Frank van Vree, Emeritus Professor of War, Conflict and Memory Studies at the University of Amsterdam (UVA), is the new Cleveringa Professor at Leiden University this year.

LIACS assistant professor Ben van Werkhoven leads the development of software for optimising graphics processing units. By now, version 1.0 of 'Kernel Tuner' is just around the corner. This milestone shows that the software is ready for serious use.

Gert Oostindie, Emeritus Professor of Colonial and Postcolonial History, is this year’s Cleveringa Professor at Leiden University. He was appointed by the University on 4 October. In his inaugural lecture on 24 November, entitled Courage and Disregard, he will talk about (academic) freedom in relation…

Arjen Doelman (Leiden University), Max Rietkerk (Utrecht University), Ehud Meron (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev) and Isla Myers-Smith (University of Edinburgh) received an ERC Synergy grant of 10 million euros with their RESILIENCE project. The researchers will investigate whether and how tipping…

Jasper Knoester is the dean of the Faculty of Science. How is he doing? What kinds of things is he doing and what does his day look like? In each newsletter Jasper gives a peek into his life as dean.

Bjørn Peare Bartholdy is Archaeology’s representative in the Open Science Community Leiden (OSCL) . We spoke with him about the value of Open Science and how to make a good start. ‘Open Science is headed to be a regular way of academic work.’ So better to jump on the Open Science bandwagon early on.

A delegation from Leiden University visited various universities in Japan at the end of March. The strong ties between the Netherlands and Japan are still based on a long tradition of knowledge exchange.

Following our Leiden Brussels Alumni Event, I (external officer M. Blaauw, ed.) met our very own Leiden Law alumna Helena-Loutas Paraskeva. An Australian who works for the European Commission. Interesting, how did she get this job, what does she do and how did her Master in Leiden affect or influence…

Leiden Law Cast is a podcast made by Leiden Law School, Leiden University, for everyone who wants to learn more about current legal issues.

With its FestivOWL theme, Orientation Week Leiden (OWL) promises to be one big festival for new international students in Leiden.

Artificial intelligence systems are smart. They can recognize patterns better than humans, for example. Yet humans are still very much needed. How can you better steer those AI systems? LIACS lecturer Jan van Rijn wrote a book about this together with a number of colleagues. We asked him a few quest…

The Faculty of Archaeology's own home-grown journal Inter-Section has released a new volume. Inter-Section offers students and PhD candidates the unique chance to publish in a peer-reviewed journal. The new volume focuses on the materials that shape our world.

In haar boek ‘Diensten met geheimen’ vertelt Willemijn Aerdts hoe de AIVD en MIVD te werk gaan. En ontkracht ze ook een paar mythes.

PhD candidate Karen van den Akker has written a children’s book to get young girls excited about technology. The picture book ‘Met mama naar Mars’ tells the story of Luna, who wants to travel to Mars.

Our university recently joined the European university alliance Una Europa. Staff from the 11 affiliated universities met in Leiden last week to discuss our collaboration.

This page provides updates on the protest today at the Academy Building and Hortus botanicus in Leiden.

Social

In an interview on the website of the NWO, Sabine Luning, Marjo de Theije and Esther van de Camp talk about the gold miners they met in various African and South American countries and they come to new insights.

Private businesses will probably soon refuse access to non-vaccinated persons in the near future. But this is more difficult when it comes to public amenities. Aart Hendriks, Professor of Health Law at Leiden Law School, contributed to an article in Dutch newspaper NRC saying that he anticipates that…

On 3 June, Annetje Ottow (chair) and Hester Bijl (rector magnificus) met the Humanities faculty. Although a physical introduction was preferred, this visit also had to be done digitally.

Organisation

To what extent can Parliament limit freedom with the so-called 2G policy? Associate Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law Ingrid Leijten of Leiden University discussed this topic on NOS Nieuws en Co.

This pandemic has affected everyone and especially students who were not able to carry out their projects on the laboratories. I am an international student from Cyprus and I had the opportunity to perform my Research Project 1 completely remotely, at Rawi Ramautar’s group. Even though, this may sound…

During the past year online meetings and lectures have become a firm feature of university life. One of the highlights of the Leiden University Centre for Linguistics’ online activities has been the online seminar series ‘Language policy and practices in the Global North and South’ organised by guest…

Piercing through the skull with an ice pick, administering electric shocks without an anaesthetic, or applying leeches to the uterus: these may seem like medieval methods of torture, but they are in fact therapies used in medicine. Willem van der Does writes about all of them in his new book. ‘Physicians…

On Thursday 22 September 2022, the posthumous PhD ceremony will be held of Thijmen Nuninga who passed away February this year. His doctoral thesis had already been approved at that time.

Het voorstel van D66 om een wetsartikel zo te veranderen dat een politieke partij kan worden verboden, is onverstandig, zegt rechtsfilosoof Bastiaan Rijpkema. Hij spreekt er uitgebreid over tijdens een interview met de Volkskrant. ‘Het is overduidelijk bedoeld om één specifieke partij aan te pakken:…

Over the past year, many students and staff members of Leiden Law School have been lauded for their extraordinary achievements. For instance: a grant received, an award won, or an appointment by a special committee. We have combined all these achievements in our Honours Gallery 2022:

Jessica den Oudsten won this year’s Uitgeverij Verloren/Johan de Witt thesis award for history with her master’s thesis, entitled "The descendants of Norwegian and Danish Immigrants". The prize was awarded for the eighth time in collaboration with Elsevier Weekblad. The incentive award went to Amber…

VVI Research Meetings 2022-2023

Course, Digital Skills Workshop

Dutch troops, judges and politicians collectively condoned and concealed the systematic use of extreme violence during the Indonesian War of Independence. Historians have now shown how this could happen. ‘It was scandal management rather than prevention,’ says Leiden historian and research leader Gert…

Inaugural lecture

On Monday, 4 July 2022, the graduation of the two-year Advanced MSc International Relations and Diplomacy (MIRD) programme was commemorated in the iconic Academy Building in Leiden. Students and guests were welcomed by the Program Director, Professor Madeleine Hosli.

On 13 November, Gianclaudio Malgieri, Associate Professor of Law & Technology and Board member at eLaw - Center for Law and Digital Technologies, met with inspiring academics from Sweden and the Netherlands at the Huis van Europa in The Hague or an 'unrehearsed, spontaneous, eye-opening conversation'…

The Leiden University Centre for the Study of Religion (LUCSoR) and the Beheerstichting Theologische Fondsen hand out two biennial thesis prizes, one for the best bachelor thesis and one for the best master thesis. Each of the prizes comes with a cash prize of €500. The prize money comes from the Fund…

As of 1 September 2024, the cum laude honour will no longer be awarded for the Master’s in Medicine. The Executive Board recently decided to grant an exemption to the Leiden University/LUMC Faculty of Medicine. This decision is in line with other medicine programmes in the Netherlands.

The winner of this year’s Iris Medal for Excellent Science Communication is Professor of Science Communication Ionica Smeets.

The Leiden University Centre for the Study of Religion (LUCSoR) and the Beheerstichting Theologische Fondsen hand out two thesis prizes each year, one for the best bachelor thesis and one for the best master thesis.

Emeritus professor Willem Otterspeer received a royal honour from mayor Henri Lenferink on Tuesday 20 September. The university historian was appointed Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau.

The touring exhibition 'Presenting with the city' has touched down in the Lipsius Building. In the presentation, students and researchers show how their research has contributed to the city.

Earlier this year, the Leiden University Libraries (UBL) Scaliger Institute announced a new fellowship: The Lingling Wiyadharma Fellowship. The fellowship programme is part of the Lingling Wiyadharma Fund.

Joost Barendse has been reappointed assessor for the coming year. This means that Joost will represent the students of our faculty for another year. What does he think about this and what are his plans? Three questions to our previous and future assessor.

The first fine for space debris has been issued. An American company that had failed to clean up its space junk has been fined $150.000.

Education

Organisation, Social

Organisation

Last week Russia and Ukraine met for the first time since the outbreak of the war. The talks took place in Belarus.

PhD defence