Academic ceremony
Opening academic year 2025-2026
- Date
- Monday 1 September 2025
- Time
- Explanation
- The live stream starts at 14:45. After the event, guests are invited to stay until 18:00 for informal networking and a drink.
- Address
- Pieterskerk
Kloksteeg 16
2311 SL Leiden
Leiden University will celebrate the start of the new academic year with its traditional opening ceremony in the Pieterskerk church in Leiden. This year’s opening of the academic year will be an extra special celebration marking our 450th anniversary. The afternoon will be devoted to the theme of the anniversary: Ahead of the Times. The Executive Board of Leiden University warmly invites you to join this celebration.
Climate change, conflict, disinformation and strained public services are issues we grapple with every day. As our researchers, students and alumni work to find solutions to the grand challenges of our time, it is the younger generations, in particular, who are helping to shape a better future.
We are therefore proud to give the floor to Charlotte Poot, postdoc researcher in geriatric care at the LUMC and co-founder of the Hospital Hero startup, and Sebastiaan Grosscurt, behavioural ecologist and PhD candidate. How do they look back on their time as students in Leiden and The Hague? How has the university shaped them? Who or what inspired them? What lessons have they learned for their career and life? And what is their message for the next generation of students?
Hester Bijl and Timo Kos (Rector Magnificus and acting President of the Executive Board) will look to the year ahead.
The Leiden University Student Platform will award the Leiden Teaching Prize to the most creative, inspiring lecturer of the past academic year.
A unique alumni ensemble of singers and musicians from the Otis music company will perform two special pieces they recently played at the popular Canal Concert in Leiden in July.
After the event, guests are invited to stay until 18:00 for informal networking and a drink.
More information
- Entrance of student and board processions
- Opening speech by Timo Kos, acting chair of the Executive Board
- Keynote speech by Charlotte Poot, postdoctoral researcher in elderly care at the LUMC and co-founder of Hospital Hero
- Keynote speech by Sebastiaan Grosscurt, behavioural ecologist, nature educator and journalist
- Musical interlude
- Speech by Hester Bijl, rector magnificus
- Musical interlude
- Closing remarks by Timo Kos
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Charlotte PootCharlotte Poot studied Biomedical Sciences in Leiden. She is currently a postdoc researcher in geriatric care at the LUMC and co-founder of the Hospital Hero startup, which helps prepare young children for a hospital stay.
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Sebastiaan Grosscurt studied at Leiden University College in The Hague and is now a behavioural ecologist. For his PhD research on sensory ecology, he is studying the cumulative effect of light and noise pollution on animal behaviour. In addition, he provides nature education and writes as a journalist for various newspapers.
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Timo Kos is the Vice President of Leiden University’s Executive Board. He has experience in various board and executive roles focusing on teaching, student and teaching staff support and innovation at Delft University of Technology, LDE Universities, SURF and Npuls, where research and teaching organisations work together on ICT innovations. Kos began his career at Capgemini Consulting, in positions including that of manager of the Teaching and Labour Market advisory group, and has been an adviser at the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, DUO, the education inspectorate and various educational institutions including Leiden University. Kos studied history at the University of Amsterdam.
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Hester Bijl is Rector Magnificus of Leiden University and Professor of Numerical Mathematics at the Mathematical Institute of the Faculty of Science. She is also a member of the TNO Supervisory Board and a commissioner for the Impuls Zeeland regional development agency. Bijl is also a member of the Leiden Bio Science Park board.
Hester Bijl studied Applied Mathematics at Delft University of Technology, where she also obtained a PhD in numerical mathematics in 1999. She also obtained a Master’s degree in English Language and Literature from Leiden University. For her research on applications of numerical fluid dynamics in aerospace and wind energy technology, she received, among other things, person grants from NWO. She was a member of the first cohort of the KNAW Young Academy and also served on its board. Between 1999 and 2003, she was a visiting researcher at NASA Langley Research Center on several occasions.
Van Hagerbeer organ
The first organ to be installed in what is now the Pieterskerk church dates from 1446 and was probably built by Jacob van Biltsteyn from Kampen. In 1639, the instrument was restored by father and son Van Hagerbeer. To this day, about 100 pipes from the original organ are part of the Van Hagerbeer organ, ranking them among the oldest playable organ pipes in the world.
Jan Verschuren, organist
The Van Hagerbeer organ is played by Jan Verschuren, who studied the organ at the Leuven and Utrecht conservatoires. He has given organ recitals throughout Europe. Verschuren succeeded Folkert Grondsma as the organist incumbent at the Hartebrugkerk in Leiden and is also the university organist for Leiden University and the Eindhoven University of Technology. In 2002, he was decorated by the Société Académique des Arts-Sciences-Lettres in Paris for his contributions to promoting French organ music. During the opening of the academic year on 1 September, Verschuren will be accompanied by Bert Crama to operate the stops.
Otis music company
Otis is a semi-professional musical theatre company consisting of more than forty theatre enthusiasts, including a large number of alumni from Leiden University. For this occasion, a choir of 22 singers will perform, accompanied by Julia Buizer on piano and Sarif Tribou on cajon. In recent years, Otis has put on spectacular shows at venues including the Leidse Schouwburg, Theater De Muze in Noordwijk aan Zee, Stadstheater Zoetermeer and De Theaterhangaar in Valkenburg. In addition, the ensemble is regularly asked to perform at various large and small events in Leiden and the surrounding area. Otis performed in July during the Leiden Canal Concert, which celebrated 450 years of Leiden University.
During the opening of the academic year, the choir and guest artist Norman Ebicilio will perform the song ‘Baba Yetu’, just as they did during the canal concert. The choir will also sing ‘Als wij niets doen’ from the musical Soldaat van Oranje.