Vedran Dunjko appointed to full professor of quantum computing at Leiden University, the Netherlands.

Since September, Jelle Oonk has been the chair of the Science Faculty Council. Jelle is a third-year student, combining Physics and Astronomy studies with this responsible role. Time to get to know him better. Five questions for the new chair.

Quantum Rules lab van Leiden Universiteit biedt proefjes en experimenten voor middelbare scholieren om te leren over kwantum natuurkunde. Henk Buisman vertelt over het 5 jarige jubileum.

Pesticides can form a toxic cocktail when they occur in combination in surface water. This is the finding of research that Leiden University and the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) presented on Monday 14 October. The Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management…

PhD candidate Karen van den Akker has written a children’s book to get young girls excited about technology. The picture book ‘Met mama naar Mars’ tells the story of Luna, who wants to travel to Mars.

Technology and privacy, trust and mistrust. A discussion about this broke out when the University installed scanners and students protested. On Wednesday 2 February experts from Leiden University will explore this topic at the eponymous symposium. We called Roy de Kleijn, as a computer scientist and…

Facility

For four years, Vicky Beckers examined thin slices of wood under a microscope, mapping the anatomy of two plant families. Her research helps identify different wood species, benefiting both the timber trade and archaeology.

On Wednesday 27 September we will be holding a debate for students and staff on our links with the fossil fuel industry in relation to the topic of sustainability. All students and staff of the university are cordially invited. If you’re still not sure about whether to attend, these four questions and…

Martijn Verkuilen is the winner of the Unilever Research Prize 2022. By transferring DNA from a plant into yeast, he made the first move to produce a new drug for type 2 diabetes. He collected his prize in Wageningen on 24 November.

Should we be growing rice and building materials instead of grass for cows? From invasive crayfish to cultural heritage and groundwater levels: ten graduating students explored the future of the Groene Hart, the rural region just outside the cities of Delft, Rotterdam and Leiden where they study.

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…

A time-lapse of the universe in more detail than ever before: that’s the aim of the NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile, which will unveil its first images of the night sky on 23 June. Researchers at Leiden Observatory have played a major role in making it all possible.

Gijs van der Velden has one of the best study results in his first college year of all science studies. With that, he won the Young Talent Incentive award and received 500 euros of the Koninklijke Hollandse Maatschappij der Wetenschappen (KHMW). The biology student remains quite nonchalantly. ‘Of course,…

It was already the most cited publication ever written at our faculty, but now a new milestone has been reached. Last month, a paper by emeritus professor Jan Reedijk and his co-authors surpassed 10,000 citations — and the count keeps rising.

Nikie Veld is an education coordinator at Biology. Her job now mainly revolves around getting students back to the Faculty. ‘In the corona era, we were constantly rearranging the timetables.’

A team of international researchers led by Tomas Stolker in the Netherlands has imaged a young gas giant exoplanet near a 12-million-year-old star. The planet is orbiting a star at which planet formation has finished, while the same-aged companion star still has a planet-forming disk. The researchers…

Organisation

ESA’s Euclid mission is to reveal the dark side of the Universe. But how? Professor of Observational cosmology Henk Hoekstra explains it in his interview with Space Team Europe and Horizon Magazine. He uses enlightening examples such as… a swimming pool! Listen to Henk Hoekstra to understand how Euclid…

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Facility, Organisation, Security

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The Leiden University Student Platform (LUS) is a student-led ‘think-tank’. It consists of eight members: one representative from each of the seven faculties plus one chair.

IncLUsion is a student initiative that enables refugees who are not (yet) able to register on a regular study programme to follow courses at Leiden University. But studying is more than just attending classes, which is why IncLUsion also offers a buddy system. Buddies are Leiden University students…

Speaking for the Executive Board, Timo Kos reflects on the university’s security policy and what lies ahead. ‘We want to keep our buildings open, but we also need to be able to guarantee the safety of everyone there. It’s a real balancing act.’

In his leaving interview, Martijn Ridderbos doesn’t have to think long when asked what he is most proud of. ‘Bringing people together; creating things together. Reducing the gap between researchers and the staff who support them because the latter are essential. We’ve achieved that and the seeds have…

On International Women's Day (8 March) we take time to consider female emancipation and participation. What does this day mean for Leiden University, and how does it tie in with our aim of becoming more diverse and inclusive? We talked about these issues with Annetje Ottow, who recently became the…

Jaïr van Rhenen studied Medicine in Leiden and is now a GP in the largely religious Veenendaal. Before this, he worked as a tropical medicine doctor in Lesotho. ‘If you have the prospect of an afterlife, you often respond differently to illness.’

Four PhD candidates from Leiden University started the two-year Europaeum Scholars Programme this month. They have now completed the first week of the programme. How was it and what do they expect from this programme?

How to innovate education? In this series, the Honours Academy highlights examples from their educational testing ground that aim to inspire. Today: the liberating effect of pass/fail and ‘unessays’ at Honours College Law.

The Dutch universities as a whole are lobbying for a 'normal' academic year from the end of August, where on-campus teaching will be possible. It's a view that Leiden University shares. Rector Hester Bijl talks about what teaching will be like then. She also looks back on a year of lockdown.

Scientists have detected a neutrino with the highest energy ever measured. Leiden physicists Maarten de Jong and Dorothea Samtleben were involved in this project, which was widely covered in newspapers and online media last week.

On Thursday 8 December, the project teams of Leiden University and Heijmans Utiliteit, together with the construction workers of the project, celebrated reaching the highest point of phase 2a of the Gorlaeus Building. An important milestone in the construction and traditionally the moment to put the…

Hundreds of students and staff from Leiden University gave a ‘whistle concert’ on 11 December against the planned cuts to higher education. Similar protests were held in other student cities on the same day.

Joost Barendse has been reappointed assessor for the coming year. This means that Joost will represent the students of our faculty for another year. What does he think about this and what are his plans? Three questions to our previous and future assessor.

Leiden University wants to contribute to a sustainable society, a healthy climate and the reduction of litter and waste. This intention is in alignment with the introduction of our Pure concept, the integral concept for our catering activities.

Education

On 10 June, students and staff from all the Dutch universities will go on strike against the government’s proposed budget cuts. The day after the strike, on 11 June, the House of Representatives will debate the Spring Budget Memorandum, which includes the proposed cuts. The university supports this…

In a few weeks’ time Carel Stolker will be retiring as Rector Magnificus. In a double episode of the Science Shots podcast, we take stock: what were the key lessons, how has the coronavirus crisis been and of course, what will he do to avoid the post-retirement void? Stolker shares his experiences in…

Heavy! This is the first word that comes to lecturer Marjo de Graauw’s mind when she looks back on the past year. But with her creativity and experience with educational innovation she was nonetheless able to provide her usual high standard of teaching.

Education

Security

In March, Dutch universities will take staggered strike action against the planned cuts. The strike will begin in Leiden on Monday 10 March. The university supports the strike action but is not going to close that day. Below we inform you how the strike will affect our university, students and staff…

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