Wrenching poverty, global inequality, violent political and ethnic strife, deadlocked, unresponsive or even collapsing governments, growing dissatisfaction with democracy and missed opportunities for innovation – these are merely some of the challenges of governance and development with which our programme…

The NIMAR library receives visiting students and affiliated researchers who are looking for a quiet place to study and work. Besides this, the library provides them with support in finding relevant literature for their research.

This project investigates the globalization and cultural mediation of palliative care practices, policies and discourses.

Spend an hour on any social media canal (Facebook, Twitter, you name it) and you will find opinions and frustration. Frustration about asylum seeker shelters being built in local villages; frustration about trade negotiations with the US, Ukraine or any other country; and thousands of opinions about…

The Economist published an article about a working paper about the effects of democratic elections on satisfaction with democracy. The paper was written by Dimiter Koshkov, Associate Professor at the Institute of Public Administration and Honorata Mazepus, Assistant Professor at the Institute of Security…

The lecture series “Humanity in the Automated State” continued on February 12, 2026, at Leiden Law School with Professor Madalina Busuioc of VU Amsterdam, a public governance scholar, AI-DG Lab co-director, MSc programme founder, and recipient of a European Research Council grant.

The Executive Board has appointed Olaf van Vliet as Professor of Economics at Leiden University, specialising in social security and labour market policy from an international perspective. The chair is affiliated to both the Department of Economics (Leiden Law School) and the Institute of Public Administration…

The importance of digitalization has become even more evident during the Corona crisis. Society and the Dutch economy are therefore rapidly digitizing. This calls for a good balance between seizing opportunities and reducing risks.

During this award ceremony for alumni op Saturday, 10 February 2018, Vincent Bakker was awarded second prize in Leiden University’s 2018 Thesis Award. These prizes are made possible by the Minerva Reünisten Fund Year 1957/1961/1965, incorporated into the Leiden University Fund (LUF). His thesis supervisors…

Each year, the Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) publishes the Leiden Ranking, a ranking of universities according to the quality of their academic research. The ranking focuses on medical and scientific research.

Nico Schrijver and Niels Blokker (Grotius Centre, Public International Law) organised a seminar on the role of non-permanent members of the UN Security Council on 11 and 12 May. The seminar was held with the involvement of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as the Netherlands will be a member of…

Dutch election signals a return to the political centre, with voters seeking practical solutions both at home and across Europe. Bernard Steunenberg, Professor of Public Administration, cautions that losses for the PVV, the party of Geert Wilders, do not mean the far right has been defeated.

Leiden University continues to do well in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. For the subject area Politics and International Relations, the 2018 edition ranks Leiden 67th in the world. This is not that far behind the ‘usual suspects’ (Cambridge, Stanford, MIT and the like). Among…

Veel overheidsorganisaties hebben nog te weinig kennis van de Wet open overheid (Woo), ‘wat zorgt voor frustratie bij verzoekers en onzekerheid bij derden’, zegt Annemarie Drahmann, universitair hoofddocent Bestuursrecht en Woo-expert in iBestuur.

Door de kalender-indeling 2026 zijn er weinig aaneengesloten vrije dagen rond Kerst en Nieuwjaar zonder vakantiedagen op te nemen. Gerrard Boot, hoogleraar arbeidsrecht, zegt voor Omroep West, dat ‘wanneer Kerst deels of helemaal in weekend valt je als werknemer gewoon pech hebt.’

A preparatory seminar in Bonn leading up to the Annual Meeting in Johannesburg in August of this year

The Dutch Referendum on the EU-Ukraine deal on april 6th resulted in a

Because of the recently published essay: Integrity 2025, written by Zeger van der Wal, Professor by special appointment Ien Dales Chair at the Institute of Public Administration at Leiden University, he was interviewed on 21 February by the magazine Binnenlands Bestuur (National Board) about diversity…

Professors argue for independent council for government policy

Last weekend, an article on data privacy appeared in Trouw. In this essay, Bram Klievink, Professor of Digitization and Public Policy at the FGGA, addresses the issue of data privacy. What are the downsides of the rules the tech giants have to abide by?

Thursday, the 26th of November, Professor Kenneth J. Meier (Texas A&M) is visiting Campus the Hague.

Arco Timmermans, Professor by special appointment of Public Affairs, discusses the current protests in the Netherlands and whether this is a new phenomenon

Dutch households, especially those on middle and high incomes, pay billions of euros more in tax than promised in election manifestos. Companies, on the other hand, generally pay less tax than initially announced. These are the conclusions reached by Wilmar Bolhuis, PhD student at Leiden University.…

How ethical are lobbyists? On the Night of the Lobbyist on 23 January, academics and practitioners will come together to discuss lobbying and democracy. We asked associate professor of public administration Toon Kerkhoff five questions about the world of lobbying and integrity.

Caspar van den Berg, researcher and Assistant Professor at the Institute of Public Administration, has been awarded a prestigious Veni grant of 250,000 euros from the Dutch Organization for Scientific Research (NOW) for his international comparative research on politicization of top civil servants.

Nine talented Leiden University researchers have been awarded a Vidi subsidy by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). The Faculty of Governance and Global affairs is represented by Alexandre Afonso from the Institute of Public Administration and his Vidi- subsidy win for his research…

Each year a distinguished jury will award the Haldane prize to the author(s) of the best article published in Public Administration. The Haldane prize commemorates one of the founders of Public Administration (and first President of the Royal Institute of Public Administration), Richard Haldane.

On Friday 9 and Saturday 10 September 2022, the annual reunion of the European Public Law Organization (EPLO) took place in Legrena, Greece.

Following the announcement of the second economic aid package by Dutch Ministers Eric Wiebes, Wopke Hoekstra and Wouter Koolmees, Arco Timmermans discussed the content of the government's second economic package on the Dutch radio programme BNR Lobbypanel.

At the beginning of July, a committee appointed by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) presented its report 'Social Safety in Dutch Academia. From Paper to Practice', to the Dutch Minister of Education, Culture and Science. The committee was chaired by Professor Naomi Ellemers…

On 6 March, Jelle Klaas, lawyer for the Public Interest Litigation Project of the Dutch Section of the International Commission of Jurists, delivered a lecture to the students of the Advanced Master’s in European and International Human Rights Law at Leiden Law School.

The 2023 Conference: Institutions for Conflict Resolution (COI) aims to identify just institutional approaches that seek (real) conflict prevention and conflict resolution in the legal context. It will be held in Utrecht on 28 and 29 September 2023. We welcome abstracts from all researchers around the…

Public agencies are keen to use new technology such as AI to speed up their primary processes. But the internal organisation is often a major stumbling block. SAILS researcher Friso Selten conducts research at the interface between data science and public administration.

The public are experiencing the effects of international policy more directly and the contacts between citizens and civil servants are also changing. Read about the impact of these developments in the new research dossier on 'Governance and Society'.

The issues surrounding the crises at the Dutch Tax Authorities and the Dutch Ministries of Justice and Defence had been known internally for considerable time. The information had been duly passed but criticism was largely ignored. Contradiction expressed by civil servants was not appreciated and even…

Johan Christensen, universitair docent bij het Instituut Bestuurskunde, heeft 1,2 miljoen euro subsidie gekregen van de Research Council of Norway. Christensen is co-leider van een project genaamd INFLUEX dat de invloed van experts gaat onderzoeken. Naast Christensen maakt ook Valérie Pattyn van het…

Sociaaleconomisch Beleid: Empirische Analyse is a new course for those students on the Bachelor’s programme in Public Administration who are following the specialisation in Economics, Administration and Management.

The Young Academy Leiden (YAL) is an initiative of the Leiden members of The Young Academy of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. It fits very well with the recommendations issued by the working group Rankings and Toptalent last year in their report on academic excellence and talent…

On 13 October, Assistant Professors Public Administration Toon Kerkhoff and Gerrit Dijkstra discussed whether leaking secret government conversations is a punishable offence.

Marcel Cobussen is professor of Auditory Culture at ACPA. Recently he has published a report (in Dutch) commissioned by the city government of Leiden (NL) on the sonic redesigning of a public space (the Garenmarkt) in Leiden. He is also one of the founders of The Journal of Sonic Studies, an Open Access…

Professor of Media Law and Information Society Tarlach McGonagle is concerned about the increase in online disinformation and hate speech. He argues that human rights should guide new policies for the online world. McGonagle will give his inaugural lecture on 9 May.

An archaeologist as a modern-day shaman. An unexpected comparison Professor by Special Appointment of Public Archaeology Luc Amkreutz will make in his inaugural lecture.

Book on Dutch mayors governing local order and public safety.

On Thursday 11 December 2025, Daan Roovers, the philosopher and former Denker des Vaderlands (Philosopher Laureate), will give the 54th Huizinga Lecture at the Stadsgehoorzaal in Leiden. Under the title What’s at stake: The boundaries of politics and fair play, she will reinterpret Johan Huizinga’s…

InfoDiplo, the bimonthly newsletter of Diplo 21, features information on publications and academic conferences of interest in the fields of diplomatic studies and medieval writing practices

The research project ‘The History of National Security, 1945-present', is funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), the Campus The Hague/Leiden University and the Netherlands Institute for Military History (NIMH). The project will run until the summer of 2013, when we hope…

The 2025 Data for Policy conference at Leiden University explored how digital and green transitions can shape a more sustainable and inclusive future.

Experience for yourself what studying is like, or explore the city where you will be attending lectures. On Saturday 11 February, future students came to an Experience Day in The Hague. School pupils, students and parents were welcome to attend lectures and tutorials throughout the day.

‘Leiden University's code of conduct on Integrity is comprehensive and complete,' says Zeger van der Wal, Professor by Special Appointment in Public Administration at the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs. He is the holder of the Dales chair, funded by the CAOP. Van der Wal's specialist field…

Pita Limjaroenrat (45) was set to become Thailand’s next prime minister, but in 2024 the Thai Constitutional Court dissolved his progressive Move Forward Party and banned him from politics. He now reflects publicly on the policy values that brought the party to prominence.