Did you know that PhD candidates are also alumni of your alma mater? High time to put a PhD alumna and her research in the spotlight. Besides, this month our UNICEF Chair in Children’s Rights is celebrating its tenth anniversary.

Jojanneke van der Toorn is kicking off the new Academia@WorkplacePride year with the LGBTIQ+ Workplace Inclusion Symposium. As a social psychologist, she wants to share knowledge and gather experiences relating to diversity and inclusion at work

As part of the euCONSENT consortium, the Center for Law and Digital Technologies (eLaw) has been awarded European Commission funding to create a child rights’ centred cross-border system for online age verification and parental consent.

In celebration of the release of his new book on changes in public administration, Prof. dr. Frits van der Meer, professor by special appointment of the CAOP chair: Comparative Public Sector and Civil Service Reform, handed the first copy to Gert-Jan Buitendijk, Secretary General of Ministry of General…

Willem van der Muur worked at the Van Vollenhoven Institute as a PhD candidate from 2013 to 2019. After completing his doctorate he left for Indonesia to work for the World Bank. There, he is leading a project to register land rights.

Conference

Course and exam enrolment

Course and exam enrolment

Course and exam enrolment

Course and exam enrolment

Course and exam enrolment

Education

In the centre of Leiden there are thirteen museums, all within walking distance of each other. Leiden is also home to the oldest theatre in the Netherlands, the Leidse Schouwburg. The Hague on the other hand has no less than thirty museums in and around the city, as well as a wealth of theatres. So…

Master’s student in Company Law Jelle van der Werff left for Melbourne in February 2025 for a six-month exchange. It turned out to be a great opportunity: ‘Getting to know so many different cultures in one place is really special.’

Education

Over a century ago, Alexandra van Elroy's great-grandfather left for Japan, where her grandmother was born. Together with her mother, Maaike van der Loon, she reminisces about her family history, through which a key thread is the study of Japanese and Chinese.

As sea levels rise and climate change speeds up, knowledge about the ocean becomes increasingly important. But how is this knowledge being created and how can we use it best to prepare for the future? To answers these questions, Jackie Ashkin studies the day-to-day work of ocean scientists from up c…

Since September, Victor van der Horst is a member of the Faculty Council. Well, not just a member; he is the Chairman! In addition, this master's student in Mathematics also devotes himself to our Faculty in many other ways. 'I'm convinced we need input from all layers to keep improving our Faculty.'…

Met de komst van drie nieuwe masteropleidingen in 2025/26 wordt het opleidingsaanbod van de Faculteit der Rechtsgeleerdheid nog breder en meer divers. De nieuwe opleidingen richten zich op economie, recht en bedrijfskunde en recht en migratie.

Vijf opleidingen van de Leidse rechtenfaculteit hebben een medaille ontvangen als ‘beste studie’. Dit blijkt uit onderzoek dat EW Magazine uitvoerde in samenwerking met ResearchNed. De Advanced Master Air and Space Law scoorde uitzonderlijk hoog en ontving een gouden medaille.

Bachelor's students Kirsten S. Barink, Milène van der Geest, Claire van den Helder and Pim L. Ruhe are granted the Speckmann award for their Fieldwork NL report 'If it would have been a colour it would be pitch-black', a report on people suffering from the phenomenon of 'Electrohypersensitivity'.

Piercing through the skull with an ice pick, administering electric shocks without an anaesthetic, or applying leeches to the uterus: these may seem like medieval methods of torture, but they are in fact therapies used in medicine. Willem van der Does writes about all of them in his new book. ‘Physicians…

Alumna Simay Çetin received the award for her Master thesis: ‘Interpreting Culture through Embodied Practice: An anthropological study of sexuality among Dutch Women with Turkish Migrant backgrounds.’ Nova, Marta, Iris and Emma were awarded for their Fieldwork NL report.

How many decimal places of π (pi) do you know by heart? That was the question during a special competition on pi day last week in the central hall of the Gorlaeus. The winner of the competition managed to recite 169 digits after the comma. Jonathan Love reveals his secret.

Alexander van Drooge recently joined us as Service Manager at the Kamerlingh Onnes Building. Let’s get to know him!

Season 2 of the Leiden Psychology podcast has started, and we're kicking it off with a special Q&A featuring our new hosts Aziza and Priya. In this episode you are offered a chance to get to know them better.

Dr Alex Geurds was elected as a Fellow for the Society of Antiquaries, a prestigious and old educational charity based in London. Established in 1707, the society aims at the encouragement and advancement of the study and knowledge of the antiquities.

Leiden University Libraries (UBL) has several locations in Leiden and The Hague. As a Leiden University student, you can make use of all locations.

Xiang van der Boon, a third-year Law and Tax Law student, went to Bilbao in 2025 to study at the University of Deusto for five months. She learned a lot about herself: ‘Living abroad showed me it's important to make time to relax.’

Flitsinterview met alumnus Kees van der Staaij: ik ben en blijf een jurist in hart en nieren

Education

Sense Jan van der Molen is vanaf 1 maart de nieuwe wetenschappelijk directeur van het Leiden Instituut voor Onderzoek in de Natuurkunde.

How can Europe lead the way in vaccine development that is fast and for all? To answer this pressing question, Professor of Vaccinology Meta Roestenberg is holding a panel session on 14 July at the EuroScience Open Forum in Leiden.

On the second day of the EL CID week, hundreds of new students set foot in ‘their’ law faculty for the first time. Today, they will be introduced to the history and ways of the University. Exciting and fun at the same time. ‘Things are getting real!’

Organisation

Cleody van der Eijk recently started as the new study advisor and exchange coordinator at Archaeology. Aside from helping students out when they encounter issues during their studies, she will also focus on the process of studying abroad. ‘It is very valuable to get to know another culture, while you…

Almost a thousand students started HOPweek in The Hague on Monday morning. During this introduction week students get to know the city, the university and each other.

Climate change is affecting all areas of human life. 2024 has been the hottest year on record and natural disasters are becoming increasingly frequent around the globe. Every year since 1995, national delegations come together to address the climate crisis through the Conference of the Parties to the…

The annual conference of the Global Transformations and Governance Challenges (GTGC) interdisciplinary research programme will take place in The Hague on 7-9 June. As a researcher at Leiden University, why should you be there? ‘Nearly every research study has a governance dimension, but academics often…

How to implement good leadership? This is the central question posed during the inspiration seminars of the LLP, in which renowned guest speakers share their insights. A seminar at the beginning of May imparts this message: “Keep listening to one another.”

On Sept. 29, Lara Wierenga, together with graphic designer Dirma Janse, presented their new book Atlas of our Brain. In the presence of fellow scientists and other interested parties, they shared some of the stunning illustrations and mind-boggling facts that can be found in the book.

From chilling on the beach to a speech by the mayor. HOPweek is a speedy way for hundreds of ‘Leiden’ students who are going to be studying in The Hague to get to know each other. Many of them come from abroad. ‘I actually dare to cycle here.’

From COA to the police and from the Red Cross to a ministry, in the coming months, students from the Leiden Leadership Programme (LLP) will have the opportunity to work on real solutions for partner organisations. In December partners and students met for the first time. 'It is a great opportunity to…

What does a student member of the Faculty Council do? What is it like to be a member of this representative body and how useful is it to be a member? Students Rassoul Coelen (FC 2020-2021 and presently member of the University Council) and Max Garcia Hoogland (FR 2021-2022) talk to us about their experiences.…

How do you behave towards patients with life-threatening conditions who do not want to know all the details of the state of their health? This question brought psychologist Liesbeth van Vliet and anthropologist Annemarie Samuels together. It’s an unusual partnership, but their interdisciplinary approach…

Quantum technology, statistics and a survey with memes: definitely not your everyday research. Julia Cramer (Leiden Institute of Physics) and Sanne Willems (Institute of Psychology) investigate how people perceive quantum.

From 16 to 23 October 2025, the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs (FGGA) will host the second edition of Cyber Week. Following last year’s success, we will once again shine a daily spotlight on our teaching and research in the field of cybersecurity through LinkedIn and Instagram. Today’s societal…