He was so disappointed that he couldn't go on that archaeological field trip to the Caribbean, he spent most of his time at his computer working on his dissertation instead. But that didn't keep him from gaming from time to time, a personal passion that ultimately led to his current job. Since February…

From a lovely blossoming garden in Barcelona, Eduard Fosch Villaronga is talking enthusiastically about his postdoc at Leiden University. Due to the corona lockdown, he is currently spending the 2020 summer at his mother’s place, but he is looking forward to returning to Leiden (and to the Dutch bit…

Chaos in the Lipsius building! Master's students zigzag through the classroom, write on whiteboards and discuss tensely. In a simulation of the Leiden Leadership Programme, they experience what it is like to deal with a crisis as an office holder.

An extra-long procession with musical accompaniment will mark the beginning of the university’s 450th birthday celebrations on 7 February.

Curators devote a lot of attention to their collections. How is Martijn Storms, curator of maps and atlases at Leiden University Libraries, managing to do this now he is working from home? And how is Silvia Vermetten digitising Eastern manuscripts from home?

An unprecedented space telescope, an astrolab that makes space ice and molecules that may lead to the origin of life… The Ice Age project has all the prerequisites to become a very fascinating research project – if it is not one already. Leiden astronomers Melissa McClure, Harold Linnartz and Will Rocha…

What is written in law and what equality, inclusion and diversity mean in practice is not always the same. This was the focus of this year’s D&I symposium on 13 January. The plenary sessions were watched by hundreds of participants and there was a wide range of workshops covering different aspects of…

Participating in discussions as a student, at an administrative level? Jonatan Wirix-Speetjens has done so for the past two years as assessor of the Faculty of Humanities. Ebrar Kaya will take over the position of assessor starting this September. In this interview we look back and ahead at the asse…

Providing and receiving feedback, meeting deadlines, and simultaneously considering your future: how to juggle all these tasks during a PhD project? The new 'PhD Golden Rules' offer advice on how PhD candidates and their supervisors can collaborate productively

In the search for new medicines against diseases such as cancer, a Leiden team has developed a new workflow. This approach combines artificial intelligence (AI) with molecular modelling and is suitable for finding unknown and innovative drug structures, the researchers proved.

Social media gives people a voice but also fuels online hate, especially against marginalised groups. PhD candidate Eva Nave: ‘While end-to-end encryption protects activists, it also enables criminal activity, creating a more accessible version of the Darkweb.’

How to deal with the most challenging design question of your life: what do I want to be when I grow up? The ‘Designing Your Life’ method teaches students how to craft their own future. The project will start next academic year, thanks to a Comenius grant. ‘Everyone interested should be able to borrow…

If you would want to set up an alumni network after you graduated in Leiden and returned to your home country, how would you go about it? Seven Leiden alumni in China did not hesitate and decided to just do it! Last year they launched the Leiden Alumni Chapter in China, an initiative which was met with…

Jurist Gineke Wiggers wants to predict the expected impact of legal articles. Carel Stolker, Rector of the University and, like Wiggers, a legal specialist, is enthusiastic about the research. ‘A big data project like this will help us establish the effect of our work on society.’

On January 16, 2022, our respected and beloved colleague Prof. dr. Bas Edixhoven passed away after a short period of serious illness.

How do bacteria sense and adapt to their environment? Ariane Briegel, Professor of Ultrastructural Biology, is intrigued by this question. Using new techniques, she produces three-dimensional images of bacteria that provide us with new clues about their sensory system.

In the middle of doing research for her master’s thesis, Sara Kalf (24) was hit by a car and got seriously injured. After a long period of rehabilitation and hard work, this week she can finally add her signature to the wall of the Academy Building’s ‘Sweat Room’.

On a sunny Lammermarkt, thousands of new students gathered to kick off their student life in Leiden at the 56th edition of EL CID.

The whole world is waiting anxiously for sufficient supplies of coronavirus vaccines. As Launch Navigator at Pfizer, alumnus Dennis de Mik must help ensure that the Netherlands receives 19.8 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. How is he going about this and how has his Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences…

Psychologist Bernou Melisse was shocked at the long waiting lists in the Netherlands for people with binge-eating disorders. The problem was not yet on the map in Saudi Arabia. She therefore decided to study how people suffering from binge eating can be helped better in their own region of the world.…

The aim of Leiden Islam Academy is to share the broad knowledge of Islam existing in Leiden University with various parties within society, and to bring people together. After three years of preparation, the launch meeting will take place on 7 December.

From studying molecules in the blood of corona patients to developing a new concept for vaccines. The Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research (LACDR) has transformed many ongoing projects into Covid research projects. Hubertus Irth, scientific director of LACDR, talks about the role of his institute…

On 8 June the Faculty of Archaeology and the Department of Antiquity and Cultural Heritage (DACH) of the Palestine Ministry of Tourism and Antiquity signed an agreement in Ramallah on the West Bank. The aim of the agreement is renewed and sustainable co-operation in the field of archaeology.

How do you offer proper education in times of corona? Annebeth Simonsz (Educational Advice and Quality Assurance) and Anna Benjamins (ECOLe) work closely together to support lecturers in hybrid and online education. They are happy to share with the faculty, lecturers’ creative solutions for the new…

The Executive Board of the Institute of Psychology has a new Director of Operational Management. It’s the perfect role for Paula van den Bergh. ‘For me, “connection” is a nice word. If you see the connections between things, you immediately see the logic behind the processes.’ Her career has taken her…

Online competitions, online sports, dietary advice for staff and students and 'What do they eat for lunch?' The first 'volunteer' is Vice-Rector Hester Bijl. What does her lunch usually consist of? The University Sports Centre is celebrating its fifty-year anniversary with a whole - corona-proof - programme…

In spring 2020, the country was facing a potential lack of hospital ventilators for the huge numbers of Covid-19 patients. In response, Clinical Technology students designed an emergency device in the space of just three weeks. ’These students become 80% doctor and 80% engineer.’

With the new academic year just around the corner, many more students and lecturers will soon be coming to the University. What are we doing to keep our campus safe? We spoke to Martijn Ridderbos, Vice-Chairman of the Executive Board, about the new Campus Protocol, which enters into force on 31 August.…

Mike Field has been at the Faculty of Archaeology since 2008. As a driven archaeobotanist, he is consistantly contributing to the study of plant fossils encountered in many faculty as well as external projects. ‘Flexibility, spontaneity, creativity, these are all parts of being an academic.’

Studying with an app and exploratory learning in large groups. Two educational innovations that will be possible thanks to the Comenius Programme of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). Chemist Ludo Juurlink and Professor of Science Education Fred Janssen from the Leiden Graduate…

On Monday 21 November a lecture was given at Leiden Law School of Leiden University by Belgian Minister of Justice Koen Geens and Dutch Minister of Justice and Security Ard van der Steur in which they talked about international judicial cooperation. The lecture focussed on cooperation between the Netherlands…

The Battle of Heiligerlee, on 23 May 450 years ago, is famous as an epic battle in Dutch history. But was it really so momentous? Professor of Early Modern History Judith Pollmann unravels the myths about ‘Heiligerlee’ and the Eighty Years' War.

Masterclasses, network meetings and coaching cafés: the Alumni Office was offering a whole range of activities every month for the University’s alumni. Until coronavirus broke out, that is. The Leiden Alumni Webinars mean that alumni can still meet and share their knowledge with interesting speakers.…

Labour law professors have shaped research and education in Leiden since 1936. From the rise of trade unions to the AI revolution, the field has constantly evolved. Major changes are on the horizon again in 2026. 'Labour law will always be important.'

What does it feel like to become a citizen in a new country? For her PhD research, Hannah Bliersbach immersed herself in the world of immigration. She interviewed dozens of new citizens in Germany and Canada and found that citizenship is, above all, a transactional process.

As Director of Education, Marcellus Ubbink learned to work together with many different people. For him, the social aspects are one of the key areas in his new role as Scientific Director of the Leiden Institute of Chemistry. Who is this new manager and what can we expect from him?

Because she lives the values she stands for in her work, open and trustworthy leadership are central to Jannemieke Ouwerkerk’s approach. ‘It’s important in academia to want good things for each other.’

This Justice for Children Call to Action offers a new starting point to place children at the heart of an emerging global movement for justice. It strives to ensure that, in collective efforts to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, no child is left behind.

Leiden University's Centre for Professional Learning (CPL) and the Montesquieu Institute are jointly launching the ‘Academie voor de Rechtsstaat’ (Academy for the Rule of Law). With this initiative, they intend to offer a course providing in-depth knowledge and insight into the basic principles of the…

The five-year DIGITAL TWIN program can start as NWO granted 4 million euros from the Perspective program. With this grant, 19 new researchers will be appointed.

On Monday, 4 September the new bachelor programme Security Studies had its official start.

Recently, the BAIS Alumni Association organised their yearly reunion. Due to the current circumstances, there was a twist: the reunion – as many events that are currently being organized – took place online. This was a perfect solution for a Bachelor programme that finds its students from all over the…

SAILS started the new year with a new professor. Joost Batenburg will join the SAILS team with his expertise in Imaging and Visualisation. This makes him the second professor appointed for the SAILS programme.

Computer skills are essential if you want to become part of Dutch society. Leiden University and Stichting Bestaanskracht, an organisation that helps the vulnerable, are therefore providing computer lessons for refugees who can use some extra digital help.

From October 1-3, 2017, the 24th Annual International Law and Religion Symposium was held at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, USA. The Symposium was attended by 100 participants, from 50 different countries, while interpretation at the venue was available in 11 languages (Arabic, French, Italian,…

The deadline for the call for abstracts for the 2023 LLRC conference: curriculum and course design for language teaching is 27 March 2023

Freya Baetens is currently a Visiting Professor at the National University Singapore (NUS). NUS started out as a medical school in 1905, founded by a determined group of businessmen led by Tan Jiak Kim, to serve the needs of the local community. Today, it is Singapore’s flagship university consistently…

We can all do something to contribute to men working less and being more active at home, argues university lecturer Max van Lent in a podcast of Dutch ‘De Telegraaf' newspaper.

The film MعLMIN made by Visual Ethnography alumna Loes Moree will be screened during the fourth Fieldrecordings event. Field Recordings is an annual event for visual anthropology, sound art and landscape film.

On 2 June, Prof. Mayke Kaag gave a keynote speech at the UN Headquarters in New York. The meeting was organised by the UN’s Security Sector Reform & Governance Unit.