To truly understand Dutch literature, we have to look beyond borders. At least, that is the view of Sander Bax. From 1 August, he will be Professor of Contemporary Dutch Literature and Culture in a Transnational Dynamic.

What role does the frontal lobe play in understanding sentences? Assistant professor Jurriaan Witteman has received a grant to replicate a leading study on this question. ‘As there is some doubt about the reliability of existing neuroimaging results, it’s important to replicate influential studies.’

'Psychologists think I’m a linguist but linguists think I’m a psychologist,' says cognitive neuroscientist Xiaochen Zheng. With the Veni grant she will be able to bring these two fields of research closer together. Read her answers to five questions.

A standing ovation. A wave and a smile from the president. A final selfie. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed students in the Netherlands for the first time on Tuesday morning via a livestream in The Hague. He did so in front of two packed lecture halls at both Leiden University and The…

Of course, Jan Melissen is proud of the publication of his new book. Even so, one painful memory lingers: because of American interference, he was forced to remove the chapter on citizen diplomacy, diversity and inclusion. ‘It did affect me.’

The Week of the International Students, from 14 – 18 November is an initiative of Nuffic. The aim of this week is to showcase the importance of an international experience for both Dutch and international students. This year’s theme Meet the world, make the change highlights the positive change students…

World Heritage status comes at a cost to the local population’s human rights. PhD Candidate Sophie Starrenburg explains the drawbacks of poetic terms such as ‘the cultural heritage of mankind’.

The description of a painting directly affects how children look at that artwork. This was discovered by psychologist Francesco Walker in the Rijksmuseum. Another finding presented in his article in Nature - Scientific Reports is that giving children information intended for adults has the same effect…

Most people think of waste as something dirty that needs to be disposed of as soon as possible, but Olivia Yun-An Dung's dissertation aims to show that this does not always have to be the case. For this purpose, she focuses on Tzu Chi recycling in Taiwan. There, an army of elderly volunteers has been…

German-American Mia Müller (26) has been working at the European Parliament for three years now as Press Officer at The Greens/EFA Group. She is a bit nervous about her 'first' elections.

On 22 November, the Honours College certificate ceremony took place in a full Scheltema. Most students had received a diploma before, but this ceremony felt different, says honours graduate Maarten van der Marel. "It's a special moment."

Eva Michaels talks about the current international security environment, including intelligence issues with Sir John Sawers in an interview in El País.

The compulsory reading list is infamous among secondary school students, and for all the wrong reasons. This prompted the Faculty of Humanities and the Onderwijsnetwerk Zuid-Holland (South Holland Education Network) to launch the Alternative Reading List Award, in search of books that motivate young…

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) could be useful allies in the fight against critical environmental problems. Could because the use of GMOs is strictly regulated at the moment. A Leiden student team is now trying to make these GMOs safer with the aid of an ingenious lock.

Should we ban snack bars from neighbourhoods where residents are overweight or have diabetes? At the Common Sense about Health knowledge festival, scientists, civil servants and other professionals discussed how South Holland can become healthier. The Healthy Society Map makes it clear where there are…

Accelerating the development of new cancer medicines by joining forces—that’s the mission of Oncode Accelerator, a Dutch consortium that recently welcomed three Leiden-based PhD candidates. Under the guidance of Gerard van Westen, Marc Boef, Remco van den Broek, and Lucina-May Nollen are exploring how…

Jeroen Zwemmer’s student days in Leiden ended in 2023, after completing two bachelor’s degrees, a master’s, a student board year, and an exchange semester. Now, he’s a legal policy advisor at a Dutch government ministry.

Women are more often diagnosed with depression, whereas ADHD is much more frequently detected in men. And there are other more striking differences. What role does the brain play in mental health and what is the influence of the environment? For answers to these questions, listen to the ‘(Un)gendered…

Maria Vasile's ethnographic fieldwork in Turin reveals that volunteering and citizen engagement may not empower residents or allow them to shape their cities. Her analysis of urban gardens, food markets, and food aid initiatives calls for a broader perspective on urban peripheral areas and a shift away…

Alumna Nadia Kadhim started in 2017 as a corporate lawyer implementing the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) at one of the companies where she volunteered. By late 2022 she had received both a Most Inspiring Women in Cyber Award and was on the Forbes 30 under 30 list with her legal start-up…

2025 was a year to remember at our faculty. We celebrated our 450th anniversary, launched new degree programmes and welcomed many inspiring speakers, yet we also felt the weight of budget constraints. Our year in a nutshell:

Are you interested in expanding your knowledge on the Dutch crisis management system? Leiden University is organising a unique lecture series on the subject in collaboration with the Netherlands Institute for Public Safety (NIPV). The lectures will take place on 22 April, 13 May, and 3 June.

We started this year as we ended it in 2021: in a lockdown. But the world continues to open up. We are occasionally allowed to go into the office and students are able to return to Campus. Continue reading to find out what the rest of the year has been like.

Event

Early July was the graduation ceremony of the Leiden Leadership Programme,: a moment to reflect and celebrate the outcomes of eight months’ hard work. Leiden’s Marekerk was filled with colourful music and some wise pieces of advice: ‘Find the path that suits you best.’

Former President Kgalema Motlanthe of South Africa gave a public lecture on Campus The Hague on 7 July. His story was about the economic transformation of Africa.

Research

In the academic year 2025-2026, the project 'Sea-ing Africa: Tracing Legacies and Engaging Future Promises of 'Big' Infrastructure Projects in Port City Regions in Ghana and Morocco' will be pleased to host students from all three tracks of the MSc Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology and…

Lecture, LUCIS What's New?! Series

Tijdens het symposium ‘Transdisciplinary Study of Just Public Algorithmic Systems’, op vrijdag 24 maart in Den Haag, staat onderzoek naar het gebruik van algoritmische systemen in de publieke sector centraal. Een actueel onderwerp dat de laatste tijd veel in de belangstelling staat. Vijf vragen over…

Jasper Knoester is the dean of the Faculty of Science. How is he doing, what exactly does he do and what does his day look like? In each newsletter, Jasper gives an insight into his life.

Lecturer and PhD candidate Aholi So is one of the KNAW’s new Faces of Science. By offering a glimpse into his life as a young scientist, he hopes to inspire young people and encourage their enthusiasm for science.

From 11 to 17 September, Leiden will be all about art and science. What can the combination of these two domains do for us? And how can cooperation between them be strengthened? Several public events and a brand new symposium for specialists should answer these questions.