Leiden University will be 444 years old this year and is still very much alive and kicking. But how can we humans grow old healthily? Hanno Pijl at LUMC is the grand master of lifestyle medicine. He explains how we can all benefit from a sensible - but still enjoyable - lifestyle.

The book ‘Geleerde Zorgen: twee eeuwen academische geneeskunde in Leiden’ (‘Learned Care: two centuries of academic medicine in Leiden’) was presented on 16 December to Annetje Ottow (President of the Executive Board of Leiden University) and Pancras Hogendoorn, Dean and member of the Executive Board…

Prof. Jan Adriaanse and Dr. Jean-Pierre van der Rest are currently completing an edited volume on Turnaround Management and Bankruptcy which will be published by Routledge in December 2016. A book written by leading experts in the field of business, law and finance, this edited volume brings together…

Connecting worlds, enhancing research and teaching, and providing innovative solutions to complex social issues: that is the idea behind interdisciplinary research. In that respect, a huge amount happened at Leiden University in 2023.

Using biomethane to produce ammonia, a crucial chemical in agriculture, could drastically reduce the climate impact of the process. In a study published in One Earth, researcher Robert Istrate shows it’s even possible to make ammonia production net-zero or carbon negative.

Exploring logging's real impact: Insights from Anthropologist Tessa Minter in the Solomon Islands.

Dr. Willy de Heer defended her PhD Thesis

Alumnus Francis Farrell (International Studies, 2018) works as a reporter at the Kyiv Independent, where he covers Russia's war against Ukraine. 'I experienced some crazy moments on the front line'

The nominees for the IRO Thesis Prize 2025 and the Prof. Dr. J.Th.J. van den Berg-prijs 2025. Who authored the best thesis in Leiden University’s bachelor’s programme in Political Science?

Tuesday was the opening session of the LDE Bachelor Honours Programme Sustainability. Lecturers introduced themselves, students got to know each other and it was revealed what they will do to contribute to a more sustainable world in the coming months.

Relations within the Kingdom of the Netherlands are imbalanced, says Professor by Special Appointment Wouter Veenendaal. The Caribbean autonomous countries and special municipalities do not have enough of a say and have administrative problems to contend with.

It is a full classroom: more than 30 pupils from 5 and 6 vwo are present to listen to political scientist Leila Demarest's lecture. She gives a brief introduction on the topic she is about to discuss: democracy in the global North and South. At first, the group seems a bit quiet, but when she asks questions…

PhD candidate Julia Wąsala searches for greenhouse gas emissions in satellite data. As a computer scientist, she bridges the gap between computer science and space research. ‘We really can't do this research without collaboration.’

Going to school during the summer holidays? Some of our students accepted the challenge. And they didn’t do that just around the corner. During their holidays, students bio pharmaceutical sciences and computer science visited special summer schools in China. ‘China is a global player that we should…

The high number of students that we are used to in the West would never have been possible if Latin were still the language of instruction in our universities. In his PhD defence on 16 September, Bert van Pinxteren will argue that Africa could gain a lot from a similar language switch in secondary e…

Opting more often for mocktails or soft drinks rather than beer or wine, talking to others about their drinking and pointing out the ban on drugs. Leiden University’s new covenant on alcohol and drugs for study associations encourages providing more alcohol-free alternatives.

A staggering 6.5 billion chicks are killed worldwide every year. These are generally male chicks that are of no economic value. In Ovo has developed technology that can quickly determine the sex of a chick, to ensure that only female chicks are hatched. The first 150,000 chicks have now hatched in this…

Leiden University turned 444 this year, and we are celebrating this milestone with the residents of the two cities in which we have a presence: Leiden and The Hague. Mayor Pauline Krikke explains what 20 years of Campus The Hague means to her city.

As Professor of Literature, Culture and Law, Frans Willem Korsten explores the interplay between literature and law. These are two disciplines that most people wouldn’t immediately connect, but Korsten can see a lot of common ground between them. ‘A fictional story can have a huge impact on law.’

In 2019 the ENIS Spring School takes place in Granada from 18 March until 22 March 2019. The Spring School will be organized by ENIS (the European Network for Islamic Studies), consisting of: CNMS (Marburg University), CSIC (Institute of Languages and Cultures of the Mediterranean and Escuela de Estudios…

It’s better to cut our nitrogen emissions now than to solve the consequences later at great expense. That’s the lesson we can learn from the Dutch nitrogen crisis, according to nitrogen expert Jan Willem Erisman. In Science, he shares this lesson with other countries. According to Erisman, we should…

What does it mean to be the ‘perfect student’? This is the focus of the Perspectify exhibition, which was opened on 16 November by President of the Executive Board Annetje Ottow.

Alumnus Ben Smulders has worked for the European Commission for the past 33 years. ‘The discipline and depth that I experienced during my student days has helped me through various stages of my professional career.’

Leila Zerrougui (born in Algeria 1956) is a legal expert on human rights, justice, and rule of law. She is the current Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO). Before she was Special Representative…

A delegation from Leiden University is visiting Brazil from 14 to 18 March. The first day of the visit was spent with scientists in São Paolo.

This week, around 1,200 brand new students from 68 different countries are getting to know each other and their new student city. Orientation Week Leiden (OWL) got off to a good start on sunny Lammermarkt, which was packed with enthusiastic internationals.

During the second Arthur Docters van Leeuwen Lecture on 2 December, AIVD Director Erik Akerboom underlined how the changing threat landscape demands reflective leadership, transparency where possible and close cooperation to protect the democratic legal order.

What do we need to do for Leiden University to become a truly inclusive institution, where everyone feels at home and has equal opportunities? This is the key question at the annual symposium on diversity and inclusiveness on 1 December. If you would like to put your views, sign up now!

On I February 2018, at 15.00 hrs, Charlotte Vrendenbarg will defend her PhD dissertation ‘Proceskostenveroordeling en toegang tot de rechter in IE-zaken. Regelingen over proceskosten getoetst aan het EU-recht’ (Litigation costs orders and access to the courts in IP cases. A comparison of litigation…

A team of researchers at Leiden University’s Europa Institute authored an extensive study on the potential for a Climate and Energy Union within the EU constitutional framework. The study was published by the European Parliament in December 2024.

Black-and-white photographs filled with solemn young men and distinguished professors line the walls of the Grand Auditorium. Young women are missing from the photos; women rarely obtained PhDs 50 years ago. And this article is about that group, the PhD candidates between 1966 and 1972, who were invited…

Broad universities that focus strongly on fundamental research have the best chance of contributing to economic innovations, for example in the life and data sciences. This is the message of Professor Simcha Jong in his inaugural lecture on 14 November.

Tijdens het symposium ‘Transdisciplinary Study of Just Public Algorithmic Systems’, op vrijdag 24 maart in Den Haag, staat onderzoek naar het gebruik van algoritmische systemen in de publieke sector centraal. Een actueel onderwerp dat de laatste tijd veel in de belangstelling staat. Vijf vragen over…

Since 2009-2010, the West viewed China as more assertive. Especially after Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, the country abandoned Deng Xiaoping’s ‘low profile’ foreign policy. Friso Stevens explains in his dissertation where this change has come from. The dissertation defence is on 28 March.

Politicians, public servants and administrators are increasingly expected to be holier than the Pope. This is not necessarily a positive development, in the view of Leiden University lecturer Toon Kerkhoff, who has studied dozens of integrity issues.

In Montreal, the 34th Meeting of Parties on the Montreal Protocol (MOP), dealing with ozone layer damage, just ended. This protocol is ratified by all countries in the world and is very successful. Shiming Yang, a university lecturer and member of the Leiden University Global Transformations and Government…

The sixteenth Annual Convention of Austria Centers took place in Budapest, Hungary in June 2024. There, colleagues gathered from around the world, coming from Jerusalem, Olomouc, Vienna, Berkeley, Edmonton, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Budapest and, of course, Leiden.

What if we start taxing carbon-intensive products such as electricity and gasoline, and at the same time compensate low-income households? Hauke Ward and colleagues did just that in a computer simulation for Peru, with a remarkable outcome. Not only does the approach tackle climate change, but it could…

Every year diplomatic representatives of Latin American countries, researchers and students come together during a conference of the GRULAC region group. This year different researchers talked about their work during a visit to the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs in The Hague.

What can you expect from studying in Leiden or The Hague? Which programme should you choose? Should you join a student association and will you need to find a room? Over 8,000 prospective students showed up at the Leiden University Open Day: a record. Here's what some of them had to say.

Music, being together and the impact of science were at the heart of the festive opening of the academic year and the start of the faculty’s 200-year anniversary. The faculty was 200 years old on 2 August 2015. The anniversary was celebrated in style, attended by 500 members of staff and students.

What do you do when you’re suddenly given access to a whole lot of data but don’t know how to organise and analyse it? Maritime historians in the Faculty of Humanities joined forces with vocational college (MBO) students to build a database. ‘We’re so compatible with each other.’

North Korean workers designed and built numerous monuments, museums and other buildings in southern Africa. This is clear from research by history student Tycho van der Hoog for his master's thesis. These monuments can be an important source of income for a country that has become quite isolated on…

Professor Remco Breuker plays the leading role in the new documentary ‘Big in Korea’. Over three Sunday evenings, viewers can follow his journey through South Korea. How has the country developed over the past decades? And what is the impact of last December's failed coup?

The first year cohort of Leiden University College The Hague recently under took a local lesson which saw them collect 10200 pieces of plastic from their local communities. Of the total collected, 52% was plastic.

When you think of political philosophy, you think of Immanuel Kant, Georg Hegel and Johann Fichte. Both philosophers are considered great representatives of German idealism. University lecturer in Continental Philosophy Marie Louise Krogh has received a Veni subsidy to delve deeper into the German idealists…

On 1 August, Egbert Fortuin has been appointed Professor of Russian Language and Linguistics. After a five-year term as vice-dean of the Faculty Board, he is eager to fully devote himself to the study programme. His appointment can therefore be summarised in three words: 'I am back'.

By 2050, 70 per cent of the world's population will live in cities. This has major consequences for the lives of city-dwellers and for the environment. Uncontrolled urbanisation calls for an interdisciplinary approach. On 4 September, the first group of students started the new English-language Bachelor's…

On the south coast of Sri Lanka is a colonial fort. Since it became a world heritage site, the fortified town of Galle has suddenly become a major tourist attraction. This has its pros and cons, says PhD candidate Uditha Jinadasa. PhD defence on 12 March.

Leiden University and four other Dutch universities will appoint 51 PhD candidates to conduct solution-oriented research for and with the African continent.