In a virtual game environment, one of the positive effects of anonymity is the absence of one's prejudice toward others, which can give a person the freedom to change and experiment (Bartle, 2003). This project will adopt anonymity to be added to online cross-cultural collaborative learning in higher…

This project aims to improve transparency in the distribution of research funding in the world, with a focus on global inequalities. Through an analysis of funding flows, the project will identify inequalities and opportunities for more appropriate and fairer allocation, highlighting patterns that perpetuate…

UnMiSSeD studies the interaction between misinformation and science in societal debates using a mixed qualitative-quantitative approach.

Annually the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology awards the Speckmann prize for the best Fieldwork NL report, as well as the most accomplished master’s thesis.

STM scanning experiments on poorly conducting materials are challenging, and can cause a distortion effect. A new model corrects for this effect, allowing physicists to better study materials in their quest to understand unconventional superconductivity. Publication in Physical Review B as Editor’s…

Forum essays provide a framework for intellectual exchange and debate about the role of diplomacy around a particular theme. The essays are argumentative contributions and are shorter than research articles.

Even if you have a healthy lifestyle, there's a lot to experience and learn during the Healthy University Week, from 26 to 30 October. Health psychologist Andrea Evers is enthusiastic about the week ahead. She tells us about the programme and gives us a taste of her own talk on what the placebo effect…

Plastic pollution is a major environmental issue. Although regulation is being adopted, plastic pollution is still increasing. Effective and strict enforcement is key and NGOs and civilians can be instrumental in this.

In meta-analysis, heterogeneity often exists between studies. In such cases, it is essential to investigate the sources of heterogeneity and understand the relationship between effect size and study characteristics (i.e., moderators).

Metamaterials have properties that depend on their shape and architecture. Researchers at AMOLF, Leiden University and Tel Aviv University have found a new way of designing these metamaterials and their properties by deliberately incorporating small errors. They publish their results today in Nature…

Building a sustainable, international and interdisciplinary consortium for developing evidence-based communication strategies about Antimicrobial Resistance. That is the objective of a new project between researchers from Leiden University, VU Amsterdam and Stellenbosch University in South Africa, made…

This year, Leiden University celebrates its 444th birthday – and when you’re giving a party, you need great music! Neuropsychologist Rebecca Schaefer agrees. She has been fascinated by music since she was a child, and now she studies how music can make us happy, give us energy or calm us down.

‘Solar panels, toothpaste and sport socks. What do these things have in common?’ Martina Vijver, professor of ecotoxicology begins her TEDx-talk. Watch her online lecture if you want to learn more about the effects of nano-particles on our environment and health.

Medicines can work even if they have no active ingredient. The first international scientific conference on placebos will take place in Leiden from 2 to 4 April. Placebo researcher Andrea Evers, who is also chairing the conference, answers some pressing questions.

It is becoming increasingly clear that the placebo effect has a great influence on medical treatment. An international, interdisciplinary team of researchers led by Professor of Health Psychology Andrea Evers from Leiden University has now written a first set of guidelines on how to apply the placebo…

This thesis has shed light on some of the ways in which the local electrolyte composition can differ from the bulk and how these changes in the local reaction environment can determine the activity and/or selectivity of two important electrocatalytic reactions, namely, electrochemical CO2 reduction…

PhD candidate Dennis Wander searches for the best of both worlds. That is to say: a cancer drug that is effective and also has minimal side effects. To this end, he makes new molecules inspired by two existing medicines. And not without result: ‘We have created a new variant that is very promising.’…

Health psychologist Aleksandrina Skvortsova has made clever use of the Pavlov effect to link the ‘cuddle’ hormone oxytocin with the placebo effect. This effect can alter the level of oxytocin in the body, making it possible for people to reduce the amount of medicine they need while still feeling good.…

Research conducted at Leiden has established that guts-on-chips respond in the same way to aspirin as real human organs do. This is a sign that these model organs are good predictors of the effect of medical drugs on the human body. Publication in Nature Communications on 15 August.

The tuk-tuk of the European City Of Science Leiden 2022 sent science on its way to the neighbourhood. On the Vijf Meiplein in Leiden, Andrea Evers' placebo team pitched its tent to everyone who wanted to know more about the effect of words and expectations. Experience the day of the placebo effect in…

Recent studies have shown that Dutch secondary school pupils experience a great deal of stress from school work, and between 2001 and 2007 the number of adolescents experiencing school stress even doubled. The study carried out by Simone Vogelaar focuses on stress factors and the effectiveness of the…

According to the LUMC, patients experience 30% fewer serious side effects when medication doses are tailored to their DNA.

On 20 October 2021 Michael Ramsden defended the thesis 'The Role of the United Nations General Assembly in Advancing Accountability for Atrocity Crimes: Legal Powers and Effects'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. N.M. Blokker.

This article examines leadership encouragement and psychological safety as antecedents of prosocial rule-breaking (PSRB) behaviour.

This thesis focusses on the temperature structure in protoplanetary disks. The relation between structures seen in the dust and gas-phase molecules is investigated.

Tuberculosis (TB) is a major global health problem caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). In 2015, there were estimated to be 10.4 million new cases and 1.8 million deaths ascribed to TB, making it one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide. Unfortunately, the only current registered…

In this thesis I examine how soil biotic and abiotic characteristics change and interact throughout the course of afforestation and how they subsequently impact tree performance.

More collaboration, combining data and asking the right questions. These are a few of the recommendations that policymakers and researchers formulated at the conference 'Data gedreven Beleidsontwikkeling' on 28 November 2017.

The trial of Dutch rapper Ali B is receiving massive media attention. Party due to himself, the trial can be followed by the public. How will this affect the upcoming verdict? Dutch newspaper ‘De Volkskrant’ spoke to legal scholars and experts including Jan de Keijser.

First author Scott Waitukaitis and principal investigator Martin van Hecke have made the cover of Nature Physics with their publication on a newly discovered effect. The Elastic Leidenfrost effect explains why hydrogel balls jump around on a hot plate making high pitched sounds.

In their article; The Effects of Legal Measures to Empower Supervisory Directors: Evidence from a Financial Distress Perspective, Santen and De Bos discuss the relationship between the corporate governance structure of a company and its financial performance. Until now studies predominantly hypothesize…

On 22 January, Annemarie Madani-Abbing will defend her dissertation 'Art therapy and anxiety' regarding her research into the effectiveness of anthroposophic art therapy in treating anxiety in women. We asked her about her research and what it was like to combine a job outside academia with studying…

Promotor: A. Achúcarro, Co-promotor: A. Boyarsky

A coronavirus booster shot provides a better immune response against COVID-19 than a single vaccine dose. mRNA boosters are the most effective upon receiving Janssen. These are the results of a collaborative study between several organisations, including the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC).…

Researchers Indu Khatri, Frank Staal and Jacques van Dongen from Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) have published a perspective article in Frontiers in Immunology about coronavirus and its characteristic ‘spike protein.’ They predict which antibodies would provide the best protection against the…

In this unique master’s programme you will first deepen your knowledge on specific areas of the world and then learn to reflect upon this in a global context.

Why the dunes of The Hague matter for the water from your tap

In the master’s programme in Archaeology, you can follow courses on the archaeology of the Americas, deepening your understanding of this large region.

A comprehensive analysis of the state of play, the design of monitoring mechanisms, and creation of a toolbox of support measures.

Primary Objective: The primary aim of the proposed RCT is to evaluate whether LF-TLP in blended form as an indicated prevention for anxiety complaints is more (cost-) effective than TAU according to the NHG guideline Anxiety. We hypothesize that in comparison to TAU, LF-TLP will result in a significantly…

Rare-earth materials are prime candidates for storing quantum information, because the undesirable interaction with their environment is extremely weak. Consequently however, this lack of interaction implies a very small response to light, making it hard to read and write data. Leiden physicists have…

How can you increase the effectiveness of inspectors using responsible artificial intelligence (AI)? This is the question the Innovation Center for Artificial Intelligence (ICAI) Lab AI4Oversight is tackling. By developing algorithms and methods, they try to provide optimal support for, for example,…

Alexander Geurds, Andrea Waters-Rist, and Laura Van Broekhoven are in the race for the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Partnership Grant (Canada).

Nausea, neurologic pain and hair loss: some of the severe side effects of chemotherapy. Not necessary, biochemist Liyan Zhang showed. Together with Leiden biologists and others, she achieved great results with a drug that is only active in combination with light. Zhang will defend her PhD on 4 July.

The latest research from the Leiden outdoor laboratory ‘Living Lab’ shows that the insecticide thiacloprid strongly influences even the most common and robust dragonfly species in the Netherlands. The study was published in the Journal of Applied Ecology.

A consortium led by Eefje Cuppen, Professor Governance of Sustainability at the Institute of Public Administration, has been granted NWO funding for a research project looking into the social, societal, and technical aspects of the energy transition.

On Wednesday 25 January, the British Embassy, the Global Transformations and Governance Challenges (GTGC) programme at Leiden University and Women in International Security Netherlands (WIIS-NL) were hosting a round table with Professor Bina D’Costa to discuss the prevention of conflict related sexual…