Vincent van Heuven passed away unexpectedly on Friday 6 February 2026 at the age of 76 at his home in Kûbaard (Friesland), the Netherlands.

Researchers at the Faculty of Science work at the frontiers of knowledge every day, tackling today’s major societal challenges. Their work is recognised through grants, prizes and other awards. We highlight some of these achievements.

With a recently published major research project and an exhibition at the Rijksmuseum, the struggle for independence in Indonesia has been thrusted back into the spotlight. Leiden University is devoting attention to this topic as well. History students Sander van der Horst and Melle van Maanen joined…

What did medieval scholars think of the books they read? In her inaugural lecture, Professor Mariken Teeuwen will talk about the texts they wrote in the margin.

Three new initiatives will provide a more diverse view of Leiden’s academic history, literally and figuratively: a historical study on the background of students and scientists, a new book about the Academy Building, and two new sculptures of female scientists, Ewine van Dishoek, Professor of Molecular…

A better balance between teaching and research duties, greater recognition of team performances and the elimination of simplistic assessment criteria. The ‘Academia in Motion’ paper published by the Leiden University Recognition and Rewards describes the main problems with recognition and rewards in…

Fifteen knowledge institutions and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science have signed the covenant for Open Science NL. Leiden University has also joined the covenant, via the Universities of the Netherlands. This marks the start of the Dutch Research Council’s and brings the transition to open…

It is with deep sorrow that we share the news that our dear colleague Andrea Evers passed away on Monday, 4 August 2025. Since 2013, Andrea had been affiliated with the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences at Leiden University as Professor of Health Psychology. She was an undeniable driving force…

What if seriously ill patients do not want to hear their diagnosis? Does a clinician always need to provide a patient with all available information? Communication researcher Liesbeth van Vliet, medical anthropologist Annemarie Samuels and research intern Fiona Brosig will put these questions on open…

The Lorentz Center is a melting pot that is visited by researchers from around the world. ‘Miracles happen’ during the five-day interactive workshops at the Center. And there is an extra reason to celebrate the center’s 25th anniversary. On 28 April, the Dutch Research Council (NWO) and Leiden University…

To facilitate the search for new antibiotics. That is the aim of Gilles van Wezel, professor molecular biotechnology at the Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL). He wants to do this by looking at similarities in the DNA of antibiotic-producing bacteria. Van Wezel has been awarded an ERC Advanced grant…

How do you behave towards patients with life-threatening conditions who do not want to know all the details of the state of their health? This question brought psychologist Liesbeth van Vliet and anthropologist Annemarie Samuels together. It’s an unusual partnership, but their interdisciplinary approach…

One and a half hectares of polder, a large volume of water, and a group of curious researchers from various universities and scientific backgrounds led by ecologist Maarten Schrama. These are the ingredients needed to answer the question: how do water retention areas affect nature, animals, and our…

How can the academic world best handle the new political reality in the United States? This is the question that managers, lecturers, researchers and students at Leiden University discussed on Friday afternoon at a gathering in the Kamerlingh Onnes building. ‘Don’t just give in; defend academic free…

‘What I find most alluring about soil life is that you can steer it,’ researcher Martijn Bezemer of the Institute Biology Leiden (IBL) reveals. ‘You can ask: What do you want? And then I can transform the soil into something you need. At least, that is what we thought.’

Academic freedom is something to be cherished. The freedom to conduct research, design courses and publish research findings as we see fit is crucial to our work.

As Professor of Translational Neuro-oncology, Marike Broekman researches how brain tumour treatment can be improved. She will discuss this in her inaugural lecture along with her work as a neurosurgeon and the importance of a positive workplace culture.

How does the soil we grow our vegetables in, affects the health of our gut? And does a healthy soil gives crops a better quality and taste? These are some of the questions Soil ecologist Emilia Hannula and a big consortium will work on. With an NWO-KIC grant of 1.8 million, CML, IBL, FGGA, the LUMC,…

Mathematician Francesca Arici has joined the Raising Public Awareness Committee of the European Mathematical Society. She aims to coordinate and unite the European efforts of communicating and promoting mathematics. ‘We also hope to achieve more recognition for people who do science communication.’

He came to the Netherlands for three months and never left. Marcello Bonsangue is the new scientific director of the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS) since January this year. 'I think it is important to be there for the people of our institute. My door is always open.'

The past year was once again a year of outstanding achievements and strong engagement for the Faculty of Social Sciences. In this hall of fame, we proudly highlight a selection of awards, grants and appointments as part of the many valuable contributions — visible and behind the scenes — that together…

The Netherlands is losing plant species that rely on pollination by insects. Leiden environmental scientist Kaixuan Pan demonstrates this after analysing 87 years of measurements from over 365,000 plots. The news is alarming for our biodiversity and food security. ‘75 per cent of our crops and 90% of…

Assistant professor Max van Duijn is the new chair of The Young Academy. He aims to support young academics, bring research closer to society and make academia more resilient.

Conference, Interdisciplinary Workshop

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.

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…

This Thursday, January 18th 2024, our esteemed colleague Jan Zaanen passed away. Jan was one of our star scientists, larger than life, with an unabashed, boisterous drive for the best of physics at the Institute Lorentz, at the Leiden Institute of Physics and in the full international scientific community.…

Permission was recently given for all members of the examining committee and co-supervisors at PhD ceremonies to wear academic dress, even if they’re not full professors. How historic is this change?

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For fifteen years, Recep Uysal carried out research on positive psychology in Turkey; it is even the subject of his PhD. That was until he had to flee Turkey and start again from scratch in the Netherlands. Re-entering the academic world was a challenge, but he rediscovered his love for the field in…

Better supervision of PhD candidates, clear guidelines on career paths and an MRI scanner that can be accessed by all researchers: these are the recommendations from the new self-evaluation. Colleagues say: ‘This forces us as an institute to formulate our mission and vision more precisely.’

Whilst 2020 has been an unusual and taxing year for colleagues at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA), the Institute nevertheless can look back on an impressive range of successful grant applications during the previous year. This impressive result was achieved on top of excellent results…

2021 was an eventful year once again for the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs (FGGA). Hybrid, working from home, online education, on-campus education, face masks, self-tests, keeping distance, quarantine and the coronavirus. Words that have now become a standard part of our vocabulary when…

No procession of professors, just a handful of people in the church and snowdrifts outside Leiden’s Pieterskerk: 8 February 2021 was no ordinary Dies Natalis. Carel Stolker transferred the rectorate to Hester Bijl, and Annetje Ottow became the new President of the Executive Board. With an honorary doctorate…

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