Improving environmental risk assessment of pesticides in surface waters

How have human-environmental entanglements changed in the Gulf of San Miguel, Darien, Panama, from the first traces human practices through to the present?

How can we organise society so as to keep our planet habitable for us and for all other life forms around us? To answer this question, Leiden researchers collaborate across disciplines, from biology to data science, and from environmental economy to archaeology.

Wetlands provide many ecosystem goods and services which include fish production. The sustainability of small-scale fisheries (SSF) has received considerable attention in recent years because fish is one of the major sources of animal protein to a considerable fraction of the global population which…

In September 2023, we started transforming a under-utilised outdoor space into a greener and more biodiverse garden in which all students and staff of the Schouwburgstraat can relax and enjoy.

Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML)

For a first time the atlas maps the soil biodiversity of the entire planet, and provide s comprehensive analysis of human-induced threats to soil organisms and soil functioning, facilitating development of new policies to protect soil and soil organisms.

Lecture

To explore the potential of marine microorganisms as producers of novel antimicrobial agents and as bioprotectants in aqua- and agriculture, using an integrative, ecology-based strategy for bioprospecting.

One of the main research focuses of the Hortus botanicus Leiden is to study how the current biodiversity we see today, has originated, changed, and developed over time. The Hortus wants to study the relationship between species in specific focal taxa and see how they have diverged over time.

Promotor: Prof.dr. G.R. de Snoo, Co-promotores: Dr. ing. M.G. Vijver, J.P.M. Vink

Software development is a complex process. It is important that software products become stable and maintainable assets.

What is the effect of pesticides, fertilizers or plastic on water quality? And how do wind and rain affect the data? These are just some of the things that Leiden environmental scientists study in the 32 ditches of the Living Lab.

Access to information is a human right (United Nations, 1948). Information technology, such as search engines and recommender systems, has become the key mediator and facilitator to connect people to information (White, 2016). Conversational artificial intelligence (AI) technology is increasingly being…

On the basis of the characteristic aspects of a picture, certain computers can tell us what the picture is showing. They can learn this in the same way that young children are able to learn to recognize images. Further improving these techniques opens the way to a whole range of new applications. Biology…

Management of Impacts on Biodiversity: What are the effects of light pollution from cities and bridges and noise pollution from passing vessels and nearby road traffic on migratory fish passage and spawning in rivers?

Research carried out at Leiden University contributes to our knowledge of sustainability. This is essential if we want to work together to find solutions to pressing issues, such as the current climate emergency and the shortage of raw materials.

Providing each cancer patient with the right treatment remains a challenge. Oncode Accelerator aims to change this by innovating the way we develop cancer treatments, thus ensuring the patient is at the heart of the process. Leiden University, the LUMC and other partners will implement this new way…

The earth has more than 7 billion inhabitants, all of whom leave behind traces of pollution. However, not all forms of pollution have the same harmful effect. Leiden scientists help determine where we should put our priorities.

Edward Elgar

How can an effective ‘Safe and Circular by Design’ method be developed for practical application in a designer’s context, particularly for the initial stages of product design, incorporating Safe-by-design strategies, LCA/LCT, risk assessment and ethics?

Which fungi live in Leiden University’s historic buildings and collections, and how can their impact on heritage and human health be understood and managed?

The research at the Living lab attracts a great deal of press attention. Please find below a small selection of the many news reports that have been published. Also take a look at the Zembla programme about the Living Lab.

A part of the steel construction of the former Gorlaeus high-rise forms the basis of a new green bike park which is part of the redevelopment of the Faculty of Science.

Animal diet studies are critical for understanding ecological processes such as trophic interactions, energy flow, and nutrient cycling. By examining what animals consume, ecologists gain insights into species specialization, predator-prey relationships, and ecosystem management.

The external tissues of plants and animals are colonized by microbial communities termed microbiota. When organisms are exposed to environmental pollutants, these substances will therefore encounter microbiota at the exposure interface.

Smart digital infrastructures predicated on myriads of sensors distributed in the environment are often rendered as key to contemporary urban security governance to detect risky or suspicious entities before or during a criminal event takes place. At the same time, they often involve surveillance of…

This thesis describes the genetic and prokaryotic diversity of giant barrel sponges.

Promotor: E.F. Smets, Co-promotor: J. Geml

The Pavement Plants Citizen Science Project invites citizens to monitor plant species growing around their homes, neighborhoods, or towns. The goal is to collaboratively monitor urban flora, measuring and revealing the species richness and biodiversity of the urban ecosystem. We believe this will lead…

In this book, Sarah Giest, Assistant Professor at the Institute of Public Administration, provides insight into the collaborative and absorptive capacities needed to provide public support to local innovation through cluster organizations.

The department of World Archaeology combines research and education about regions all over the world, from Human Origins to the Middle Ages, and from Europe, to Asia, Africa and the America’s. That broad range in time and space makes the department a dynamic pluriform community with many different approaches,…

The rapidly increasing commercial application of metallic nanoparticles within products will inevitably enhance the amount of NPs being released into soil.

The mycorrhizal symbiosis is among the most widespread species interactions on Earth⁠. This thesis focuses on orchid mycorrhiza, a unique mycorrhizal type that has caught scientists’ attention for centuries⁠.

Novel entities may pose risks to humans and the environment. The small particle size and relatively large surface area of micro- and nanoparticles (MNPs) make them capable of adsorbing other novel entities, leading to the formation of aggregated contamination.

The research connected to this topic is related to E-health.

Promotor: J.A. van Veen, Co-promotor: E.E. Kuramae

The energy system is at the heart of two of the greatest challenges of the 21st century: decreasing CO2 emissions to meet the ambitions of the Paris agreement while fulfilling the growing energy demand associated with the economic aspirations of a growing world population.

The master’s specialisation Evolutionary Biology at Leiden University investigates biology at all levels. The specialisation includes genomics, functional developmental genetics, paleobiology, behavioral biology and evolutionary ecology.

Acidobacteria is a widely distributed phylum but their functional roles in ecosystem processes are still largely elusive.

The Human Origins group at Leiden University studies the archaeology of hunter-gatherers, from the earliest stone tools in East Africa, more than three million years old, to the origin of sedentary societies towards the end of the last ice age.

'Skill, craft, and poiesis-intensive innovation' is written by Cristina Grasseni and is published in FormAkademisk.

Are you eager to bring your own questions and curiosity into scientific research? Do you question intelligence and technology in a fundamental, creative, and playful way? Could you be a researcher who challenges scientific practice and pushes its boundaries?

As a university we stand with both feet firmly in the world. Internationalisation is in Leiden’s DNA: from the very foundation of our university, the ideal of the free academy has always attracted researchers and students from across the whole world.

Assessing the risks of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) solely on the basis of experimental assays is time-consuming, resource intensive, and constrained by ethical considerations (such as the principles of the 3Rs of animal testing). The adoption of computational toxicology in this field is a high p…

How can we ensure a more resilient and sustainable supply of Rare Earths in the EU in the future?

The research that is united in the Liveable Planet programme, touches upon a wide range of aspects of human life. The goal is to deepen and expand the scope and to connect more researchers. The following case studies are examples of current research projects.