Last Friday, more than a dozen people died during the storming of Spain’s North African enclave of Melilla. A dramatic incident, but certainly not the first time that refugees and migrants have used force to try to enter Melilla.

Nederland ligt in de periferie van het verhaal van menswording. De evolutie van onze familie vindt lang exclusief in Afrika plaats. En, als Europa eenmaal bewoond wordt door mensachtigen, ligt het zwaartepunt ten zuiden van onze streken. Toch heeft ons land een aantal interessante vindplaatsen en vondsten…

Our object is to identify and characterize transcription factors involved in lignocellulosic biomass degradation in the filamentous fungus Aspergillus niger.

Emeritus professors Dirk van Delft and Frits Berends both channelled their inner Sherlock Holmes as they delved into the life and work of the great physicist Hendrik Lorentz. Their voluminous biography ‘Lorentz: gevierd fysicus, geboren verzoener’ (Lorentz: celebrated physicist, born mediator) is published…

What started as a call for help in a Facebook group turned into a permanent group of students from the Bachelor's in Russian Studies and the Master's in Russian and Eurasian Studies who regularly help the Ukrainian refugees. They act as the link between the refugees and aid workers at various reception…

The new European migration pact is intended to speed up the asylum process in Europe. A pragmatic and realistic plan that will at last provide a fast and fair handling of asylum applications in Europe.

The most densely populated country in Africa, Nigeria, is fighting a war on two fronts. Not only is Nigeria being confronted with violence on a national level by terror group Boko Haram, on a regional level there are conflicts between shepherds and farmers.

New: Een Podcast over Natuurkunde, a podcast about Leiden physics. In the first episode, Dirk van Delft tells about the Hendrik Antoon Lorentz biography that he wrote with Frits Berends.

The Cleveringa chair was installed by Leiden University in memory of Professor Rudolph Pabus Cleveringa and the courage he demonstrated in November 1940 during the German occupation (1940-1945). It also commemorates the liberation of the Netherlands in 1945.

In Indonesië zijn studenten massaal in opstand gekomen tegen de regering, die vlak voordat er straks een nieuw parlement aantreedt, nog snel een aantal nieuwe wetten wil doorvoeren.

It has been crackling within the European People's Party (EPP) for months, but is it also going to explode? Michiel Luining, lecturer at the Institute of Public Administration at Leiden University, gives an explanation of the suspension of Fidesz, the party of the Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orbán,…

Annelien Bouland, PhD candidate at the Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance and Society, was interviewed by VPRO Bureau Buitenland (NPO Radio 1) about the Senegalese TV Series 'Mistress of a married man' (‘Maîtresse d’un homme marié’).

With support of several publishers and private foundations, Leiden University Libraries (UBL) and the Scaliger Institute welcome around 15 to 20 Fellows and guests per year to consult and research materials from our Special Collections. The Scaliger Institute received applications this year from domestic…

Moldavia is going through a governmental crisis. Antoaneta Dimitrova was asked to clarify the events on the Dutch radio programme ‘Bureau Buitenland’. She commented on the current political relations but also issued a warning: ‘Panic is rising, there is a real danger of conflict in the country.’

At a recent meeting, the leaders of the European Union formally approved Ukraine and Moldova’s candidate status to join the bloc. The message is: you are welcome to join our European family in due course.

Professor of Developmental Biology Christine Mummery and chemist Dr Dennis Hetterscheid have each been awarded an ERC Proof of Concept grant. These grants are to explore the societal potential of ideas generated in previous ERC-funded projects.

A particular group of counter protesters have been sighted at numerous Black Lives Matter protests that were held in the United States. An extreme right movement known for its characteristic Hawaii Shirts and heavy weaponry that calls itself the Boogaloo Boys. Which is cause for concern among the American…

On Monday 15 February 2016 the annual Speckmann Prizes were granted at the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology. BA-studenten Laura Bakker, Kimberly Drijver and Martijn Kooijman were awarded for the best Fieldwork NL project; Rosi Aryal was honoured for having written the best…

Every year, more than three thousand businesses are declared insolvent in the Netherlands. The purpose of bankruptcy is to divide the assets of these companies among the creditors. However, the value of the claims of the creditors often exceed the value of the assets of the company

In October 2014, Leiden University established the ‘Leiden University Teachers’ Academy’. Helen Westgeest, who lectures in the BA and MA Art History and MA Media Studies, was put forward by the Faculty of Humanities for appointment in the so-called ‘LTA’.

ELS@Leiden research encompasses a wide range of empirical-legal projects carried out within Leiden Law School from the perspective of multiple disciplines and methods. Here you can find the publications of our (former) lab members since the start of the Sector Plan.

Discovering while still studying whether work in science might be for you. That is what students get during the faculty Research Traineeship Programme. On Friday 1 September, they presented their results to each other and their supervisors.

Leiden University awarded Sir Winston Churchill on 10 May 1946 an Honorary Doctorate in Law. Churchill's speech of thanks showed typical British humour: 'I feel like the most learned man in the world.'

More and more Leiden students are studying in China. Two of them talk about their summer course there. 'Now I understand better the kind of country Chinese students come from who are studying in Leiden.'

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…

World-famous among astronomers, humble, and averse to conventions. On 23 April, the Dutch biography about Henk van de Hulst was published. Biographer Dirk van Delft: ‘This remarkable man deserved a biography.’

PhD defence

The BLRN members have published extensively in recent years. In addition to the BLRN book series, dissertations of BLRN members published in the E.M. Meijers Institute Series, you will find below a selection of our publications. For a more complete overview of publications of each BLRN member, please…

Overview of the publications of the department of Environmental Biology (1972-2015)