Dear friends of the NVIC,

What does a political party do in the wake of a disastrous electoral defeat? Martijn van Nijnanten researched this and discovered that parties turn to core values from the past. PhD defence on 12 September.

A delegation from Leiden University, headed by the Rector Magnificus Professor Paul van der Heijden, is currently in Xiamen, in South-East China, to conclude two agreements on intensive research and teaching collaboration with academic institutions there, and to open the first MEARC representative office…

Confetti, stilt walkers and the new Einstein Fountain. On Monday, 2 September, the Gorlaeus Building of the Faculty of Science was festively opened. Together with Constantijn van Oranje, our students cut the ribbon. Dean Jasper Knoester: ‘The building is ready, now it is up to our students and researchers…

The use of a new type of detector has generated a strong improvement in the resolution of electron microscopes. The 'low-energy electron microscope' (LEEM) can now be used for research on the thinnest possible materials. The tests with the detector represent the first result of the ESCHER project.

When do we define a piece of nature in the city as a park? And when is something a tree or shrub? It may seem obvious, but in scientific literature the definitions vary quite a bit. That makes comparisons difficult. Environmental scientist Joeri Morpurgo looked at the differences and designed a general…

Stilzitten doet alumnus Bart Jansen niet graag. Zo geeft hij les in onder meer Nederland, Maleisië en Curaçao, houdt hij zich naast het recht ook graag bezig met kunst en mystiek en vindt hij naar eigen zeggen ‘alles wat fout gaat’ wel interessant aan de rechtsfilosofie. ‘Ik ben gek op veelzijdige mensen;…

Less meat and dairy means more space for nature, leisure, climate, biodiversity, more justice, and it's good news for the economy. That's according to the thought experiment conducted by Strootman Landscape Architects and Leiden environmental scientists. They presented their findings on 11 April.

The Hortus Botanicus is celebrating its 425-year anniversary this year. It’s the oldest botanical garden in the Netherlands, but how did it come into existence and what kind of research takes place there?

A delegation from Leiden University is visiting Brazil from 14 to 18 March. The first day of the visit was spent with scientists in São Paolo.

Activities of Nizar Rohana, Catalina Vicens, Andrea Stultiens, Shaya Feldman, Jack Segbars, Karen Lohrmann, Patrizia Bovi, Susan Williams, Giuliano Bracci, and Eleni Kamma

Since the credit crisis erupted, drastic cutbacks have been made in all kinds of public sector organisations, creating some very difficult choices for the top civil servants who had to implement them in their own organisation. This is the conclusion of Public Administration scholar Eduard Schmidt, whose…

The Edinburgh Medal 2016 had been awarded to both Kevin Govender of the Office of Astronomy for Development (OAD) and the International Astronomical Union (IAU). The award is a recognition for furthering education and technological capacity worldwide through the inspirational science of astronomy. The…

Arbeidsuitbuiting van migranten wordt als een vorm van het strafrechtelijke delict mensenhandel beschouwd. De rechtspositie van de slachtoffers is mede daardoor ondergeschikt aan de strafrechtelijke procedure. Dat kan en moet anders, stelt Gerrie Lodder in haar proefschrift. Promotie op 21 april 202…

Plants can’t run away from enemies. Still, it would like to keep life-threatening herbivores at a distance. This can be done with odours. Klaas Vrieling of the Institute of Biology Leiden found out with his team how plants change odour production to keep the munchers at a distance.

The Repository from the Drug Disease Model Resources (DDMoRe) consortium provides a home to a collection of computational models of disease and drug action that have been used in pharmaceutical and/or academic research. This publically available open-access resource will make it easier for researchers…

In August 2022 we welcome our new colleague Dr Letty ten Harkel as Assistant Professor in Roman and Post-Roman Archaeology. For the past ten years she has built up an impressive track record in the School of Archaeology at the University of Oxford. Read the interview about her background and research…

During World War II, the Nazi’s ordered a coastal defensive line to be built from the south of France to Norway. This Atlantik Wall aimed to defend their territories in continental Europe from an Allied naval invasion. The defensive line went right through the Dutch city of The Hague. The material remains…

Strengthening our contacts with Indonesia and exploring new opportunities for academic partnerships. These were the aims of a four-day visit to Jakarta and Yokyakarta at the end of February by a delegation from Leiden University.

Leo Lucassen was selected by KNAW on the basis of his academic achievements. Lucassen studied socio-economic history in Leiden, where he earned a PhD cum laude. He took up Leiden’s chair in Social History in 2005, and since 2014 he has been serving as Leiden’s professor of Global Labour and Migration…

The refugee crisis and terror threats call for better European cooperation, was the message from Piet Hein Donner in his Cleveringa lecture on 26 November in the Academy Building. ‘Opting for an open and pluriform community takes courage.’

Senior lecturer Rick Honings has been appointed Scaliger professor with effect from 1 July 2020. In the coming years his focus will be on promoting teaching and research on the Special Collections of the Leiden University Library. Honings succeeds book historian Erik Kwakkel, who held this chair until…

How can we guarantee the safety of the crown witness scheme for both crown witnesses and lawyers? How can we ensure that online conversations between lawyers and their clients remain confidential? And what are the risks of extra secure communication tools?

The Tour of Asia, an afternoon filled with science and culture about Asia, attracted many visitors. In spite of the heavy rain, the visitors chose from among dozens of lectures and debates. This knowledge festival marked the opening of the Asian Library earlier in the day.

This year four research trainee projects were approved by the faculty to be carried out at the Institute for History this semester.

On the occasion of the 440th DIES NATALIS, celebrated on Monday 9 February, Leiden University proudly awarded an Honorary Doctorate to William Christie, renowned harpsichordist, conductor, musicologist and teacher, and the foremost pioneer in the renewed appreciation of Baroque music in France, notably…

Peter Akkermans, Professor of Archaeology of the Middle East, cannot say for certain how much damage the destruction by IS has caused in Palmyra.

Fake news a new phenomenon? Not according to Rens Tacoma and Indira Huliselan. In an NWO project, the associate professor and PhD student will delve into the twisting, scheming and tampering with facts that went on thousands of years ago.

Flitsinterview met alumnus Kees van der Staaij: ik ben en blijf een jurist in hart en nieren

Do you frequently search the catalogue of Leiden University Libraries (UBL) for western medieval manuscripts? Then you must have noticed important changes lately. Some 1800 summary catalogue records in Dutch were replaced by more elaborate descriptions in English. Furthermore, the catalogue interface…

Lots of employees celebrated special successes in 2023. Here’s a list of all those scholarships, awards and honours.

Dutch mosquitos are more resilient to saltwater than previously thought. Environmental scientist Sam Boerlijst discovered this during his PhD research at the Hortus botanicus. This knowledge is crucial for understanding how mosquito-borne disease transmission might change in the future.

Medical research is often exaggerated in the news. Medical journalists are not the only ones guilty of such sloppiness; results are also often exaggerated in academic press releases. This was the conclusion of a study by researchers from Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) and Leiden University,…

Joris van den Tol spent three months doing archival research in Albany in the USA. Read on how he experienced his stay.

Richard Chancellor, the English Willem Barentsz, discovered the North Cape during the first English expedition to attempt to find a northeast passage. But the ship, the Edward Bonaventure, was ‘robbed by Flemings on its return in 1554.’ Historian Louis Sicking and legal expert Remco van Rhee found the…

The Centre for Digital Scholarship of Leiden University Libraries (UBL) and the Leiden Centre for Digital Humanities would like to invite you to the symposium on Tools Criticism on Thursday 21 November, from 10.00-18.00. The symposium will be held in the Vossius room of the University Library at Witte…

A shepherd, but also a comparativist and historian with very broad interests. That is how Professor Philippe Buc describes himself. As of 1 August 2021, he will hold the chair of professor of Medieval History at the university. In an introductory interview, Buc introduces himself, his research and his…

Since 2015, the Betabanenmarkt Foundation (BBM) has been organising the Bio Science Park Excursion yearly to introduce students to the world of start-ups and tech companies located around the corner from the Faculty of Science. This year a visit to the Bio Science Park was not possible, so BBM brought…

In a publication in Science, Noam Zelcer from the Division of Biopharmaceutics describes a previously unrecognized pathway to regulate LDL-cholesterol levels. He is also able to modulate this pathway. This opens the possibility for complementing and improving the efficacy of statins: A class of drugs…

Those pesky raindrops that get you wet on your way to work, are formed high up in the sky from clouds of water vapour. The process of nucleation describes the way this happens. Edgar Blokhuis of the Leiden Institute of Chemistry developed a theory to describe this transition more precisely. Chemists…

On March 28, 2023, our esteemed colleague Prof. Harry Wijshoff passed away. He died after a struggle of several months against a serious illness.

Prof. Jan Adriaanse and Dr. Jean-Pierre van der Rest are currently completing an edited volume on Turnaround Management and Bankruptcy which will be published by Routledge in December 2016. A book written by leading experts in the field of business, law and finance, this edited volume brings together…

Theoretical physicist Luca Giomi receives a 2 million euro ERC Consolidator Grant for research into flowing cells in a strange hexatic phase, which is half fluid, half solid.

Historians and experts in American studies from Leiden University are holding an online international conference about the arrival of the Pilgrims in America and the consequences for the indigenous societies. We asked four questions to two of its organisers, American Studies expert Joke Kardux and historian…

Wim Voermans, Professor of Constitutional and Administrative law, travelled to São Paolo, Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro from 14 to 18 March with a delegation from Leiden University with the aim of strengthening ties with Brazil. During the visit agreements were made on future academic collaboration and…

Public Defence by Jaap Brouwer and activities of prof. Marcel Cobussen PhD, Dick de Graaf, Nizar Rohana, Brigitte Kovacs, Lilo Nein, Danne Ojeda, Hans Kalliwoda, Frank Blokland, and Thalia Hoffman

Impartiality, objectivity, honesty, and accuracy are qualities that generations of scholars have regarded as necessary for the pursuit of scholarly inquiry. Philosophers call them epistemic virtues, because these virtues facilitate the pursuit of epistemic aims such as knowledge and understanding of…

Dear friends of the NVIC

With 8.9 million euros from the Danish National Research Foundation, Aarhus University and Leiden Observatory will establish the Center for Interstellar Catalysis. The centre is led by Aarhus professor Liv Hornekær and aims to find out how and when the building blocks of life formed in the Universe.…

Today is the general election in the Netherlands – although the polling stations have actually been open for two days already because of the coronavirus restrictions. Leiden researchers and students are involved in all manner of ways, and are analysing the campaigns and possible results.