The editorial board of the Leiden Elective Academic Periodical (LEAP) is proud to announce the release of the fourth edition, titled “Subject: Matter”!

Radio New Babylon, to be heard around Anna van Beurenplein, Den Haag, from 1-10-2021 onwards, is a collection of sound works by local and international artists inspired by the work of Constant Nieuwenhuys, and developed in the context of the Interdisciplinary Research Group (ACPA, KC, KABK).

On 10 December 2024, the European Parliament played host to an insightful presentation of ‘Protecting Democracy in Europe: Pluralism, Autocracy, and the Future of the EU’, the new book by Tom Theuns, Assistant Professor at Leiden University. Hosted by MEP Thijs Reuten (PvdA/S&D) and his team, the event…

Leiden University Libraries invites you to the public lecture by Ted Underwood, Visiting Scaliger Professor. This lecture will be held on Thursday 21 November, from 16.00-17.00 in the Lipsius building, Room 0.19, Cleveringaplaats 1, Leiden. Afterwards, you can meet the new Visiting Scaliger Professor…

The research project of Jos Raaijmakers is nominated for the Huibregtsenprijs 2022. The researcher of NIOO, with a guest appointment at the Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL), is one of six nominees. On the Evening of Science & Society (Dutch: Avond van Wetenschap & Maatschappij), 10 October 2022, the…

The 2016 EAA student award was won by Leiden Archaeology PhD candidate Shumon Hussain.

The Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities (KHMW) has appointed Jos Raaijmakers, professor of Microbial Interactions and diversity, as a new scientific member.

After a year of hard work, the first class of students from the Master of Laws: Advanced Studies in International Children’s Rights received their well-deserved master diplomas on Monday 29 August.

The political situation in Venezuela is increasingly complicated. On Monday morning, February the fourth, several EU countries, including The Netherlands, recognised Guiadó as legitimate acting president. Dr. Jan Melissen, attached to the Clingendael Institute and the Institute of Security and Global…

GLOBOX is a spatially differentiated multimedia fate, exposure and effect model. It is used for the calculation of spatially differentiated LCA characterisation factors on a global scale.

Leading computer scientists from a variety of fields share their expertise and insights. Dive into the minds of these researchers and learn about real-world applications, the future of AI and related technologies and cutting-edge research. From chatbots to cybersecurity, from quantum to children's stories,…

The Ra’s al-jinz project tackles economic diversification and social complexity in non-urban societies, from the perspective of Eastern Arabia, by exploring the Early Bronze Age settlement of Ra’s al-jinz RJ-3.

How can we organise society so as to keep our planet habitable for us and for all other life forms around us? To answer this question, Leiden researchers collaborate across disciplines, from biology to data science, and from environmental economy to archaeology.

An overview of awards and prizes granted to our staff and students in 2017, as well as special appointments and royal distinctions.

One of the recurring points of discussion within the Criminal Justice research programme is the question of what behaviour should or should not fall within the scope of criminal law. This research theme is examined from a legal-dogmatic and social-scientific perspective.

Meet the students behind Science for Sustainable Societies! In this section, you will find monthly interviews with the students who are following this programme. They will share what drives them, what they enjoy about their study, their views on our programme and what inspires them about sustainability.…

Conference

After the May elections a new University Council has now taken seat. The university democracy is the result of the long-lived national student protests in 1969. Students from Leiden joined the protests for greater representation, although their actions were less revolutionary than at other universities.…

Interview with Pieter Slaman who received the LUS Education Prize. What makes the award so special to him and does he already know how he will use his prize money?

For his PhD, historian and army major Dion Landstra researched the effectiveness of observers in peace operations in the Balkans between 1991 and 1995. What risks are acceptable for bringing about and maintaining peace? Landstra will defend his PhD on 28 September.

Video conferencing from your sitting room and algorithms on social media that know your interests: new technology is an increasingly integral part of our lives. At the same time there is a growing call to protect our privacy, and this is causing friction, at the University too. In part because of the…

On September 20, the Austria Centre Leiden and the Leiden Jewish Studies Association convened a panel to celebrate the launch of Prof. dr. Sarah A. Cramsey’s new book Uprooting the Diaspora: Jewish Belonging and the “Ethnic Revolution” in Poland and Czechoslovakia, 1936-1946.

Frederique Visser is Research Master student and Student Assistent to the Foundation for Austrian Studies. She writes about her experiences on her research trip to Austria.

For too long the Dutch collective memory has judged the Jewish Council too harshly. This perspective needs to be adjusted, Bart van der Boom argues in his new book ‘De politiek van het kleinste kwaad’ (lit. ‘The Politics of the Lesser Evil’).

It's easier to understand Trump's America if you have a sound knowledge of the country's history. Research on the US has been given an impetus with the renewed Roosevelt Institute for American Studies. The institute in Middelburg reopened on 20 April with Leiden University as a key partner.

For the third year in a row, the bonfires in the Duindorp and Scheveningen neighbourhoods in The Hague during New Year's Eve have been cancelled. According to Professor Henk te Velde, the fight for the bonfires represents something bigger: angry citizens.

KNAW has elected eighteen new members, including two professors at Leiden University and one who studied and obtained his PhD in Leiden. The New Academy members will be installed at a later date this year.

In 2018, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW) is celebrating its 100-year existence. To commemorate this occasion, policy historian Pieter Slaman conducted a comprehensive survey of the ministry. We now look back on 5 crucial moments.

Over the past year, twelve articles by Leiden humanities scholars have been published on The Conversation, an English-language platform that translates science-related news for a broad audience. Read their articles here!

New ministers, new state secretaries and new members of parliament. Around the time of the elections, we often talk about the new faces, but there are also many politicians who leave during this period, sometimes out of necessity. How do you say goodbye to a political career? Henk te Velde, professor…

Mayor Peter Heijkoop is busy getting to know his city better. On Monday 7 July, he visited the Faculty of Humanities. ‘A few hours and you can see how important this is.’

An international team of astronomers, including Leiden PhD student Elia Pizzati, has observed several ancient quasars that, surprisingly, appear to be floating alone in the early universe (less than a billion years after the Big Bang). Until now, astronomers, based on models, assumed that quasars are…

Leiden University regularly confers honorary doctorates, and presents awards and prizes.

In the Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC) we strive to improve health care and the health of people.

On 28 November 2025, Leiden University and PLNT Leiden hosted “The Knowledge Orchard” - an event aimed at starting up/ enhancing interdisciplinary cooperation between academics at Leiden University, and improving collaboration between Leiden researchers and external partners in research and educatio…

At the Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC), you will be prepared for the world of tomorrow. We bring research and patient care together in a unique way in our education.

Is the legitimacy of law and governance of multilevel jurisdictions diminishing? What is the significance of (diminishing) legitimacy for the effectiveness of law? These kinds of questions about the legitimacy of the supranational formation of law, its application, and the policy and governance based…

Alumna Lauren Antonides has won the Roggeveen Prize for her thesis on the regional identity of Zeelandic Flanders. She will receive a sum of 1,000 euros.

The Faculty of Archaeology, in the persons of Marlena Antczak and Lennart Kruijer, had three pictures included in the exhibition 'Heritage on the Move'. The whole collection of 18 pictures can be seen from 3 December 2018 until 7 January 2019 at the Oude UB Building, Rapenburg 70, Leiden.

For the first time, international researchers have mapped the network of bacteria on coral reefs. They write about it in Nature Communications (9 April). Professor by special appointment Nicole de Voogd (Naturalis Biodiversity Center & Institute of Environmental Sciences) and two of her PhD students…

In the first episode of the podcast series, Andrei Marin, Associate Professor at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, interviews Marja Spierenburg, Professor of Anthropology of Sustainability and Livelihoods and Scientific Director at Leiden University, along with Diana Vela Almeida, Assistant…

In the Dutch tv-programme 'NOS Amalia and the Dutch Caribbean' Stacey shows the impact of climate change on the coast, coral and culture.

Hoe ver mogen demonstranten gaan? En moet de politie ingrijpen als iemand zich vastketent? Jeroen ten Voorde, hoogleraar straf- en procesrecht, sprak met Omroep Gelderland over het demonstratierecht: ‘Ik zou niet meteen zeggen dat het strafbaar is.’

A team of researchers at the Institute of Biology Leiden, in collaboration with scientists from Utrecht University, has discovered a novel approach to improve the production of antibiotics and enzymes in the soil bacteria Streptomycetes.

Dr. Ben Van Rompuy participated as an invited expert in the annual Congress of the International League of Competition Law (LIDC), held this year in Vienna from 9 to 12 October.

This week Leiden student Roos Kolkman will be campaigning throughout the country to win the votes of Dutch youth in order to become the next UN Youth Delegate for Sustainable Development.

A team of Leiden astronomers used the latest set of data from ESA’s Gaia mission to look for high-velocity stars being kicked out of the Milky Way, but were surprised to find stars instead sprinting inwards – perhaps from another galaxy.