Bonobos – just like humans – pay more attention to pictures that show other members of their species displaying emotional behaviour than to neutral scenes. Leiden researcher Dr Mariska Kret made this discovery while conducting research at Apenheul Primate Park.

At the International Online Conference 'Fair Medicine and Artificial Intelligence' organised by the University of Tübingen (Germany), Hadassah Drukarch, junior researcher at eLaw, gave a presentation on how current algorithmic-based systems may reinforce biases in healthcare. This topic forms part of…

The discovery in 2001 of the importance of microRNAs turned the world of molecular biology upside down. The small particles of RNA also attracted the attention of university lecturer Erno Vreugdenhil. Vreugdenhil: ‘Within five to ten years the first microRNA-directed medicines will come onto the mar…

Psychologist Myrthe Jansen conducted research into the performance monitoring that constantly takes place in our heads. People with obsessive-compulsive symptoms are more afraid to make a mistake that harms others, than when they make a mistake that only harms themselves. Jansen received her PhD on…

The use of the pill, in combination with genetic factors, can influence experimental psychological research in women. More research is needed into the influence of the pill on mood disorders, concludes psychologist Daniëlle Hamstra. PhD defence on 30 September.

Glorious sunshine, dozens of enthusiastic academics and huge numbers of Leiden residents ensured that this year’s special jubilee version of 3 October University was a great success.

A consortium of researchers from the Leiden Institute of Physics (LION), the Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL), and the Leiden Institute of Chemistry (LIC) received a FOM program grant to develop a novel way of studying individual proteins inside a cell using gold nanorods.

Leiden biologists have found a mutation in flour beetles that allows them to speed up their development. The study has been published in Nature Ecology and Evolution.

Leiden University is partner of the Netherlands Centre for One Health (NCOH). This initiative brings together leading academic research institutes in the Netherlands in an open innovation network that responds to the theme: One Health. NCOH interviewed Doris van Bergeijk: PhD student of the project…

A staggering 6.5 billion chicks are killed worldwide every year. These are generally male chicks that are of no economic value. In Ovo has developed technology that can quickly determine the sex of a chick, to ensure that only female chicks are hatched. The first 150,000 chicks have now hatched in this…

A mix of data research, artificial intelligence and archaeology led to lively discussions on 31 January. On that day the unique event 'AI & Data Science @ Archaeology' took place in which the Data Science Research Programme (DSRP), SAILS and the Faculty of Archaeology joined forces.

Sexual harassment was the theme of the recent annual symposium of student ambassadors to the Leiden-Bollenstreek police in collaboration with the police and the municipality. An extremely important issue to students − if the 100 places being claimed as soon as the symposium was announced was anything…

An image has great powers of persuasion. It is said that ‘a picture is worth more than a thousand words’. But these days, images can easily be manipulated with severe consequences. ‘Perhaps it’s time to reconsider the value we attach to images’, says Elize de Mul, whose PhD thesis deals with ‘digital…

On 25 November, the global 16-day campaign 'Orange the World' against violence against women and girls started. Leiden University will also be paying attention to this campaign. On Friday 9 December, Renate van der Zee and Marieke Liem will give a lecture at the Campus The Hague (Spanish Steps, Wijnhaven)…

Join us at the second edition of the Making Matters symposium, which will take place on Friday 20 and Saturday 21 November 2020 at Het Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam and online.

In a one-hour interview on Dutch radio programme Sleutelstad, Anne-Laura van Harmelen talks about her research into the role friendships in adolescents' well-being, the resilience paradox and the role of social, hormonal and genetic factors in stress-levels and resilience.

Chronic stress weakens the immune system, psychologist Jos Brosschot warns in an interview with Leidsch Dagblad newspaper. Social isolation can cause feelings of insecurity and stress. He therefore advises keeping in touch with others.

‘The idea that overweight and obesity are the fault of parents and/or the child, is rubbish.' Roxanna Camfferman, who specialises in child and adolescent studies, explains her proposition. Her PhD dissertation is on the role of upbringing in child obesity.

Psychologist Daphne Tona is one of the first to investigate a small nucleus in the brain stem 'in vivo' in living volunteers. That nucleus is involved in cognitive function and neurological and psychiatric disorders. With this research Tona is further mapping the brain. PhD defence on September 10.

Four Leiden researchers have each been awarded a consolidator grant of up to 2 million euros by the European Research Council (ERC). They carry out research on a diverse range of subjects, from gender stereotyping in the field of science to making sugar molecules.

Dutch scale-up In Ovo, a spin-off of Leiden University, has raised 34 million euros to accelerate its international growth and scale-up plans. The new funding is supported by Leiden University’s Libertatis Ergo Holding. The funding has also been provided by, among others, impact investors ECBF and ABN…

In healthcare, gender and sex considerations are crucial because they affect individuals' health and disease differences. Yet, most algorithms deployed in the healthcare context lack close consideration of these aspects and do not account for bias detection. In their latest paper, Eduard Fosch-Villaronga,…

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…

There are around 300,000 people in the Netherlands who donate blood on a regular basis. Women can give blood up to three times a year and men up to five times, resulting in approximately one million blood donations each year. Patients that receive this donated blood are already in a vulnerable condition,…

A central and much debated topic in the study of language acquisition concerns the nature of the learning mechanisms that are required. Are the computational and learning mechanisms that guide learning about language structure special and specific to language or humans?

This research project studies the distribution and impact of medieval malaria in the Netherlands.

Subproject of

SAILS (Society, Artificial Intelligence and Life Sciences) is a universitywide initiative aimed at facilitating collaboration across disciplines on the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI). It is one of Leiden University's interdisciplinary programmes.

Promotores: G.R. de Snoo, B. Sinsin, Co-Promotor: H.H. de Iongh

At LUCIS we offer a varied programme of scholarly meetings (conferences, workshops) which reflect our multidisciplinary and comparative view on Islam and Muslim societies in past and present.

To understand which groups turn against their government, you need to understand the political culture in which they grew up, what they expect from a ‘state’ and what alternatives there are. With its long interdisciplinary experience, ASCL is often considered to be a regional expertise centre. But this…

For Humans of Psychology, students and staff will be put into the spotlight. At our institute prizes are won, exiting research is conducted, knowledge is harnessed, public meeting are organised and open science is highlighted. Take a look behind the scenes.

On 29 November 2019, Christa Tobler gave a lecture in Brussels on the new case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union in the field of gender discrimination.

During this semester, the University of Vienna offers the 19th lecture series on Gender Studies. On 21 November 2017, Christa Tobler, Professor of European Law at the Universities of Basel (Switzerland) and Leiden, gave a lecture on the subject of multiple discrimination, including also sex.

Female workers at Tesco Stores, a chain of supermarkets in the UK, brought a case to the European Court of Justice claiming they received unequal pay for doing work of equal value to that of their male colleagues.

On April 19, 2018, the University of Vienna organized an international conference on the topic of equality bodies.

Startup In Ovo received a large investment in October for the further development of a method to determine the sex of chicken eggs, which would save the lives of millions of newly hatched male chicks per year. German TV channel n-tv came to Leiden to film an item about the spin-off company of Leiden…

Social resilience and security has never been more important. Over the last 2 years, the COVID-19 pandemic has created a considerable disturbance to our personal and social lives. As a result, the general population reports more stress, loneliness and decreased quality of life. At the same time, there…

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.

Leiden Law Cast is a podcast made by Leiden Law School, Leiden University, for everyone who wants to learn more about current legal issues.

Professor Kees Waaldijk presented the report on the LawsAndFamilies Database to Pearl Dykstra, member of the High Level Group of Scientific Advisors of the European Commission on 25 April. This comparative study shows that in European countries same-sex partners are increasingly gaining equal rights.…

We are pleased to announce that on the 30th of September Dr. Andrea Waters-Rist from the Faculty of Archaeology of Leiden University (The Netherlands) will be launching a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) all about human osteoarchaeology!

Young children who are less empathetic than their peers are more likely to be aggressive when older. This is what Malou Noten concludes in her dissertation. PhD defence on 25 November.

The Institute for Philosophy further expands its knowledge: As of 1 September, Annemie Halsema holds the chair of Wijsgerige antropologie en de grondslagen van het humanisme (Philosophical anthropology and the principles of humanism, ed.). In the coming five years, she will study current societal issues…

Cláudio de Sá predicted the preferences of people using rankings. He adjusted ‘classical’ machine learning approaches, making them suitable for predicting preferences. His work can be applied in the prediction of election results. PhD defence on 16 December.

They sprayed with corn starch and made detailed drawings of the genitalia of spiders. In different ways students studied spiders in the dense tropical rainforest of Borneo. With their work they solved a spider mystery and published about this in Biodiversity Data Journal in April.

Seven Leiden researchers have each been awarded a Vici grant by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). This will enable them to form a research group and develop their own innovative line of research.

There is greater variety in the size of men’s brains than of women’s. This could help explain why some psychiatric disorders such as ADHD and autism are more prevalent in boys. Leiden brain researcher Lara Wierenga has published an article about this in the international journal Cerebral Cortex.

What are the patterns and processes of human mobility in the pre-colonial circum-Caribbean as revealed by burial populations and what are the underlying motives and socio-cultural principles on both micro- and macro-scales?

Behavioural biologist Wouter Halfwerk has been awarded a 2-year outgoing Rubicon-grant from NWO. He will be working at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute with bats and frogs to understand the evolution of multimodal communication.