Open, extravert, agreeable, stress-tolerant and conscientious. These are the character traits of surgeons according to research by the LUMC.

48 student teams from all over the world will be taking part in the international online moot court competition. The event is organised by Leiden University in partnership with Baker McKenzie.

A delegation from Xi’an Jiaotong University visited Leiden University on 25–26 March, celebrating ten years of cooperation in education and research, and exploring new opportunities for future collaboration.

Facility, Organisation

“We are proud and happy to receive this grant. It will enable us to do truly innovative fundamental research with a direct link to practical applications.” Michiel Westenberg is looking forward to investigate the effects of age and social anxiety on eye-contact. Together with Esther van den Bos he has…

Master's students Adam El Amraoui, Eesha Sheel, Frieda Chen and Lawrence Kurowski are organising a graduate conference. On March 26, students will gather to ponder definitions of belonging both within Asia and among Asian diasporic communities.

Lecturers Zsuzsika Sjoerds and Sebo Uithol have been awarded a 100,000-euro Dutch National Education Institute (NKO) Scale-Up Grant for their ‘Family Dinner’ app. The app helps students develop critical reasoning skills by identifying fallacies and prejudices during a simulated family meal.

Leiden University's Kiem grant is designed to give new interdisciplinary ideas from staff a boost. Thanks to the grant, Jelle Brands and Nathan Saucier were able to test the research possibilities of a hyper-realistic 3D environment. With promising results.

The Executive Board has decided to extend the terms of office of interim dean Henk te Velde and interim vice-dean Jos Schaeken by one year, to 1 March 2028. Both board members were originally appointed for a period of two years, to 1 March 2027.

New research has revealed that one of Europe’s largest prehistoric mass graves records the deliberate killing of women and children, showing how gender- and age-selective violence was used to disrupt communities and assert power in the Early Iron Age. Leiden archaeologist Jason Laffoon was involved…

From a bachelor's degree in English Language and Culture to a master's degree in International Relations: a minor made it possible for Evanthia Andreadaki. 'For me, this is the perfect combination.'

How do you know if a drug will actually work? The Leiden-based spin-off Omivera is developing a new technology that could provide clearer answers. The young company received a seed investment from the investment fund UNIIQ to support its development.

Ecologist Pengxuan Xie investigated whether rooftop farming can contribute to food production in cities. This is important now traditional food supply chains are vulnerable to disruptions.

Career Services of the Faculties Governance and Global Affairs, Social Sciences, and Humanities joined forces to organise the ‘Meet the Employer’ Week held from 6 – 10 December 2021!

Dr. Salwa El-Awa delivers a talk on Wednesday, November 2nd, on "Ambiguity in the Qur'an".

Goede en actuele data zijn cruciaal om infectieziekten effectief te bestrijden en de volksgezondheid te beschermen. Bijzonder hoogleraar Susan van den Hof en haar team zetten zich in voor betere data-methoden, zodat infectieziekten vroeg worden opgespoord en doeltreffend worden aangepakt.

Ethics in Caribbean Archaeology, a new open access volume edited by Felicia Fricke, Eduardo Herrera Malatesta, and Maaike de Waal, is already generating significant interest across the region and beyond.

Master’s student Anna van Ark has landed her dream internship at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. For three months, she’ll be shadowing the curator and conducting research on Japanese prints for the acquisitions team.

Sandra Manickam recently joined the Institute for History as a researcher in the ERC Starting Grant project ' COMET. Human Subject Research and Medical Ethics in Colonial Southeast Asia', under the supervision of Fenneke Sysling. Below, she introduces herself.

New university elections are coming up! Do you want to do more than just vote? Represent the interests of students and staff in the coming year and register as a candidate on 14 or 15 April, for example for the FSW Faculty Council. Student member Selin Asenova shares how she chose to make a differen…

Ammonia has been feeding the world for decades as a fertiliser and is now rapidly emerging as a carbon free fuel for shipping and industry. But if we focus only on CO₂ emissions, we risk creating new nitrogen problems, warns nitrogen expert Jan Willem Erisman in the journal One Earth.

The teams that will lead the themes guiding Leiden University’s strategic positioning in the coming years have been formed.

Researchers at the Faculty of Science work at the frontiers of knowledge every day, tackling today’s major societal challenges. Their work is recognised through grants, prizes and other awards. We highlight some of these achievements below.

Sandra Manickam recently joined the Institute for History as a researcher in the ERC Starting Grant project ' COMET. Human Subject Research and Medical Ethics in Colonial Southeast Asia', under the supervision of Fenneke Sysling. Below, she introduces herself.

Four FSW researchers received good news at the end of 2025: they will receive an NWO-XS grant this year.

'Psychologists think I’m a linguist but linguists think I’m a psychologist,' says cognitive neuroscientist Xiaochen Zheng. With the Veni grant she will be able to bring these two fields of research closer together. Read her answers to five questions.

The study, made possible through funding from the Hersenstichting, is led by neurologist Brigit de Jong, in collaboration with psychiatrist Sonja Rutten, Karin van der Hiele and Aglaia Zedlitz. Other partners include University Medical Center Groningen, Klimmendaal Rehabilitation Centre and Amsterdam…

My colleagues and I have been devastated to learn that our good colleague and friend Stefan Landsberger (born 1955) passed away unexpectedly, on 26 September 2024. Stefan had been a fixture of China Studies in the Netherlands, where he had been Associate Professor of contemporary Chinese History and…

ReCNTR Film Screening

Lecture

Lecture, Book Launch

Lecture

Whilst 2020 has been an unusual and taxing year for colleagues at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA), the Institute nevertheless can look back on an impressive range of successful grant applications during the previous year. This impressive result was achieved on top of excellent results…

In the Pioneers of Leiden University series we talk to past and present students who were the first in their family to go to university. In this fourth instalment: alumnus and philosopher of law Ali Kösedag (1992): ‘Philosophising about equality before the law in the Netherlands at an early-morning…

This month's flash interview is with alumna Sytske Besemer, Criminologist, who works at a startup called Cradle. Sytske has specifically chosen to work for a company with societal impact. And she is about to move again, this time to Zürich.

On 5 May, we celebrate the liberation of the Netherlands in 1945 and the fact that we have been able to live in freedom ever since. But what does freedom mean, and how does it relate to our safety? Various FGGA experts draw connections with their own fields of expertise.

Leiden University has had a diversity policy since 2014. The aim is to create a diverse and inclusive learning and working environment for all students and staff. Diversity Officer Aya Ezawa updates us on the process and the results. It’s now 2022, what has already changed?

Sixteen researchers at Leiden University are to receive a Veni grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). These awards offer promising young researchers the opportunity to further develop their own ideas over a period of three years.

Debate

Finally we know for sure that there is a black hole at the centre of our own galaxy. Today, astronomers unveiled the first ever photo of Sagittarius A*, a super-massive object at the centre of the Milky Way. This picture could only be taken thanks to the cooperation of telescopes worldwide.

From academic freedom to security and medical breakthroughs: during Leiden University’s 451st Dies Natalis, the speakers reflected on the role of universities in a world of social and geopolitical tensions.

Talking about suicide is important, but anything but comfortable. To make this difficult subject easier for students and staff to discuss, the university is organising a campaign week in line with the national campaign ‘1K Z1E J3’ (I see you) being run by Stichting 113 Zelfmoordpreventie (113 is the…

The quality of academic education depends on good teaching. A taskforce of lecturers, education specialists and HRM experts is therefore calling for Leiden lecturers to be given more opportunities and scope to develop their talents. The group hopes that, with a new lecturer development model and concrete…

Are we going vegetarian this year? Shall we keep the dessert the same? Where do I find inspiration for a festive meal during the holidays? For readers who like to postpone these questions, for those who like to tell a good story with their culinary contribution, or for those who simply want to know…

The Executive Board proposes to take the decision to suspend the existing institutional student exchange programmes with two Israeli universities, and until further notice not to engage in any new exchange programmes with Israeli universities that have comparable links with the Israeli military (the…

It has been just over a decade since the first students graduated with Leiden University’s unique Liberal Arts and Sciences Bachelor degree. We caught up with one of those pioneering graduates.

The Schoof cabinet has presented its budget. As expected, higher education is facing severe cuts. In the coming period, the Executive Board will regularly look at the consequences of what it deems an irresponsible policy.

It is more myth than reality that people with migration backgrounds commit more crime. Leiden has successfully tackled anti-social behaviour by Moroccan youths, says former mayor Henri Lenferink. Good education forms the basis of a healthy and safe society, says ‘crimmigration’ researcher' Maartje van…

Yousef Yousef is a 'self-made man'. But he first obtained his bachelor's degree in tax law in Leiden. 'A CEO needs to have a basic understanding of the principles of law', he says.

The student debate in Leiden’s Stadsgehoorzaal promised to be ‘the key to your vote’. That may sound hyperbolic, but what this well-attended debate did achieve was increased trust in politics. ‘They even let each other finish their sentences’, the flabbergasted students concluded at the end.