Chemical reactions go hand-in-hand with an energy exchange with the environment in which they take place. Surfaces offer a variety of energy dissipation channels, constituted by the nuclear and electronic degrees of freedom of the atoms at the interface. Aiming at an improved future harvesting of energy,…

Of the 109 Spinoza Prizes that have been awarded since 1995, 26 have gone to researchers from Leiden University. The NWO Spinoza Prize is the highest Dutch award in science. The younger NWO Stevin grant goes to researchers who have achieved great success in the field of knowledge utilisation for society.…

Your time in Leiden is about more than just studying. Some of your best experiences will come from being part of our vibrant and diverse student community, and from living in the beautiful city of Leiden.

Jordy Bouwman and future Sterrewachter Reinout van Weeren have been awarded a Vidi subsidy to set up or expand their own line of research.

The aim of ANCIENT CHARM was to develop neutron-imaging techniques and the associated equipment, and help establish neutron imaging as a mainstream archaeological analytical technique. In particular, one of the goals was a new imaging technique which called neutron resonant capture imaging combined…

The Netherlands Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Security and Justice have requested the Centre for Terrorism and Counterterrorism to complete a research project on cyber governance from a policy perspective. The results of this project will contribute to the deliverables of the fourth International…

Firearms and violence in Europe–A systematic review by Katharina Krüsselmann, Pauline Aarten, Marieke Liem

This book contextualizes the use of terror as part of wider movements of political contention, demonstrating that terroristic innovation occurs as part of wider historical processes rather than in a vacuum.

A number of scholars joint forces to analyse and re-analyse a number of Merovingian cemeteries and publish the results in the series Merovingian Archaeology in the Low Countries published by Habelt Verlag in Bonn (Germany). We call it the ANASTASIS project. This is the third volume in which the data…

The Tatiana Afanassjewa-lecture series was a series of public talks in Dutch that was started during the Covid-19 lockdown. The talks were given by Leiden physicists on wednesday evenings, intended for everyone with an interest in physics.

International organisations that represent collaborations between States are becoming increasingly more powerful, and they have an increasing impact on our daily lives. For example, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasburg established that minors have a right to legal aid immediately following…

What are the conditions under which coercive diplomacy can compel a State to abandon its controversial nuclear (weapons) program? Based on the experience of the US coercive diplomacy against the nuclear programs of three countries, namely Iran, Libya and South Africa, Jean Yves Ndzana’s PhD research…

This open access volume surveys the state of the field to examine whether a fifth wave of deterrence theory is emerging. Bringing together insights from world-leading experts from three continents, the volume identifies the most pressing strategic challenges, frames theoretical concepts, and describes…

The Tatiana Afanassjewa-lecture series is a series of public talks in Dutch by Leiden physicists on wednesday evenings, intended for everyone with an interest in physics.

Are you interested in international organisations, issues of peace and security, or current changes in global political relations? Would you like to study the causes of terrorism and the resolution of violent conflicts? Develop your scholarship and skills in international affairs in The Hague.

This research cluster is a part of the Institute of Political Science’s research programme ‘Institutions, Decisions and Collective Behaviour’. Its members examine the sources, design, effects and contestation of norms, rules, institutionalised practices and formal organisations that operate across national…

The Austrian Studies Fund supports the Special Chair for Central European Studies, invites visiting professors from Austria and connects with Austria Centres over the world.

This book aims to unravel some of the mysteries surrounding this exceptional group of larger-than-life Bronze Age blades.

Are you ready to take on an extra challenge during your Leiden Master programme?

The Faculty of Science adopted an action plan Diversity and Inclusiveness in 2015. In this action plan, the Faculty commits to a number of actions to further improve diversity and inclusion for staff and students, such as more female full professors at the faculty, and encourages initiatives that foster…

With a MSc in Chemistry you are well prepared for a wide range of career opportunities. The chemical industry is one of the largest contributors to economic prosperity worldwide.

How can we tell whether and how a prehistoric weapon was used? How can we better understand the dexterity and combat skills involved in Bronze Age spear fighting? A research team from Leiden and Göttingen University present a new approach to answering these questions: they simulated the actual fight…

On Thursday 28 January 2016, Prof. Carsten Stahn contributed to the OPCW Sub-Working Group on Non-State Actors, together with Professors Andrew Clapham (Geneva) and Dapo Akande (Oxford), in the presence of the Ahmet Üzümcü, Director-General of the OPCW.

Which circumstances have determined the transition to, or the dominance of, a particular type of military employment in different societies at different times?

A cautious response to a crisis or terrorist act avoids the creation of a culture of fear. This is another way to reduce our vulnerability to terrorism.

The Summer School ‘The European Union, the United Nations and Global Governance’ will focus on a range of topics relevant to interactions between the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN) and the EU’s role within current patterns of global governance.

Wrenching poverty, global inequality, violent political and ethnic strife, deadlocked, unresponsive or even collapsing governments, growing dissatisfaction with democracy and missed opportunities for innovation – these are merely some of the challenges of governance and development with which our programme…

Public International Law is a one-year Master’s specialisation at the internationally acclaimed Leiden Law School at Leiden University. The programme focuses on the legal framework that governs international relations in an increasingly complex global society.

Tussen de sterren is niet alleen leegte. Er zweven ook stoffen als methanol en koolstofdioxide. Chemische theorieën kunnen nog niet verklaren hoe die zijn ontstaan onder omstandigheden die dat juist onmogelijk zouden moeten maken. Fedor Goumans gaat met een Veni-beurs proberen die vraag te beantwoor…

Nature News reported on the use of bow-and-arrow for hunting based on the research made on small points found in a 54,000-year-old cave site in southern France.

Students from the programmes Life Science & Technology filled out the most National Student Surveys (NSE) out of all Leiden Science students, the assessor announced on 16 March in the Science Club.

On April 14 we will celebrate the launch of our Faculty action plan ‘diversity and inclusivity’ with a symposium. We will present the action plan and our colleague Professor Tomas Brage will be keynote speaker. He is the Director of Education at the Physics Institute of Lund University in Sweden and…

Leiden criminologists have co-developed an artificial intelligence technology that tracks firearms incidents by scanning over 350 news sources.

The steady decline in lethal gun violence in the EU came to halt in 2012 and some countries, such as Sweden, have even noticed an increase since then. An arms race among drug criminals and an increase in the availability of illegal firearms could lead to more criminal and gun violence. This is one of…

Eva Michaels talks about the current international security environment, including intelligence issues with Sir John Sawers in an interview in El País.

In 2023, many of our students and staff won great prizes and secured important research grants.

Below you will find an overview of all PRE-Classes provided by the various programmes of Leiden University. For each section, you can find a description of the content and more specific information about the requirements for participation in the Class.

The doors of the new Gorlaeus Building are officially open! With an additional lab wing, new lecture halls and offices, a library, a brasserie, and spaces for student associations, the building offers a vibrant and inspiring environment for research, study, and social interaction. Explore on your…

While the United States continues to carry out drone strikes, and China conducts large-scale cyber and information operations, Ukrainian and Russian soldiers live in trenches, and NATO sends tanks to the Donbas front to force a breakthrough. Has war changed dramatically in recent decades as a result…

Bacteria use antibiotics as a weapon and even produce more antibiotics if there are competing strains nearby. This is a fundamental insight that can help find new antibiotics. Leiden scientists Daniel Rozen and Gilles van Wezel published their research results in the authoritative Proceedings of the…

Anthe Janssen graduated ‘summa cum laude’ for the master’s programme Chemistry.He used NMR methods to gain insight in the syntheses and behavior of bio sugars. With this knowledge future therapeutics and research tools in hemical and medicinal biology can be developed. Anthe was awarded € 2.500.

On Monday 9 September, police officer Wendell C. (Dordrecht) shot and killed his two children and himself. The mother was also shot and died later that night in the hospital. Marieke Liem, Associate Professor at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) spoke with Dutch news website ‘BN DeStem’…

We would all like to live in a world in which individuals feel safe, conflicts are resolved peacefully and the interests of future generations are taken into consideration. At Leiden University legal scholars investigate to what extent public international law meets the needs of a globalised society.…

A research into homicide.

After a year of war against Ukraine, professors André Gerrits, Antoaneta Dimitrova and Frans Osinga look back at Russian aggression and Western unity and ahead to the new offensive.