The NET-ROL project builds on the EU's definition of the rule of law to investigate the role of networks in law-making, executive decision-making, and the judiciary. It examines how these networks influence the weakening of the rule of law. Through an interdisciplinary perspective, the project explores…

Edward Elgar has recently published an edited volume entitled “Realising Protection from Age Discrimination: International, Regional, and National Perspectives”. The book has been edited by Helen Meenan (visiting professor at Kingston University, UK) and Christa Tobler (Europa Institutes of the Universities…

De positie van kunst en kunstenaars in de westerse samenleving

Despite the elaborate equality and non-discrimination legislation in the European Union (EU), the current legal framework has been widely deemed ill-suited to properly address discriminatory instances that may emerge from the use of algorithms and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies. Nevertheless,…

On 29 June, Erwin Dijkstra defended the thesis 'Discrimination and the foundation of justice: hate speech, affirmative action, institutional opinions'. The doctoral research was supervised by Paul Cliteur and Bastiaan Rijpkema.

Lecture

The data-driven economy allows for the collection and processing of large amounts of data. Such data can be used to optimize profits by (dynamically) differentiating prices for different consumers.

TikTok’s stricter age checks are a good move, says Bart Custers, Professor of Law and Data Science, in an opinion piece in ‘de Volkskrant’. But he warns of risks related to privacy and discrimination.

This publication is in Dutch. Please consult the Dutch page.

Following news reports about racist comments made by Rotterdam police officers in a WhatsApp group, racism within the police force is back in the spotlight. ‘Dealing with this issue is a matter of urgency’, says Professor of Immigration Law Peter Rodrigues.

Stam defended his dissertation ‘Freedom of speech and the suppression of discrimination in the Netherlands: a constitutional-developmental approach’ on 12 November 2025. The doctoral research was supervised by Afshan Ellian and Bastiaan Rijpkema

On 13 June, Professor Christa Tobler spoke about indirect discrimination at the Vilnius Gediminas Technical University in Lithuania.

Monica Kaminska, Dennis Broeders and Fabio Cristiano have contributed a chapter to the proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Cyber Conflict (CyCon 2021), which gathers 20 articles from the law, technology and strategy domains.

On 15 December 2022, the following thematic report of the European Equality Law Network was published: Christa Tobler, Indirect discrimination under Directives 2000/43 and 2000/78, for the European Commission, Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union 2022.

The Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality & Anti-Discrimination Law organises an annual conference on various topics of equality and discrimination law. The 12th such conference took place from 2 to 4 July 2025 at the Faculty of Law of the Slovenian capital Ljubljana

Once again, excuses were offered by the Rotterdam Police Department following a racist incident, and a guarantee of better behaviour in future. The reason was an arrest in which excessive force was used and a person involved was called an offensive, racist name by an officer.

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

Latest technological developments in data mining and profiling.

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.

In this article, Eamon Aloyo argues that university supervisors should not use student evaluations of teachers as a measure of teaching effectiveness.

This dissertation aims to provide insight in ethnic prejudice in Chinese-Dutch children and the ethnic socialization context they are exposed to through three social-contextual factors, i.e., parents, children’s books, and the COVID pandemic.

Can Zebra finches learn to distinguish two very similar Dutch words? Research by behavioral biologist Verena Ohms proved that they can identify 'wit' and 'wet'. Ohms published her findings in

On 29 and 30 June 2018, a book workshop on the subject of general principles was held in Leicester, UK.

On 17 October 2017 an international conference took place at the University of Warwick Brussels Office and in the framework of the research project

De rol van de Eerste Kamer is het toetsen van wetten op uitvoerbaarheid. Wim Voermans, hoogleraar Staatsrecht, zegt voor NPO Radio1 dat de Eerste Kamer nu te veel een politieke rol in plaats van een controlerende rol vervult.

Christa Tobler, Professor of European law, attended and spoke on the implications of the UK Supreme Court’s ruling for EU non-discrimination law in the case For Women Scotland Ltd (Appellant) v The Scottish Ministers (Respondent) in London.

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.

Every day we make use of devices, services and apps which contain algorithms that could be discriminating. These range from Facebook to self-driving cars, from the Tax Authorities to a rotating door.

Promotor: Prof.dr. P. Stevenhagen, Co-Promotor: Dr. J.H. Evertse

It may well be that only male zebra finches can sing, but the females are faster at learning to discriminate sounds. Leiden researchers publish their findings in the scientific journal Animal Behaviour.

Victims of ethnic profiling have commenced legal proceedings against the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee. Peter Rodrigues, Professor of Immigration Law, says in a national newspaper that ethnicity may never be the most important criterion to stop and question a person and refers to a past ruling by the…

Dr Moritz Jesse, European Institute at Leiden Law School, has been awarded a Jean Monnet Professorship. From November 2023, Moritz will teach bachelor's and master's courses as part of his ‘Migration, Integration, Non-Discrimination in the EU’ project [MIND-EU]. At a later stage, Jesse’s Jean Monnet…

Promotor: H.W. Lenstra

Iranian molecular plant biologist Salma Balazadeh started her career in Germany. Now she sets up a research group in Leiden to study stress in plants to secure global food supply. Her outlook on women in science in the context of the International Day for Women and Girls in Science, 11 February.

The E.M. Meijers Book Series is the book series published by the E.M. Meijers Institute of the Leiden Law School. The series includes dissertations defended by PhD candidates from the Leiden Law School. Below you will find recent dissertations of team members of the Business & Law Research Network.

Promotores: H.W. Lenstra, B. Erez, Co-promotor: L. Taelman

Mattias Brand defended his thesis on 10 April 2019

The central question in this book is whether there is a human right to family unification.

Promotor: R. Gill, Co-promotor: P. Massart

Twee mannen zijn veroordeeld tot zes maanden cel voor het projecteren van racistische leuzen op de Erasmusbrug tijdens de jaarwisseling van 2022 naar 2023. Universitair hoofddocent Marloes van Noorloos sprak met de Volkskrant over de strafbaarheid van dergelijke leuzen.

This book examines how Muslim communities in the Netherlands perceive and experience extremism, counter-radicalisation policies, and Islamophobia.

Dit proefschrift beschrijft een collectie aan alternatieve strategieën voor het begrijpen, ontwerpen en toepassen van lipide nanosystemen, waarin de rol van de bio-nano interacties centraal staan. In het bijzonder wordt gekeken naar de interactie van RNA-lipide nanosystemen, bekend van de toepassing…

Peter Rodrigues, Professor Emeritus of Immigration and board member of the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights, recently dealt with a fascinating case in which a woman with Russian nationality felt she had suffered discrimination.

Racism and discrimination come in many different shapes and forms – in the Netherlands too. Verbal attacks, stereotypes and violence: some people are confronted with these on a daily basis. A group that is often not included in research and the debate on racism is people of Asian descent. The Diversity…

‘From formal equality to transformative equality: the road to “other law” according to Holtmaat?’