PhD, Staff

Bachelor, Master

The university elections are approaching. Are you going to represent student and staff interests this coming year? University Council chair Pauline Vincenten gives a peek behind the scenes at student and staff participation at Leiden University. ‘I get so much energy from collaborating with the students…

Mozambican politician and child rights activist Graça Machel speaks October 27 at Leiden University about her work.

The Leiden University Fund and dsm-firmenich are proud to open the call for the Krijn Rietveld Memorial Awards 2025. These annual prizes honour innovative research at the Faculty of Science that contributes to a more sustainable world and has a clear societal impact.

Liveable Planet, the Leiden interdisciplinary research programme on sustainability, has a full presence at the LUGO Sustainability Day on Tuesday 9 May. Professor Jan Willem Erisman will deliver the keynote lecture. You can also ask questions about sustainability research and interdisciplinary collaboration…

Students for Palestine – a group of students from Leiden and The Hague – are holding a panel discussion in the Leiden University in The Hague Wijnhaven building on Tuesday 24 May entitled ‘Silencing Palestine’.

Staff from Leiden University are starting the Dutch universities’ staggered strike against the government cuts on 10 March. Follow the strike in this liveblog.

An impressive 22 research projects by Leiden researchers have been awarded Veni funding from the Dutch Research Council (NWO).

Are you curious about how the human skeleton works? Discover this and more on 3 October in Leiden and on 4 October in The Hague.

What will it be like to study at Leiden University in 2075? Ten surprising, artistic uni-visions could be brought to life. It’s up to you to vote for your favourite.

Dutch universities have responded positively to the new coalition plans. Investments in education, research and innovation will be prioritised, and the stringent cutbacks proposed by the previous cabinet will be reversed. Optimism is the order of the day in Leiden, though caution is advised.

Yousef Sweid was called a ‘stinking Arab’ in the sandpit at his Jewish kindergarten in Haifa. In a packed lecture hall, the Palestinian-Israeli actor performed a powerful excerpt from his show ‘Between the River and the Sea’.

Leiden University’s digital study environment is being expanded to include the Leiden student portal: a single place where as a student you can find all the information you need to organise your studies.

What practical steps can we take to resolve cross-border claims to looted art and prevent illicit trafficking in cultural goods? That's what the European Parliament asked Leiden legal scholar Evelien Campfens. Her advice: develop a registration system, issue art with a ‘passport’ and set up a European…

As an experiment, student Alicia Cai relied solely on AI tools such as ChatGPT and Claude for supervision while writing her thesis. What lessons were learned?

Connecting worlds, enhancing research and teaching, and providing innovative solutions to complex social issues: that is the idea behind interdisciplinary research. In that respect, a huge amount happened at Leiden University in 2023.

The members of the Duivelsei student association are games mad, be it computer or board games. Game of the Goose and Ludo have fallen out of favour. The students prefer more-challenging board games or online gaming instead. ‘You can be yourself here.’

Due to its success, the Leiden2022 Q&A has been extended and is looking for even more thought-provoking, interesting or unusual questions.

It is one of the most talked-about subjects right now: how do we eradicate sexual harassment and violence? Alumnus Femke Eisma is the spokesperson for Mariëtte Hamer, the government commissioner tasked with tackling this persistent social problem. Eisma studied the Dutch language at Leiden. How is her…

Purple clothing and a pride flag flying from all University buildings: Leiden University is once again taking part in Purple Friday. How do people experience this day? We asked some employees and students of the Faculty of Humanities.

On Monday 28 March a ‘pen test’ will be carried out to check the security of the classroom scanners. These people counters in University buildings were temporarily switched off in December after there was growing disquiet about privacy aspects of the devices. The pen test will be carried out in the…

The Plants & Planets exhibition brings two worlds together in a dazzling mix of science, nature and art. It opens at Old Observatory Leiden and Hortus botanicus on 7 February.

Organisation, Human resources

Leiden PhD candidate Mona Shahab climbed Mount Everest two years ago to raise money for the education of disadvantaged children in Egypt. She made it to the top and posed there with the University flag. She recently presented the flag to Rector Carel Stolker.

Which teacher knows best how to inspire their students? Carmen van den Bergh (Humanities), Egbert Koops (Law) and Arjan Louwen (Archaeology) have been nominated for the 2025 Leiden Teaching Prize.

Just like last academic year, students from Leiden University will get the chance to gain practical experience at KPN. In cooperation with the telecom company, two Impact Challenges are being offered, around the theme 'building bridges'.

The Indonesian Student Association in the Netherlands, ‘Perhimpunan Pelajar Indonesia Belanda’, has teamed up with the Indonesian embassy in The Hague and Historia.ID magazine to create an exhibition to mark the association’s 100th anniversary. The student association, which was founded in Leiden, played…

We hebben 6 van de 9 grenzen overschreden die bepalen of menselijk leven in de komende generaties nog mogelijk is op aarde. Kunnen we het tij nog keren?

From 1 March 2025, a new university ‘fossil fuel collaboration’ committee will assess potential new collaborations with the fossil fuel industry and determine whether they comply with the Paris Agreement.

Who will represent us on the university’s participation councils? The results of the 2021 university elections have been announced. New representatives will be joining many of the participation bodies at the university – the faculty councils, the employee councils and the University Council.

Paul Gobée (LUMC), Kirsty Rolfe (Humanities) and Frank Takes (Science) have been nominated for the Leiden Teaching Prize 2023.

Organisation

During the Opening of the Academic Year 2024-2025, we asked guests for their wishes and ideas for Leiden University's anniversary year in 2025.

On Tuesday 27 May a first meeting was held in response to the demonstration and occupation at the Wijnhaven building on 6 May. The aim was to explore how the university can balance the fundamental right to protest with ensuring a safe environment for all students and staff.