Today marks the start of the Healthy University - Let's Walk Week 2021, a week focused on the mental and physical health of our employees. Including an online program with interesting inspiration sessions, office workouts and sports lessons. And join our walking competition in the Ommetje app!

What if you get excluded? Are apps against fear and stress effective? How do you keep your brain in shape? The first season of the new podcastseries ‘BreinGeheim’ is about the social contexts of adolescent development and how teens become resilient individuals. Leiden-based behavioural scientist sit…

Neanderthals were able to outwit straight-tusked elephants, the largest land mammals of the past few million years. Leiden professor Wil Roebroeks has published an article about this together with his German colleague Sabine Gaudzinski-Windheuser in the Science Advances journal.

Leiden University has secured an impressive 12 European exchange grants. This is good news for students, lecturers and researchers from home and abroad.

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The FSW Honours College offers you an interactive Honours track, alongside your regular bachelor’s degree programme.

During your time as a student you will probably encounter a variety of challenges. Both in terms of studying and personal development, you might need a little help from time to time. Find out how you can boost your well-being and who you can turn to for support.

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How can we work together to create a safe study and learning environment and offer students the support that they need? The Vision on Student Well-Being outlines the University’s plans to promote student well-being in the coming years.

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Online education and assessments

Violent conflicts and civil wars in Chad impede most rural households' access to food security, agricultural activities and access to essential services such as health care. In her dissertation, Nakar Djindil Syntyche denounces this issue. She obtained her PhD on 24 November.

Leiden University wants to contribute to a sustainable society, a healthy climate and the reduction of litter and waste. This intention is in alignment with the introduction of our Pure concept, the integral concept for our catering activities.

Organisation

Lecture, LIMS seminar | Book Talk

Organisation, Research, Social

Leiden University’s Annual Report 2021 has been published. In this report, which consists of a general section and a financial section (the financial statements), the University provides a record of its research, teaching, knowledge transfer, operational management and policies in that year.

A lot is going on in the world right now, and our university regularly faces big issues and dilemmas too. Then it can be tricky to switch off. For me, exercise is a way to unwind. We want our staff to be able to relax too and are therefore offering various events and workshops that should help.

The more than 370 sensors that have been hung up in Leiden University buildings to count the people present will not be switched on again. The equipment will eventually be removed from the buildings.

After a turbulent Covid year, the well-being of our students and staff has the highest priority. How can we prevent physical and mental health problems? This was the key question at the Opening of the Academic Year in Pieterskerk in Leiden on 6 September.

The story of Tutankhamun, the Egyptian pharaoh, is world famous. But did you know that the Ancient Egyptians mummified not only people but animals too? The National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden recently put a bunch of animal mummies through a CT scanner. This was in collaboration with Canon Netherlands…

It often takes longer for women with heart problems to get the right diagnosis. In her Annie Romein-Verschoor Lecture, Professor Hester den Ruijter will talk about how hormones influence the heart and the importance of medical research that focuses specifically on women.

Who doesn't love to turn on a horror film on a rainy evening? Fortunately, it is only fiction - or is it? According to university lecturer Evert Jan van Leeuwen, modern horror says more about our society than we think. He has been nominated for the Klokhuis Science Prize for his research into addiction…

Horses were first domesticated in South-West Russia, is the conclusion drawn by an international team of researchers writing in the well-respected journal Nature. Their conclusion resolves a longstanding archaeological question. But, surprisingly enough, this domestication did not contribute to the…

Environmental Humanities LU Talk

As part of Leiden University’s aim to be a safe and healthy environment for all staff and students, several activities and lectures were organised in an action week around suicide prevention. Dedicated benches were also placed at several university buildings, including at the Faculty of Humanities.

With the holidays just around the corner in this dark month of December, when we light candles as a symbol of warmth and hope, we would like to take a moment to reflect on this past year. We have accomplished a great deal together but the year has been difficult at times.

Ever since its foundation, Leiden University has turned its gaze outwards to other cultures, languages and forms of academic practice. It is only natural, therefore, that we as a university have four institutes abroad: the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV-KNAW)…

Are you a motivated student wanting to grow outside of your own bachelor’s programme? Then, look no further than the Humanities Lab honours programme: a challenging opportunity to broaden your horizon and grow.

The new University Sports and Exam Centre is another step closer. Bigger sports and exam halls, plenty of room for meeting people, an open feel that integrates with the Campus Square and the sports fields, optimal acoustics and an uncompromisingly sustainable building with a green facade and solar panels.…

How can Europe lead the way in vaccine development that is fast and for all? To answer this pressing question, Professor of Vaccinology Meta Roestenberg is holding a panel session on 14 July at the EuroScience Open Forum in Leiden.

‘We could share our knowledge more with others and apply it more widely,’ said Annetje Ottow, President of the Executive Board, while presenting the new Strategic Plan on the University’s 447th Dies Natalis. The new Strategic Plan therefore focuses on innovating and connecting, among disciplines and…

Study support

Young researchers met this month for the fifth Science Communication Summer School. ‘This is the first time some participants get to meet other researchers who also enjoy science communication. It’s great to see’, says Julia Cramer, one of the coordinators.

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.

In a supplementary decision on 17 May 2022, the Executive Board of Leiden University has concluded that it will publish the titles of seven articles in which there is evidence of malpractice. This concerns a former staff member of the Institute of Psychology. The Executive Board considers it to be in…

In the documentary ‘Pretend Student’, former students talk about why they let everyone believe they were still studying. How can you make sure you don’t end up in such an impossible situation? Four questions for Leiden Student Dean, Romke Biagioni, who worked on the documentary.

Research

After completing one bachelor’s and two master’s programmes at Leiden University, alumnus in Philosophical Perspectives on Politics and the Economy Matthieu Agustoni finished his student life with a bang: he got his master's thesis published in a prestigious journal.

Banquets for the rich, porridge for the poor and a standard diet of bread, olive oil and wine. Just a few assumptions about the Roman diet.

The Leiden Leadership Programme is going to innovate. After 12 years, the honours track for master’s students will get a new set-up. We asked two of those involved about the ins and outs of the new LLP. ‘You learn what leadership style suits you and how to make an impact.’

A shadow cabinet has just been formed. This one consists of students from all the Dutch universities. They will be keeping politicians on their toes in the coming year, and want to show that progress cannot be made without academic research and teaching. Master’s student Zeineb Romdhane is Minister…

In the past months of the coronavirus crisis, work continued steadily on constructing the Humanities Campus. The Arsenaal has been completed. Colleagues have moved to the Reuvens and Huizinga buildings, and the South Cluster is ready for the renovation to start. And now we have suddenly had to stop.

Ab de Jong, professor of Comparative Religion, was appointed as the new the academic director of the Leiden Institute for Area Studies (LIAS) with effect from 1 September. We asked him about his plans for the future of the LIAS.

At the conference of the Honours College Science & Society, students present TED Talks on a social issue of their interest. ‘It brings together everything they have learned in the past two and a half years.’

The ‘Discovery of the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem of EUniWell’s Consortium’s Members’ project has received a EUniWell seed grant. Sjoerd Louwaars, the representative from Leiden University, talks about the project and the first results.

Luckily we’ve been able to meet up on campus again for a few months now after two years of mainly online teaching. Alongside the inconvenience, enforced digitalisation has brought us valuable innovations and smart tools. The question is: what’s going well and what could we do differently? I’d love to…

Conference