The research that is united in the Liveable Planet programme, touches upon a wide range of aspects of human life. The goal is to deepen and expand the scope and to connect more researchers. The following case studies are examples of current research projects.

The long-held desire - to link structure directly to function and to explain molecular mechanisms based on basic chemical or physical principles - is finally coming closer, satisfying not only our scientific curiosity but also offering new solutions to the many challenges in the field of health, energy…

Climate change is a challenge for both current and future generations. New biological resources have to be developed in order to meet the demand for energy as well as the demand for food.

Are you engaged in society and interested in social issues? Study the Bachelor's in Public Administration in The Hague and learn how to analyse and solve complex challenges such as the housing crisis and energy transition, right in the administrative heart of the Netherlands.

PhD defence

Just before Christmas, three talented scientists received good news: they are receiving a personal research grant from the Dutch Heart Foundation. Ilze Bot of the Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research is one of those scientists. She will receive an Established Investigator grant of 650,000 euros.…

Colleagues from the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences work on a variety of topics that contribute to a healthy society. Erik Bähre, Tessa Minter and Natashe Lemos Dekker presented their work during the Healthy Society Event on 9 June 2022.

In a full lecture hall C1 the Faculty of Science started off the new academic year on Tuesday 5 September. The theme of the meeting was, just as it had been at the university's opening the day before, sustainability.

Since mid-March, residents of Groningen have had access to a single digital portal for reporting damage to property arising from local gas extraction. Why is the Groningen gas issue such a complex problem and why is compensation taking so long? Psychologist Emma ter Mors and public administration specialist…

How to access the end-of-supply risk of spare pares using big data analytics

What is the optimal investment policy according to which a firm adapts its capacity in a competitive market?

What is the impact of research-based learning on critical thinking competence and academic achievement in undergraduate education? What are underlying factors of research-based learning in the learning environment?

Lecture

After studying Life Science and Technology, David Louwrier conducted his PhD research at LUCAS about bioart and societal debates around biotechnology. Now that his PhD thesis has been submitted, David is developing educational material about the societal aspects of the biobased economy.

PhD defence

Trail, FGGA’s online internship platform, exists one year in November. High time to get to know the organisations making use of Trail. What do these organisations stand for? What tasks do interns have? And what have FGGA students to offer?

How might we include circularity into the models often used in IPCC reporting (in technical language, how can IAMs, dMFA models and CGE models be integrated?) What are possible futures for global resource use and what are the consequences for greenhouse gas emissions in these scenarios?

How to bring together different footprints into an integrated family and what are the synergies? What are the roles of inventory analysis and characterization in measuring individual footprints and how these affect a footprint family? How to benchmark environmental footprints against related planetary…

This is the Board of Advisors of CompaRe.

Researchers at Leiden Observatory study the fundamental physics that creates structure in the Universe. These processes collect matter into galaxies and gas into stars. With the use of powerful telescopes and advanced calculations and computer simulations, Leiden astronomers seek to understand the origin,…

Researchers at Leiden Observatory study the fundamental physics that creates structure in the Universe. These processes collect matter into galaxies and gas into stars. With the use of powerful telescopes and advanced calculations and computer simulations, Leiden astronomers seek to understand the origin,…

In our teaching, we give all our students the opportunity to learn about sustainability themes and issues, where possible ones that tie in with the content of their degree programme.

Fearing a trade-off with economic growth, countries feel discouraged to cut their CO2 emissions. But do the two really not go together? Environmental scientist Ranran Wang and her colleagues investigated the relationship between economic growth and CO2 emissions in 73 countries from 1970 to 2016. Wang:…

Hans van den Berg, CEO of Tata Steel NL, is in the eye of the storm. He continues to believe in connection, debate and knowledge that will make green steel possible.

James Shires, Assistant Professor at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs at Leiden University, co-authored this report on the GCC's cyber resilience with Joyce Hakmeh, Senior Research Fellow of Chatham House's International Security Programme.

In 2017, In 2017 we published over 70 papers, appointed two new professors, researched microplastic contamination in European beach sediment and modelled future energy demand. We awarded six PhDs and taught students from all over the world how to contribute to sustainability. We wish you a pleasant…

Plants, algae and cyanobacteria have the amazing capacity to perform delicate photophysical and photochemical processes of light capture, excitation transfer, charge separation and catalysis in fluctuating living environments. As a consequence, photosynthetic proteins and membranes form dynamic architectures.…

What is the role of the rebound effect in achieving environmental savings from transport eco-innovation? Are traditional definitions of the rebound effect adequate in the context of transformative innovations and multidimensional environmental issues?

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…

Lecture

Anti-litter activist Dirk Groot photographed, tagged, and collected more than 400,000 pieces of litter in the Netherlands. Now, he and his data are included in a study on urban litter by researchers from Leiden University and Andrea Ballatore from Birkbeck, University of London.

Dr. Amanda Foks obtained a fellowship from the dr. E. Dekker-program for the project ' Can promotion of efferocytosis induce regression of atherosclerosis?', in which she aims to identify novel targets to promote regression of atherosclerosis. This research grant allows her to initiate independent research…

How do local, non-institutional ideas about end-of-life care influence professional palliative care and vice versa? These questions will be answered by medical anthropologists Annemarie Samuels and Natashe Lemos Dekker in the coming years.

Development & demonstration of low environmental impact innovation and optimization practices in pharma production.

As a new vision on food production, the feasibility study on LED light to grow crops with the biological- and chemical evaluation of final products.

In the Catalysis and Surface Chemistry group, we investigate how catalysis works on the molecular level. The group is divided in six subgroups, focusing on different aspects of heterogeneous catalysis, homogeneous catalysis and electrocatalysis.

Leiden University purchases a wide range of goods and services every year. To a greater or lesser extent, they all have an environmental impact.

1) Assess the trends in supply and production status of these critical minerals and mineral products worldwide and Europe’s dependence including on intermediate products such as permanent magnets, RE based super alloys, batteries, polishing compounds, phosphors, catalysts etc. 2) Trace the entire value…

The thesis is part of a bigger project, the HEPGAME (High Energy Physics Game). The main objective for HEPGAME is the utilization of AI solutions, particularly by using MCTS for simplification of HEP calculations.

While colloidal aggregates are often undesirable due to their random shapes, we exploit them as a starting point to synthesize patchy particles.

Supervisor: Gerard van Westen

The following master research projects are currently open in the Bouwmeester group.

Every year, the Leiden Institute of Physics (LION) organises the Science Day. The goal is to highlight the newest research at LION, to socialise, and to welcome first year master students and new PhD candidates to our institute.

The Leiden Institute of Chemistry (LIC) is the basis for research and collaborations of the Leiden chemistry groups. Chemistry is the central science enabling a healthy future in a sustainable society. Chemistry researchers at Leiden University take a fundamental approach in finding tailored solutions…

The Municipality of The Hague called on researchers to come up with a proposal for an innovative research project on problems big cities face such as energy transition. Four of the five projects that have been granted funding come from researchers from Leiden University.

The Honours Class From Solar to Fuel with Bio consisted almost entirely of the workshop on Solar Biofuels from Micro-organisms that drew more than eighty specialist researchers to Leiden's Lorentz Centre in late March/early April. Students Erica Wenker (chemistry) and Jasper van Dobben de Bruijn (law)…

PhD defence

In this thesis, I studied the origin and evolution of the non-thermal radiation in merging galaxy clusters.

In this thesis I describe the results of Pulsed Interleaved Excitation and Fluorescence (Cross) Correlation Spectroscopy (PIE-F(C)CS) combined with single-pair Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (spFRET) used to study dynamics in single nucleosomes, which depends on subtle differences in the length of…