The Spanish Steps in Wijnhaven will be the setting for a new series of lectures, presentations and debates: the StepTalks.

Leiden astronomers and ecologists are developing an instrument that lets people measure the quality of surface water with a smartphone.This international citizen science project, MONOCLE, is a collaboration between scientists and local people in Tanzania, Brazil and four European countries.

From energy transition to the nitrogen crisis: artificial intelligence can be of great help. Researchers from the three universities in Zuid-Holland are seizing the opportunity. Three of them talk about collaborative research in the AI for Energy and Sustainability focus group within the Zuid-Holland…

Forum essays provide a framework for intellectual exchange and debate about the role of diplomacy around a particular theme. The essays are argumentative contributions and are shorter than research articles.

Metal-containing molecules combine geometrical features and a reactivity that are inherently different from that of organic molecules. My research focuses on light-activatable metal-based anticancer drugs and metal-functionalized liposomes. Light is a very selective way to activate photosensitive drugs…

During Leiden City of Science 2022, Janet Grijzenhout and Hannah De Mulder will put multilingualism in the spotlight by organising multilingual storytelling afternoons. They hope to show parents that raising children multilingually is achievable as well as beneficial.

Lecture

About 90 per cent of Austronesian and Papuan languages are under threat of soon becoming extinct. Marian Klamer is the only professor in the world who researches both these language groups. She records languages before they disappear and sheds new light on the history of Indonesia. Inaugural lecture…

Victoria Nyst's love for sign language was sparked when she accidentally ended up at a deaf school while studying African linguistics. The university lecturer has since been awarded a Vici grant to research the history of these languages.

Cosmopolis seeks to explore the transnational and cultural dimensions of intra-Eurasian encounters through Dutch sources.

When galaxies collide, do the black holes at their centre form a supersized black hole? This is what we think happens, but it's not as simple as that, according to Simon Portegies Zwart. Zwart, computer scientist and astronomer, has been awarded a VICI grant to research this phenomenon.

Below is a chronological list of the most recent to oldest publication from the MultiGreen project.

A Centre for Global Heritage will be set up at Leiden University, that integrates the unique global breadth and quality of academic expertise at the University and the Leiden Museums with the global infrastructure of practical consultancy expertise built up over the past years by the Centre for International…

Asteroids, pieces of matter orbiting round the sun, have turned out to be extremely valuable. Asteroid Psyche contains a quantity of metals that together are worth more than the entire global economy. NASA is heading for it.

From Mexico and Indonesia to China and Italy: people from all over the world read about the Leiden Observatory publication on the birthplace of comets. This research suggests that all comets in our solar system might come from the same place: a specific range in the flat disk of dust and gas that once…

On 16 May the first International Day of Light was celebrated all around the globe. Initiated by UNESCO, organisations in 87 different countries set up a total of more than 600 events to embrace the vital role of light and related technologies in science. In the Old Observatory in Leiden visitors could…

Studying hard at one of our locations? Doing research in the lab? Or enjoying the sun at a friendly pavement café? Record your summer in Leiden and/or The Hague and see your photo on our Facebook page. Who knows, you may win the top prize!

On 16 May the first International Day of Light was celebrated all around the globe. Initiated by UNESCO, organisations in 87 different countries set up a total of more than 600 events to embrace the vital role of light and related technologies in science. In the Old Observatory in Leiden visitors could…

The E2CB programme has been launched to bring CO2 emissions to zero by 2050. The goal: to produce all raw materials for the chemical industry from sustainable sources. Professor of Electrochemistry Marc Koper is involved in the project.

Instead of feasting on one of the many Easter meals or enjoying the sun on Scheveningen Beach, a delegation of Leiden University College The Hague students spend last week on the preparations for hosting the UCSRN Sports Tournament. On a sunny Easter Monday, University College students from 8 different…

Japanese was not always the language spoken in Japan. Researchers link the arrival of the language in Japan with the migration of farmers around 400 BC. Linguist Elisabeth de Boer has been awarded an ERC Starting Grant to carry out research on the further spread of the language in Japan.

No less than seven scholars of the Faculty of Humanities were awarded a Veni grant. Veni grants are aimed at excellent researcher who recently obtained their doctorate. With a maximum grant of 250.000 euros, the laureates can develop their research ideas in the coming three years.

The Hague is the archetypal multicultural city. With a different language spoken on every street corner, this makes it a paradise for linguists such as Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade. Her book Languages of The Hague is a collection of fascinating conversations with the city’s non-native speakers.

Besides being a linguist, George Saad is also a photography fanatic. He shares his most beautiful and telling pictures, shot during his field research in Eastern Indonesia.

Michaël Peyrot has been appointed professor of Comparative Indo-European Linguistics at the Leiden University Centre for Linguistics with retroactive effect from 1 January. He is looking forward to passing on his love for the subject to a new generation of students.

Language can be a time machine: we can learn from ancient texts how our ancestors interacted with the world around them. But can language also teach us something about people whose language has been lost? PhD candidate Anthony Jakob investigated whether the languages of prehistoric populations left…

Like spoken languages, sign languages evolve organically and do not always have the same origin. This produces different ways of communication and annotation. Manolis Fragkiadakis wrote his PhD thesis on this.

The Leiden Legal Technologies Program is runner up for the Gouden Zandloper (Golden Hourglass) for Legal Education & Research, the prize for the most innovative legal programme.

The Russian military assault on Ukraine has profoundly shocked knowledge institutions in the Netherlands, as represented by Universities of the Netherlands, the Netherlands Association of Universities of Applied Sciences, the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Dutch Research Council,…

Alwin Kloekhorst, working at the Leiden University Centre for Linguistics, has received a Vidi grant for his research on the break-up of the Indo-European language.

From how litter spreads 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.

Since March 5th, the road between Holland Spoor Station and the old city centre of The Hague (also called the “Loper Oude Centrum”) features 33 sayings in various languages that are spoken in The Hague – many of which are taught here at LUCL.

Alex Elias, alumnus of the Research Master Linguistics, has won the prestigious Jan Brouwer Thesis Award for his thesis. Elias, who is currently working as a PhD-student at UC Berkeley, wrote his thesis under supervision of prof. dr. Marian Klamer.

Ghazwan Yaghi was a leading archaeologist and researcher in Damascus but had to flee in 2014 because of the war. An NWO 'Refugees in Science' grant has enabled him to pick up where he left off in his academic career. 'I've found myself again in this project.'

Leonard Blussé, Professor Emeritus of History of European-Asian Relations, was awarded the 13th Fukuoka Prize in Japan on 10 September.

The project

Science, Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL)

Symposium

Social and Behavioural Sciences, Political Science

‘Space Antenna LISA will open an unprecedented window on the Universe,’ says astronomer Elena Maria Rossi. The mission will be the first one to detect Gravitational Waves from space. These can tell us more about the beginning of our Universe and the formation of black holes. With an NWO grant of twelve…

Astronomers from Leiden Observatory have developed a new method to find distant quasars and better distinguish them from other objects that look like them, using machine learning techniques. The research result has been accepted for publication in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. It is the last…

Astronomers from the Leiden Observatory and from the University of Rochester (in the US) have discovered that the planetary ring system that covered the very young sun-like star J1407 is actually of enormous proportions. In fact, it’s much larger and heavier than the ring system surrounding Saturn.…

During the summer, staff and students of the Faculty of Archaeology travel to all parts of the world, initiating or joining fieldwork projects. Read some of our students' stories here!

The Dutch National Student Orchestra will be going on tour again in February. Before that, they will have ten days of rehearsals. The level is high and taking part means a total immersion in music.

After 25 years, this December will finally see the launch of the long-awaited James Webb space telescope (JWST). Leiden astronomers are watching with great excitement: not only were they involved in the construction of important instruments on board, but the telescope will also reveal many new secrets…

The James Webb Space Telescope continues to surprise us with stunning pictures, but of what exactly? Astronomer Nienke van der Marel shows with three images how massive stars lead short but explosive lives.