Global Justice in The Hague, Prof. Ton Liefaard (Professor of Children's Rights at Leiden University and UNICEF Chair in Children’s Rights), will address members and non-members of the Royal Netherlands Society of International Law (KNVIR, link in Dutch)…

Maartje van der Woude, together with Dr Irene Vega, has won the 2024 Theoretical Criminology Best Article Prize for the article ‘Colourblindness across borders: The de-racialised logics of Dutch and American border agents’ in the journal Theoretical Criminology.

Stefaan Van den Bogaert, Vice Dean of Leiden Law School was delighted to announce on 29 March 2023 that the faculty has awarded research funding to all applicants for starter grants.

Twelve researchers of our Law School have been awarded an ILS seed money grant. This grant enables researchers to create space for preparing a grant proposal for NWO, ERC or otherwise.

Professor Maartje van der Woude of the Van Vollenhoven Institute delivered a special Dies Lecture in San Francisco on Wednesday 12 February.

Leiden Law School will host the LDE-Majority World Workshop titled ‘Contemporary Migrations in the Americas: Cross-Atlantic Dialogue for Socio-Spatial Justice’, taking place from 24 to 28 March 2025. This workshop will address critical challenges around migration governance and human rights.

A PhD candidate from the Van Vollenhoven Institute, Maryla Klajn, was recently invited as one of the speakers to the 'Unwanted Citizens of EU Member States’ conference, which took place in Liverpool on August 27th, 2019.

The Jaap Doek Children’s rights thesis award is an annual award for the best thesis in the field of Children’s Rights granted by Defence for Children and the Department of Child Law of the Leiden Law School.

On 27 May, 180 pupils from Vlietland Secondary School visited Leiden University’s law faculty. At the school, pupils learn about themes that are important for them as well as for the world, such as sustainability, globalisation and children's rights.

The winners of the JSVO teaching prizes for academic year 2020-2021 were announced at the opening of the faculty year on 7 September 2021.

Around 200 scholars from around the world are expected in Leiden to discuss the contribution of courts to societal change. Leiden Law School is hosting the conference.

On 6 September 2019, the Governor of Murang'a County, Mwangi wa Iria, signed a declaration at Leiden University to protect the rights of children.

In recent years, artificial intelligence has deeply permeated our society and the legal field is no exception. Bart Custers, Professor of Law and Data Science, spoke to ‘Mr. Online’ about AI and the law: ‘AI is currently a hype.’

On the occasion of the conferral of an honorary doctorate to children’s rights activist Graça Machel, a fund has been established that will enable two female students from South Africa to come and study in Leiden.

Last Wednesday, on 12 May 2021, Leiden University hosted the virtual Young FIDE Seminar. This online event brought together junior EU law scholars and practitioners to discuss the three topics of the main XXIX FIDE Congress, which will take place from 3 to 6 November 2021 in The Hague and of which Leiden…

The department of Child Law of Leiden University and Defence for Children invite you to the eighth Jaap Doek Children’s Rights Thesis Award ceremony. The ceremony will take place online, on Thursday 10 December from 15.30 until 17.00h.

On 13 October 2023, the third PhD day organised within the context of the research theme Institutions for Conflict Resolution (COI) took place in Leiden. COI is a collaboration between Leiden University, Utrecht University, and Radboud University Nijmegen that serves to implement the Netherlands Sector…

From 5 to 9 March 2018, the Child Law Department and the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies of Leiden Law School and the School of Law of the University of Curaçao Dr. Moises Da Costa Gomez hosted a Spring School on Children’s Rights in the Caribbean Region in Curaçao.

The trial of Dutch rapper Ali B is receiving massive media attention. Party due to himself, the trial can be followed by the public. How will this affect the upcoming verdict? Dutch newspaper ‘De Volkskrant’ spoke to legal scholars and experts including Jan de Keijser.

On Friday 16 April, the webinar 'Children and young adults in contact with the law: Systemic vulnerabilities and institutional responses' will take place. The webinar is organised by Eva Schmidt LL.M, Dr. Anna Pivaty (Radboud University/Maastricht University) and Dr. Stephanie Rap, with the support…

Insurance companies are registering more and more people for having committed fraud. In principle, it is a good idea to tackle cases of fraud. However, research shows that an increasing number of people are being wrongly included on the fraud list. According to Bart Custers, Professor of Law & Data…

The symposium is organised by the Department of Child Law at Leiden Law School, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

At the initiative of the National Commission for International Cooperation and Sustainable Development (NCDO), Leiden University has commenced research into global citizenship.

Professor of Law and Society Maartje van der Woude has been appointed as a Mercator Fellow at the University of Göttingen’s research group Mobility Rights in the Global Context of Multiple Crises, which studies human rights and migration in times of crisis.