Through our research, we aim to enhance both scholarly understanding and practical knowledge in sustainability governance, while making meaningful contributions to the public debates on these critical issues. To achieve this goal, we embrace diversity in our research topics, methodological approaches,…

Many researchers of the Faculty of Science are members of a research school related to their area of expertise. Research schools aim at collaboration of researchers from different faculties in the same university (interfaculty schools) or in different universities (interuniversity schools).

Plastics have become an integral part of modern society due to their versatility and durability.

How does the commodification and re-appreciation of the contiguous uplands of Northeast India, Bangladesh and Burma/Myanmar transform the relationship between these states and their upland citizens?

The Leiden University Green Office has some great news: you can now make the most environmentally-friendly search engine - Ecosia - your default on a public LU computer!

The world we live in is changing in many aspects at an ever-increasing speed. And it will continue to do so. How do we anticipate these changes, such as the increase in atmospheric CO2, the extinction of species and industrialisation?

With an MSc in Biology you are well prepared for future jobs in research or industry. After your graduation you can pursue a PhD career or a career as a researcher, focusing on groundbreaking research on sustainability, at universities and research institutes.

The external tissues of plants and animals are colonized by microbial communities termed microbiota. When organisms are exposed to environmental pollutants, these substances will therefore encounter microbiota at the exposure interface.

Develop a prototype combined chemical-microbial enzymatical process for the sustainable, green recycling and revalorization of polyamides and polystyrene

Freshwater is an important resource, but at a great risk of species decline due to habitat loss, pollution and over-exploitation, and invasive alien species.

Leiden University is an international, broad-based university. We distinguish five core domains for our research and teaching activities.

Engineering an efficient microbial enzymatic polyethylene degradation pathway via an innovative combination of biochemistry and computational biology tools for enzyme discovery and characterization.

This project consists of various case studies.

On this page you can read about our keynote speakers.

Promotor: Prof.dr. W.J.G.M. Peijnenburg, Co-promotor: Dr. ing. M.G. Vijver

Promotores: Prof.dr. W.J.G.M. Peijnenburg & Dr. M.G. Vijver

From 1550 onwards, a great interest in the natural world developed across Europe. This interest was not only stimulated by a growing knowledge of local flora and fauna, but also by the import of numerous exotic animal and plant species. Think, for instance, of researches and collectors like Gessner…

Promotor: E.F. Smets, Co-promotor: J. Geml

The Pavement Plants Citizen Science Project invites citizens to monitor plant species growing around their homes, neighborhoods, or towns. The goal is to collaboratively monitor urban flora, measuring and revealing the species richness and biodiversity of the urban ecosystem. We believe this will lead…

Promotores: Prof.dr. W.J.G.M. Peijnenburg & Dr. M.G. Vijver

How do technological systems impact the environment? And can they be designed in a more sustainable way? The Resources and Energy research program studies the importance of resources and energy for our society and aims to guide the shift towards a sustainable circular economy.

The rapidly increasing commercial application of metallic nanoparticles within products will inevitably enhance the amount of NPs being released into soil.

The mycorrhizal symbiosis is among the most widespread species interactions on Earth⁠. This thesis focuses on orchid mycorrhiza, a unique mycorrhizal type that has caught scientists’ attention for centuries⁠.

Promotor: Prof.dr. M.K. Richardson, Co-Promotor: F. Witte

This systematic review of 68 English-language articles explores the roles of customary authorities in environmental governance in sub-Saharan Africa

Courses cover a broad range of relevant subjects and provide in-depth theoretical knowledge as well as training in practical skills and advanced research tools.

“JARAK: the commoditization of an alternative biofuel crop in Indonesia” was a research program from 2010-2014 in which researchers from Indonesia and the Netherlands collaborated.

Dissolution processes – next to aggregation processes - play an important role for fate prediction and environmental risk assessment of metal-based nanoparticles (MNPs). It is challenging to predict the kinetics of the dissolution process of MNPs in complex systems such as we can find in in vivo and…

Desafios para a proteção dos conhecimentos tradicionais, dos recursos genéticos e das expressões culturais tradicionais dos povos indígenas no cenário internacional

Although nanoparticles are extensively used in various applications like consumer products and have most probably entered the environment, little is known about the effects of these particles on living organisms.

At the moment, over 350.000 chemicals are registered worldwide for production and use. Their application, however, may harm human health and the environment.

Promotor: Prof.dr. G.R. de Snoo, Prof.dr. G.A. Persoon

This thesis explores how bees and hoverflies are distributed across the Dutch landscape and how ecological and landscape factors shape their occurrence.

Leiden University offers you several services related to career orientation and job application skills.

Using EcoFab 2.0 devices and omics services at JGI, we will examine a plant growth promoting microbial community during interaction with different plant species.

The most urgent sustainability challenges, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, resource depletion, and pollution, are complex issues that concern society as a whole. This means that among employers there is a growing demand for graduates who are able to combine both natural scientific and social…

The Science for Sustainable Societies bachelor’s programme equips you to address pressing environmental issues through an interdisciplinary approach. By integrating natural sciences, social sciences, and governance, you’ll develop the expertise to analyse and solve complex sustainability challenges…

The Science for Sustainable Societies bachelor’s programme equips you to address pressing environmental issues through an interdisciplinary approach. By integrating natural sciences, social sciences, and governance, you’ll develop the expertise to analyse and solve complex sustainability challenges…

Dr. Marco Cinelli, in collaboration with Shreya Mozumdar (former LUC student), published an article that reviews the state of existing software that can assist with decision-making processes around nature-based solutions (NbS). This paper is the first to examine in detail the features of these software,…

Are you interested in taking up an extra challenge during your master’s programme? Have you thought about developing your personal leadership style?

How do public organizations use strategic regulatory communication in regulatory governance?

For optimization problems, it is often unclear how to choose the most appropriate optimization algorithm. As such, rigorous benchmarking practices are critical to ensure we can gain as much insight into the strengths and weaknesses of these types of algorithms.

This thesis manuscript explores the use of video games as tools for conceptual exploration and academic research.

This programme is aimed at students who have a strong interest in programming and computer science, as well as an interest in the cognitive psychology and artificial intelligence.

Leiden University uses enormous amounts of disposable cups every day.

This dissertation is about Bayesian learning from data. How can humans and computers learn from data?

This thesis involves three topics: benchmarking discrete optimization algorithms, empirical analyses of evolutionary computation, and automatic algorithm configuration.

he Central Innovation District (CID) forms the economic heart of the city of The Hague.

We present an extensive study of methods for exactly solving stochastic constraint (optimisation) problems (SCPs) in network analysis. These problems are prevalent in science, governance and industry.