Coronavirus is generating a great deal of uncertainty throughout the world. Fortunately, there are some bright spots, such as the residents of Italian cities who are in quarantine trying to keep everyone's spirits up with their clapping and singing. Closer to home, Leiden historian Suze Zijlstra took…

“The more you regulate the banking sector, the bigger shadow banking will get.”

On 8-10 July, 2024, public law scholars from around the world gathered in Madrid for the annual conference of the International Society of Public Law – the ICON-S, hosted this year by IE University. The theme of the conference “The Future of Public Law: Resilience, Sustainability, and Artificial Intelligence,”…

The Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance and Development and Benghazi Centre for Law and Society Studies, Benghazi University have released their final report, in English and Arabic, on Assessing Legislation for Libya’s Reconstruction.

With the What's Next? series we hope to inspire current Media Technology MSc students, show the variety of paths taken after the studies, and bring together alumni. Editions of the series are generally organized around a particular theme by Media Technology MSc students themselves, and followed by social…

It’s Not Easy Being Green – but we’re here to help! Listen via the link in our bio! Do you want to live more sustainably but have no idea where to start? Are you interested in making the world greener and do you want to get to the bottom of hot topics? Or are you sceptical about climate change and…

On Monday 24 April 2023, the Europa Institute held a hybrid Leiden Law Exchange (LLX) Roundtable to discuss the Irish Supreme Court’s Costello ruling on the government’s proposed ratification of the EU-Canada Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).

On 1 September 2024, lecturer and researcher Suzanne Kali, who works at Leiden Law School’s Labour Law and Social Security department, took over from Marica Wismeijer (Athora Netherlands) as Chair of the women’s network ‘Netwerk Vrouwen FNV’. The network, which is part of the FNV trade union, focuses…

Societal challenges call for a resilient society. In taking steps towards a more resilient society, friendships play a major role. But how exactly do friendships relate to resilient behavior? In Dutch opinion magazine Vrij Nederland, Anne-Laura van Harmelen (professor Brain, Safety and Resilience at…

Man is nature's mind-reading champion: we are better able than any other living beings to empathise with others. This comes in part from our story-telling culture, according to Max van Duijn. PhD defence 20 April.

Kees Goudswaard has been appointed as a board member of the GAK Institute on 1 October.

'I belong here.' This is what the young Jewish law student Hetty Koster felt when she attended the memorable protest speech given by Professor Cleveringa on 26 November 1940. She managed to survive the war by going into hiding. She married Dolf Cohen, later Rector Magnificus of Leiden University, and…

Lynette Janssen, PhD candidate at the Hazelhoff Centre for Financial Law, has been awarded the Bronze Medal in the competition for the International Insolvency Institute’s 2017 Prize in International Insolvency Studies.

Anyone in Leiden wanting to join a student association has plenty to choose from. But the risk of alcohol abuse is a very real one. Leiden University, Leiden University of Applied Sciences and dozens of student associations have signed a new alcohol covenant that promises they will do their best to…

February 8 saw the launch of the Medical Delta ‘Sustainable Hospitals’ Interdisciplinary Thesis Lab. The research projects will touch on different aspects of healthcare. The students hope they will be able to offer practical solutions to make hospitals greener.

How did disability become a global concern? In this project we will identify the contribution of international agencies, governmental and non-governmental organizations and, just as importantly, disabled people themselves, to the IYDP and by showing the connections, interactions and entanglements between…

Three Leiden students have been selected for the Yenching Academy, a prestigious master’s programme offered by Peking University. The students will receive a full scholarship (tuition fees, housing and allowance), and will be following various interdisciplinary courses together with students from all…

Many students and members of staff at Leiden University are politically active. In the run up to the local elections on 21 March candidates in The Hague and Leiden explain why you should vote for them, and what they want to do if they are elected. In this article, the Leiden candidates.

In case you asked yourself this question, or even if you didn't, here is the answer.

The previous blog post in this series discussed the role of international diplomacy during the coronavirus crisis. This post focuses on diplomacy and its challenges in post-corona times. Specifically, the blog post argues that diplomats will face a range of challenges following the Covid-19 pandemic…

The Master’s Information Day Leiden University – Campus The Hague will be held on 6 November. The presentations will be given at the Schouwburgstraat 2 in The Hague.

Shuai Guo, PhD candidate at Company Law and the Hazelhoff Centre for Financial Law, has been awarded the Silver Medal in the competition of the International Insolvency Institute (III) 2018 Prize in International Insolvency Studies. III is a non-profit, limited membership organization dedicated to advancing…

Pieter Omtzigt, leader of the ‘Nieuw Sociaal Contract’ (‘New Social Contract’) party, has withdrawn from talks to form a new Dutch government. Government finances are a divisive issue, and Ronald Plasterk’s decision to withhold documents on government finances seems to have particularly broken trust.…

Peter Rodrigues, Professor Emeritus of Immigration and board member of the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights, recently dealt with a fascinating case in which a woman with Russian nationality felt she had suffered discrimination.

On 9 June the deans of Leiden University met for the 500th time with the Rector Magnificus for the Board of Deans. An informal, inspiring and contemplative meeting without a strict ending time, say deans and former deans.

If there’s one place at the University where it doesn’t matter where you come from, it’s De Kattekop. This, the University nursery, celebrates its 40th birthday in September. Its history reflects developments at the University. Parents are full of praise for it.

Synchrony in heart rate, skin conductance and pupil diameter plays a big role in human social interactions, such as gaining trust or being attracted toward each other. This is what Eliska Prochazkova found in several lab and field experiments. PhD defence on 4 March 2021.

‘Heritage Under Threat’ and ‘The Rooseveltian Century’ are among the 21 best MOOCs for a general public according to New York Magazine.

Kerstin Perez has reached the position of Assistant Professor of Particle Physics at the renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). For people from minority groups this is by no means a common experience. Perez will explain how improvements can be made at the annual Diversity and Inclusion…

Queen Juliana was not, as is often claimed, a monarch with an unstable character who was completely under the influence of spiritual healer Greet Hofmans. Furthermore, her religious circle of friends was not a sect with a political agenda. That is what Han van Bree concludes on the basis of a new archival…

Digitisation and poor reception of refugees are putting children’s rights at risk. This warning comes from Professor Ton Liefaard. His department is organising a summer school on this issue.

In the National Think Tank, 20 young academics spend four months mulling over a solution to a societal problem. Two Leiden alumni tell us more.

Two new English-taught Bachelor’s programmes ‘Arts, Media & Society’ and ‘Philosophy’ were presented at the Open Day on 15 October. They start next year. Prospective students tell us why they came to the Open Day.

Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, the city of Batavia was supplied with produce by its hinterland, known as the Ommelanden. Bondan Kanumoyoso studied the history of the various ethnic groups that populated this area and in doing so has shed light on the structure of modern-day Indonesian society.…

Primate and test specialist Jane Goodall paid a visit to the Hortus botanicus in Leiden on 21 May for a ‘meet & greet’. Goodall, a world-famous researcher and nature protectionist, was presented with an orchid named after her and used the occasion to draw attention to the issue of plant protection.…

PhD candidate Marc Baggelaar of the Leiden Institute of Chemistry (LIC) graduated cum laude on Thursday 6 April. His thesis on the endocannabinoid system in the brain is very comprehensive and of high quality, according to the jury. ‘A very talented young scientist, that definitely belongs to the top…

For most school students, writing their extended essay (or profielwerkstuk) is the first time they really come into contact with what it means to do research. But where do you start? This is a question that is nonetheless relevant in contexts where the extended essay is written in English, such as bilingual…

From 6 to 9 May the Law's pluralities conference was held at the Justus-Liebig-University in Giessen. Highly interdisciplinary in the areas of literature, art and law.

Six students of archaeology, history and art history are to follow the Silk Route in Central Asia, looking for evidence from ancient history for the enormous cultural exchange brought about by this trade route. They are conducting their research for the exhibition on the Silk Route that opened in the…

Is the current existing legal framework on compulsory and voluntary care - for vulnerable young adults (between the ages of 18 to 23) - in need of revision? And if so, what kind of amendments would be advisable?

The Dutch childcare allowance affair has exposed the failings of the democratic constitutional state. Early in 2021, the government therefore pledged to establish a new public administration culture. There’s still a long way to go to achieve this.

Do you want to make your voice heard and discuss your study experience with a member of the faculty board? Sign up and perhaps you are one of the students invited to a lunch meeting with student board member Aurelie van 't Slot and vice dean Mirjam de Baar on July 5th 2017.

What is federalism; what are the implications of decentralisation? Do federalism and decentralisation contribute to democratisation, governance, and diversity? Virtually all African countries south of the Sahara are now either federal or decentralised—but how do their systems of governance perform?…

The Elision Ensemble made a video production of Richard Barrett's half-hour composition 'world-line'.

Promotor: Prof.dr. E.F. Smets, Co-promotores: Dr. B. Gravendeel, F. Pupulin

The master specialisations Industrial Ecology and Mathematics ranked highest among the master specialisations in Leiden.

As with other dual-use technologies, non-lethal drone applications are increasingly becoming both a cause for concern and an exciting area of development.

It was not until 1878 that the first female students enrolled at Leiden University, but the discussion on whether women were suited to study was by no means over. 8 March is International Women's Day. BBC correspondente Kim Ghattas will deliver a lecture on 6 March on the struggle by Arabic women for…

If you want to talk about inclusion, you have to bring up the subject of race. This is what Kamna Patel said at Leiden University’s annual Diversity Symposium on 22 January. She is Vice-Dean for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at University College London. We spoke to her beforehand.

Over a thousand researchers and students protested in Leiden on 2 September against the plans to transfer money to science and technology at the expense of other disciplines. Just metres away, Minister of Education, Culture and Science, Ingrid van Engelshoven, was giving a speech at the opening of the…