A surprising amount of life grows, crawls and flutters around Leiden University’s buildings. During the Biodiversity Challenge – from 30 April to 2 July – the campus will turn into a research site, and you’ll be the researcher. Grab your phone, take a look around and record what you see.

Each academic year, POPcorner offers a wide range of workshops, courses and other support activities.

Lecture and discussion

The Rutte IV cabinet will be sworn in soon. A fifth of the prospective ministers and secretaries of state studied in Leiden. Who are they and what did they study?

Light, open and green: a description that fits the new, renovated location of the Faculty of Humanities. The official opening of the Herta Mohr Building took place on 8 October, and it has many remarkable features: for example, recycled ‘mushroom columns’, a pedestrian bridge to the University Library…

In June the Final Festival took place, the closing event of the 'Social Science Lab'. New participants of Honours College Science and Society presented their solution for a current social problem.

A new government, conflicts around the world and obviously a lot of science: these are the five stories about Leiden University that you enjoyed reading in 2024.

The brief removal of Rein Dool’s ‘cigar-smoking white men’ painting generated a storm of reactions last November. Students, staff and alumni reflected on this at a symposium on Friday 26 May.

Using an innovative method, psychologist Loes Janssen and colleagues measure how long and how often parent and child are close in daily life, and how they experience that togetherness. The researchers combine ‘Bluetooth low energy beacons’ with the smartphone app Ethica to track participants' physical…

Leiden University is a member of the Una Europa European alliance. This partnership of 11 research-intensive universities is working to shape the university of the future.

Museums have long focused on power, wealth and a few famous figures. But that is changing, says Valika Smeulders, head of the history department at the Rijksmuseum. What this change comprises and how it has come about is the subject of her keynote speech at the D&I Symposium on 11 January.

As of April 2022, Mark de Rooij has been appointed SAILS Professor AI and Data Theory at the Institute of Psychology. This position will enable him to contribute to the goal of the interdisciplinary programme: to build on and expand the current expertise on AI within Leiden University, working from…

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Education

The Schoof cabinet has presented its budget. As expected, higher education is facing severe cuts. In the coming period, the Executive Board will regularly look at the consequences of what it deems an irresponsible policy.

‘Let us not forget the power of genuine engagement,’ dean Sarah de Rijcke stressed at the New Year's Reception on 7 January 2025, which was also attended by Rector Magnificus Hester Bijl and addressed the Faculty of Social Sciences.

Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, gave a guest lecture to first-year law students at Leiden University. He spoke about democracy, the war in Ukraine and the role of the Netherlands.

Developmental psychologist Ili Ma has been awarded an ERC grant to investigate misinformation among teenagers, aiming to bolster their resilience against its potentially severe consequences.

How is academic freedom restricted by the academic community itself? This was the central question at a debate at Leiden University on 14 November.

Why is water wet? What is ADHD? In De Hoe?Zo! Show, curious 9-and-10-year-olds get answers to their questions. PhD candidates take to the stage to demonstrate just how exciting science can be while enhancing their own communication skills at the same time.

A consortium including economists, psychologists and public administration scholars from Leiden University will study public acceptance of the hydrogen transition in the Netherlands. They will look at the labour market impact, public perceptions of hydrogen and businesses’ willingness to invest.

Psychology teacher of the year is Laura Nawijn. The Master Thesis Awards are for Max Kalisvaart and David Hof. Lee Aldar wins the PhD Paper Prize. The PhD Wild Card Prize 'Resilient Scientist' is won by Anastasiia Myronenko, Anne Versluis, Annemarie ten Kate, Ashley Smit, Fabian Wolters, Gita Nadinda,…

The construction of 285 student studios on land owned by Leiden University is a step closer. On Thursday, student housing organisation DUWO and the Real Estate department of the University signed the leasehold agreement for the parcel of land in the Oegstgeest part of the Leiden Bio Science Park.

Health Day has won the LUF Relationship-Promoting Activities Prize (LUF RAP). This 5,000-euro prize is awarded to an initiative by Leiden University students that brings the academic community together.

Education

One of the aims in the development of the university’s new strategic plan is to foster a dialogue between as many students, staff and external stakeholders as possible about which topics and ambitions should be included in the plan. At the beginning of May we therefore invited all our students and staff…

The conflict between Israel and Hamas has had a clear impact on Leiden University. Students and staff are angry or scared, feel unsafe and are experiencing group pressure.

Study career, professional development, and labour market preparation.

Can we truly assess whether someone finds us attractive? Cognitive psychologist Iliana Samara conducted her PhD project on romantic attraction and discovered that men, in particular, tend to overestimate the interest of their date. She explains why this may be.

The university bid farewell to its Rector Magnificus, Hester Bijl, on 13 January during the ‘Hester’s Highlights’ symposium.

The freedom to be who you are – woman, man, homosexual, heterosexual, transgender, religious, atheist, and so on – is perhaps the Netherlands’ greatest attribute. The principle of equality and the right not to be discriminated against are in the very first article of our constitution. Yet there is a…

Annetje Ottow is stepping down as President of Leiden University’s Executive Board on 1 September 2025 after almost five years in the role. She looks back at the highs and lows – and ahead to what’s next.

Op welke manieren kan inclusieve communicatie ervoor zorgen dat mensen zich welkom voelen? Hierover ging het D&I-symposium van Universiteit Leiden.

Ten Leiden museums and heritage institutions have curated the online exhibition ‘Carel’s Universe’. They selected objects from their collections that symbolise retiring Rector Magnificus Carel Stolker and the research in Leiden. With direct references, playful associations and the odd nod and wink.

What happens in the mind of someone with ADHD? GZ psychologist Bianca Boyer discusses this in a two-part episode of the Dutch 'Podcast Psycholoog'. She likes to look beyond the symptoms described in the DSM-5. 'Those are just the tip of the iceberg.'

LEGO creations, a clothesline of visions and a journey into the past and the future: just some of the highlights of Uni-vision day, where creatives developed their vision of the future of study.

The new cabinet has finally taken office. Six of its members studied in Leiden, once again making the University a key supplier to the cabinet. Who are these alumni?

Last year, Dr. Henk van Steenbergen received a Grass Shoot grant to completely redevelop the research master's course 'Experimentation I: Programming Psychological Experiments'. The revised course was taught for first time last block and has just come to an end. Time for a brief recap.