How can you see something that’s invisible? Well, with Euclid! This future ESA telescope will map the structure of the Universe and teach us more about invisible dark matter and dark energy. Scientific coordinator of Euclid and Leiden astronomer Henk Hoekstra explains how this works.

The master's specialisation Data Science: Computer Science at Leiden University provides students thorough knowledge and understanding of statistical and computational aspects of data analysis, including their application in databases, advances in data mining, networks, pattern recognition, and deep…

Even though more than 4000 extra-solar planets are known today, only a small fraction of these has been captured in an image. To better understand the planet formation mechanisms in solar-like environments we started the Young Suns Exoplanet Survey (YSES).

There are eight institutes at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences:

We perform multidisciplinary research at molecular, cellular, and organismal levels of animal biology to increase fundamental understanding of health and disease.

The Faculty of Science

The research programme Statistical Science is concerned with the analysis and interpretation of masses of data, the quantification of uncertainty using probability models, and the development and benchmarking of algorithms and methods with these aims.

We are very happy to welcome you to spend a semester or year studying with us in the Faculty of Science. Here you will find information on your course schedules and course and exam enrolment.

If there is life outside our galaxy, how could we find it? In his Oort Lecture, James Kasting talks about his search for simple life on other planets. Kasting was in the Netherlands for two weeks, because he was invited as the Oort Professor 2018.

An international team led by Leiden astronomers has discovered diverse ices in the darkest, coldest regions of a molecular cloud. To do so, they used the James Webb Space Telescope. This discovery allows astronomers to examine the simple icy molecules that will be incorporated into future exoplanets,…

Astronomers want to understand the Universe, from the Big Bang to the present day, and what the future will hold. In Leiden they focus on two key questions: ‘How did stars and planets originate’ and ‘How were galaxies and black holes formed in the young Universe?’ A new generation of telescopes – just…

In the past 30 years, over 5,000 planets have been discovered outside our solar system. One common exoplanet is the lava world, a hot super-Earth with oceans of liquid lava. Mantas Zilinskas developed models to simulate possible atmospheres of these. Those simulations provide guidance for astronomers…

Lecture, Tuesday Talks: Science Insights

The aim of this study is to further develop the Open Science Monitor, which started as a pilot study.

Discovering what is inside giant planets and their atmosphere, that is one of the goals of astronomer Yamila Miguel. With an ERC Consolidator Grant of 2 million euro, she will study giant planets both inside and outside our solar system. ‘We want to know more about how planetary systems are born, how…

After your graduation, Leiden University would love to stay in touch with you. Alumni are an important part of the university; with your experience we can improve the education, and you can be part of a valuable network full of knowledge and experience. Find out what options you have to stay in touch…

The objective of this project is to understand the content and structure of science teachers’ knowledge and beliefs, and how these change in the context of pre-service teacher education and educational innovation.

Astronomers at ASTRON and Leiden University have used the LOFAR radio telescope to discover a 'brown dwarf' – a faint object more massive than Jupiter, but significantly less massive than the Sun. The discovery of the object dubbed Elegast, opens up a new path that uses radio telescopes to discover…

What is and should be the role of universities in supporting business? How can business benefit more of relationships with science? And what is the role of policy makers in supporting a productive relationship between science and business? Professor Simcha Jong Kon Chin examines the interactions between…

The master’s specialisation Computer Science and Science Communication and Society at Leiden University bridges the gap between experts and the public by combining high quality research in computer science with extensive training in science communication.

The two instruments of ESA's space telescope Euclid have taken their first test images. The first images indicate that the space telescope will achieve the scientific goals for which it was designed - and possibly much more. Euclid will create a 3D map of a third of the sky, allowing scientists to study…

No more lectures and exams for the Radio Astronomy course taught by Michiel Brentjens. The corona crisis is a moment of reflection that has changed his whole way of teaching. Instead of being in front of the class, he lets his students build a radio telescope with paint cans.

Former PhD student Cameron Mackie will been awarded not one, but two dissertation prizes for his thesis on the aromatic universe. His work could provide us with a virtual sniff of space. ‘These molecules in space likely smell like a big charcoal grill!’

Astronomer Ignas Snellen studies exoplanets using telescope observations. But how is that possible when all the big telescopes are more or less at a standstill? Luckily, he has contact from home with a robot telescope in Mexico and his WIFI is finally working well.

The extensive use of electronic communication channels and other devices has opened new possibilities for collecting data on human behavior. This information is sometimes openly accessible, but largely part of administrative registration systems that are not open to the broader public. The data provides…

At Leiden University, we see open Science as the way to make a greater scientific and societal impact. There is also great momentum across the Netherlands for open science, and for good reason.

Citizen science is an umbrella term. It describes a range of ways to involve citizens and societal actors such as NGOs in collaborative knowledge production: crowdsourcing research questions, collective data gathering and analysis (to name a few examples).

Today, everybody and everything produces data. People produce large amounts of data in social networks and in commercial transactions. Medical, corporate, and government databases continue to grow. Sensors continue to get cheaper and are increasingly connected, creating an Internet of Things, and generating…

From where litter ends up to which languages are spoken in Leiden and The Hague: over 50 interesting, surprising, complex and entertaining questions were sent in for the Citizen Science project to mark our 444th anniversary. Not one but two Citizen Science projects will be starting this year in Leiden…

Citizen science has recently become a widely used term, but what does it mean exactly? How does citizen science compare to crowdsourcing? And where does community archaeology stand in this discussion?

How do museum visitors interpret the authenticity of museum objects? How can we support visitors' meaningful interactions with real objects?

On this page you find all the ways through which the Institute of Psychology aims to foster Open Science.