A European consortium has provided a disruptive technological breakthrough to allow the discovery and characterization of novel enzymes for industrial biotechnology. The technology will open the way to more efficient industrial processes such as in the biofuel, animal feed and paper and pulp industr…

The strangest things come out at night. This is the motto of the Leiden Museum Night due to take place on 28 May. Leiden University is once again playing a key part.

Changing your diet can improve both your health and the environment. A new study shows that the national dietary recommendations on reducing animal products can reduce environmental impacts in most high-income nations. Publication in PNAS journal.

Leiden has been selected as one of ten cities in the European BiodiverCities project. The aim of the project is to increase the quality of life in these cities, for instance by developing a green infrastructure and enhancing biodiversity. The Municipality of Leiden will work together with Naturalis…

Leiden PhD candidate Mona Shahab climbed Mount Everest two years ago to raise money for the education of disadvantaged children in Egypt. She made it to the top and posed there with the University flag. She recently presented the flag to Rector Carel Stolker.

Four promising young researchers will be able to conduct two years of research at a university abroad thanks to a Rubicon grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO). The Leiden laureates are Renske Janssen, Girija Josh, Anne van der Meij and Yana van der Weegen.

On Tuesday 6 September, the faculty year 2022-2023 got off to a great start with Leiden Law Op 1, our yearly talkshow live from the Kamerlingh Onnes Gebouw. Together with the Faculty Board, academic staff and students, we looked ahead to the upcoming academic year.

Vera van Noort, professor in Computational Systems Biology at the KU Leuven (Belgium), is appointed holder of the rotating chair “Van der Klaauw Professor” for the year 2015-2016 at the Institute of Biology. Holders of the chair bring inspiring research and teaching in theoretical biology to the University.…

With defending his thesis ‘Applications of topology to Weyl semimetals and quantum computing’, the Leiden theoretical physicist Tom O'Brien has gained the rare 'cum laude' qualification. The freshly minted PhD has started a five year research programme on quantum algorithms for quantum chemistry, funded…

Are you looking for some listening material for the upcoming long weekend? Staff members and alumni of the Faculty of Humanities have been creating various podcasts over the last few months. A selection is shown here:

Lecture, Conversation

Lecture

Leiden University has received a gift of over 2m euros from the Utopa Foundation for its Department of Social, Economic and Organisational Psychology. The gift will be used to set up a Psychology and Economic Psychology research and teaching fund. There will also be a new knowledge centre, which will…

Lecture

Dimiter Toshkov, Associate Professor, Brendan Carroll, Assistant Professor, and Kutsal Yesilkagit, Professor International Governance, of Leiden University, wrote an article for the Washington Post about the European governmenets that acted quickly in times of a pandemic. And these governments are…

Wilco van Dijk has been awarded a NIAS Individual Fellowship, which allow researchers to work on a project of their own choosing for a 5- or 10-month period. As a NIBUD professor of psychological determinants of economic decision-making, Van Dijk will work on the impact of financial scarcity on dec…

The Dutch Research Council (NWO) has awarded Vidi grants to Leiden researchers.

‘Even at the deepest point in the ocean you can still hear the noise from boats,' says biologist Hans Slabbekoorn. ‘And that's while sound is the most important means of communication for underwater life.' What is the effect of all that underwater noise on fish and other animals? Slabbekoorn is on board…

PhD defence

Interest group Animal Rights has started a test case to prompt the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) to tackle farmers who do not adequately protect their livestock against wolves. The test case concerns a rejected enforcement request to the NVWA. In it, the NVWA were called…

Lecture, Conversation

Lecture, LUCIS What's New?! Series

Without scientific knowledge, we won’t be able to tackle the grand challenges of the 21st century: climate change, energy transition, social inequality and coronavirus, for example. Professor by Special Appointment of the Social Value of Science Laurens Hessels is therefore calling for more transdisciplinary…

Lecture

Arts and leisure, Arts and leisure

The large-scale project NanoInformatics will assess the risks associated with nanoparticles. The project will be funded by the EU with 6.8 million euros and was launched at the beginning of this year. Three scientists from Leiden are involved. 'For the first time, this project combines the various experts…

The Dutch TV programme Keuringsdienst van Waarde investigated the origin of BBQ taste. Prehistoric fire expert Andrew Sorensen was invited to explain prehistoric fire making techniques.

There’s a Stone Age house at Broekpolder, near the city of Vlaardingen. It wasn’t built by prehistoric people but by modern archaeologists from Leiden University and volunteers from a local initiative known as Broekpolder Federation. They used replicas of Stone Age tools, such as stone axes and chisels…

Materials like concrete, steel, plastic and fertiliser shape the world around us, but they’re also extremely polluting. If we want to build a more sustainable society, we can learn a lot from archeologists. How do we relate to these materials? And are there alternatives? Maikel Kuijpers is writing a…

If you follow the western media, you are likely to think of ‘Africa’ as the continent of origin of desperate migrants, a continent of hunger and disease and a breeding ground for international terrorism. But if you want to see the bigger picture, you should look no further than the African Studies scholars…

A full overview of BPOC/SSNMR PhD theses.

What are the immediate and lasting effects of the colonial encounters on indigenous Caribbean cultures and societies and what were the intercultural dynamics that took place during the colonisation processes? How can the study of indigenous Caribbean histories contribute to a more sophisticated awareness…

At the Faculty of Archaeology, we investigate the development of human societies worldwide, from the earliest beginnings to modern times. We also study the heritage of mankind, which evokes this deep history, and which connects with, and informs, contemporary society.

The Faculties of Leiden University have developed several themes for research cooperation between Leiden University and its Indonesian partners.

An overview of awards and prizes granted to our staff and students in 2019, as well as special appointments and royal distinctions.

On this page you can learn more about the history of our Faculty Awards and view the previous winners.

We enjoy working with a variety of partners: with other knowledge institutions, the business community, government, civil society organisations, NGOs, museums and charities. Close by, in our cities of Leiden and The Hague, but also regionally, nationally and internationally.

The Dies Natalis for alumni was held on Saturday 10 February, organised by the Leiden University Fund (LUF) together with the University. Almost 500 alumni came together in the Kamerlingh Onnes building to celebrate the 443rd anniversary of the foundation of their alma mater.

Cognitive psychologists Eliska Prochazkova and Mariska Kret from Leiden University have won an Ig Nobel Prize for their research into the romantic click between people. They discovered that attraction between people can be predicted by synchrony in heart rate and skin conductance.

Valerie Pattyn has received Veni funding for her project Policy evaluations evaluated. When do they prompt an overhaul of policies? 'I am really looking forward to immerse myself in this study, and I am enormously grateful for this unique opportunity'.

Alumnus Dennis Jansen was recently elected as Youth Delegate at the United Nations. For the next two years, he is committed to the area of Sustainable Development and will discuss this topic with young people.

With the sowing of the last experimental plot, new research platform TERRA-Dunes was officially opened on 29 June 2018. The experiment has a fundamental scientific character, but has important practical applications in nature restoration.

PhD candidate Shekinah Dare researched which psychological factors contribute to responsible financial behaviour and well-being. She wants to use this knowledge to develop interventions to encourage people to manage their money better. PhD ceremony on 10 November.

Olivier Morskate studied Public Administration at Leiden University and did an internship at the European Parliament's Liaison Office.

Some fifty students started their study of Europe in Practice on 4 April. This minor includes lectures by professionals who work closely with the European Union.

Conference, INVISIHIST Conference

Dr Mike Field is the newly appointed Head of the Bioarchaeology Laboratories (Zoology, Human Osteology, and Botany). The new laboratories provide members of the Faculty with a first class infrastructure. “I see the laboratories as available for everyone to use.”