Did he dare take a gamble with his PhD research? Jeroen Methorst didn’t have to think long about it. It could fail or turn out very well. The latter is the case. Methorst developed a computer system that helps researchers find the protein they need. ‘Our whole group is now using this program.’ Methorst…

Exam, paper, exam, paper. A familiar, though sometimes little unexciting, routine for students. That is why Film and Literary students Sietske de Haan and Wouter Dijkman decided to write a blog post for the course Interculturality. Their impressive achievement was rewarded with a publication on science…

Sarah Cramsey was appointed professor by special appointment of Central European Studies at the Institute of History on 14 September. 'I am keen to incorporate different scholarly approaches into my work and raise the profile of Central European Studies in Leiden.'

Limburg lawyer Roger Cox has caused a legal revolution. With high-profile cases against the Dutch state and Shell oil company, he transformed the law into a tool to enforce climate policy. Leidraad alumni magazine spoke to him about a life defined by radical choices for a better world.

Youth crime has plummeted in the Netherlands. Good news, you might think. Yet we need to look critically at existing sanctions, says Professor by Special Appointment André van der Laan in his inaugural lecture. ‘We should evaluate whether our response is just.’

Since criticising the war in Ukraine, Russian author and cardiologist Maxim Osipov has fled Russia. Come September, he will be Leiden University’s writer in residence and teach a course on Russian literature.

A discount on textbooks is always welcome. But for these students joining a study association has meant much more than that alone.

The POPcorner, Career Service en Community Engagement Service are here to support you during your studies. This monthly newsletter provides an overview of all our activities in May!

Arbitration law has grown into a ‘sexy’ area of practice about which students are keen to write a thesis and in which many lawyers specialise.

For many a first-year, student life has well and truly begun. This also applies to students in The Hague, who were thrown in at the deep end during the HOP introduction week. We paid them a visit on a sunny afternoon at Landgoed Clingendael.

An image has great powers of persuasion. It is said that ‘a picture is worth more than a thousand words’. But these days, images can easily be manipulated with severe consequences. ‘Perhaps it’s time to reconsider the value we attach to images’, says Elize de Mul, whose PhD thesis deals with ‘digital…

What does it mean to be the ‘perfect student’? This is the focus of the Perspectify exhibition, which was opened on 16 November by President of the Executive Board Annetje Ottow.

Who can pitch a book so well that everyone wants to read it? These are the winners of the 2025 Alternative Reading List Awards.

Graduating in international law and fulfilling a childhood dream by performing your own theatre show. Alumna Fleur Verhoeff has achieved both. How did she go from studying law to the performing arts? And how does her background in international law help?

Last Thursday the Dutch House of Representatives held a debate on children being put into care when the childcare benefits scandal (toeslagenaffaire) had caused problems for their families. Four Leiden University academics were asked by the House to produce a fact sheet for this debate, bringing together…

Seven Leiden professors have been elected as members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). In total 23 new members will be inaugurated on Monday 13 September.

Jasper Knoester is the dean of the Faculty of Science. How is he doing? What kinds of things is he doing and what does his day look like? In each newsletter Jasper gives a peek into his life as dean.

Who doesn't love to turn on a horror film on a rainy evening? Fortunately, it is only fiction - or is it? According to university lecturer Evert Jan van Leeuwen, modern horror says more about our society than we think. He has been nominated for the Klokhuis Science Prize for his research into addiction…

Leiden University was present for the second time at the second Leiden Pride on Saturday.

Are you the first in your family to go to university? Or is the Dutch education system unfamiliar because you (or your parents) didn’t grow up in the Netherlands? Going to Leiden University is a great achievement, but it might feel overwhelming too. These tips will help you settle into student life.

Op 8 maart is het Internationale Vrouwendag en staat FGGA stil bij de ervaringen, perspectieven en zichtbaarheid van vrouwen. We spraken met vier vrouwen van onze faculteit over waar ze trots op zijn, hun ervaringen en maatschappelijke verandering. Hun openhartige verhalen laten zien hoe divers vrouw-zijn…

No full-time job, but full-time voluntary work instead. That’s what Aniek Moonen decided on graduating from Leiden University College The Hague, when she started work as a committee member of the Young Climate Movement (Jonge Klimaatbeweging). As its Chair, she joins CEOs and government ministers in…

At the end of March, the Voice of the Child conference launched three films on children’s hearings in European family law courts to support judicial training in child-friendly justice. Researchers from Leiden University have developed a training manual to accompany courses in the EU.

Historian Seran de Leede delved into the life of Lie Alma (1909–1990), the courageous woman from the Dutch province of Drenthe who spoke out against fascism in the 1930s and remains a source of inspiration to this day.

Alumnus Robert van Asten has been an MP for D66 since 2025. He studied Tax Law at Leiden University from 1997 to 2005. After a career in that field, he switched to local politics and later national politics.

Injections can be a source of stress and anxiety for children. The Willem-Alexander Children’s Hospital is exploring ways to improve the experience. Together with illusionist Victor Mids and researchers from Leiden, they have shown that magic can help.

Lecture, Astronomy on Tap

Symposium

So much has happened this year! 2023 was an eventful year in which several wars raged about which our experts could offer interpretation. It was also the year in which the government made apologies for the slavery past. Leiden humanities scholars were at the forefront of this with their research on…

In the ESOF2022 mini-symposium organized by the Social Resilience & Security programme, international experts with a background in psychology, philosophy, and law discussed how the online world is related to adolescent mental health issues, moral and emotional awareness and children’s rights. In three…

Award ceremony

Festival

‘Our faculty is a very international community. And that is something everybody really benefit from,’ says Yun Tian. As the officer internationalisation, she is the bridge between international students and staff, the faculty and universities abroad. ‘Science goes beyond countries and carries no nationality.…

Assistant Professor Karlsson Linnér, who works at the Department of Economics, is one of the recipients of a Veni grant. His research on the accuracy of preventive genetic testing is a fine example of the intersection of economic science and law.

Each year, around forty women in the Netherlands lose their lives, most often at the hands of a (former) partner or family member. Judges, lawyers and survivors now turn directly to Professor Marieke Liem for expertise. For her, this is telling: ‘The time has come for greater knowledge and a coordinated…

Three alumni of our Master’s degree programme in Ancient History talk to us about how they found a job after graduation during the coronavirus pandemic. During the interview, Gabriël hung a huge board covered in post-it reminders behind his laptop, Molly was glad that the members of the selection committee…

Jantien Hadders (50), head of Education and Research Policy at FGGA, lost the love of her life and, to her great sadness, did not become a mother. It was precisely by being able to share her loss in the workplace that she slowly regained trust in herself.

During International Student Week, from 14 to 18 November, we would like to put our international students into the spotlight. Ricardo Alexandre de Jesus Vaz (21) from Portugal is in his first year at FGGA and a student in the Master International Relations and Diplomacy (MIRD).

Van studenten verwachten we dat ze kritisch lezen. ‘Maar hoe dan’, zeggen ze. ‘Je leest een artikel en het klinkt allemaal logisch en overtuigend, waarom zou het niet waar zijn.’ Psycholoog Anouk van der Weiden wil studenten leren om artikelen kritisch te lezen. En meer, daarvoor ontvangt ze een Co…

Jesper van Loon, a second-year Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences student, is a fully fledged entrepreneur. He was still a minor when he and his school friend Max started their own business, BLIJLES Bollenstreek, which has now expanded to the Midden-Holland and Haarlemmermeer areas. ‘This is what I want, but…

Computer says no: end of story. Twenty years ago, a hilarious line in the British TV series Little Britain, now a reality. We all blindly follow technology at times, with varying consequences. For ISGA lecturer and researcher Daan Weggemans, it's a subject worthy of a PhD.

There are many tributaries to Rosalin Kuiper’s story and they all lead to the sea. The 28-year-old sailor was one of the five-person Team Malizia in the world’s most prestigious sailing competition: the Ocean Race.

Without academic freedom, we might not have antibiotics, nor a deep understanding of human behaviour. Literary criticism, climate models, and ecological restoration would be severely limited; just like ethical reflection on artificial intelligence, justice, trauma, parenting, faith and hope. All these…

From assistance in the event of natural disasters to peace-keeping missions. As a communication adviser, Leonoor van Poelgeest goes to all those destinations where the Royal Navy are active. Why did she choose this work and how has her Public Administration study helped her?

What can opera tell us about societies in the past and present? Leiden honours students went looking for an answer, together with students from the Dutch National Opera Academy. A final concert was, of course, part of the repertoire.

The new online diversity and inclusion dossier combines all faculty initiatives on this topic. But what is the situation on diversity and inclusion at Humanities? An interview with Aurelie van ‘t Slot, policy advisor Internationalisation, Diversity and Inclusion.

Leiden Law Cast is a podcast made by Leiden Law School, Leiden University, for everyone who wants to learn more about current legal issues.

It was his thesis supervisor during his master's in Film and Photographic Studies who encouraged Shivan Shazad to pursue a second master's in diversity policy at Ghent. He is now Manager of Diversity and Inclusion at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

Online, hybrid, on campus... It was an unpredictable year, also for the Faculty of Humanities. Luckily, there were also non-corona related stories. Let's review 2021 with this list of the most-read news articles per month.