Environmental scientist Alexander van Oudenhoven has been chosen as Discoverer of the year of the Faculty of Science. Vice Rector Magnificus Hester Bijl announced this during the faculty’s New Year’s Reception on 10 January. Biologist Changsheng Wu won the prize for best dissertation of 2016. Computer…

The late 1960s: across Europe, students are demanding the right to more participation within their universities. In 1971 Leiden University was granted an elected University Council. It became quite powerful: the Council even had the right to dismiss the Chairman of the Board.

Elina Zorina presented her work-in-progress on “Distinctiveness in the Parliamentary Arena: Consequences for Vote Choice” during the GTGC lunch seminar on the 1st of May. Please find the abstract below:

Following the European Union membership referendum in the United Kingdom on 23rd of June 2016 and its result, Brexit has turned into a theme dominating public discussion in Europe and beyond. The vote of the people of the UK to leave the EU represents an unprecedented episode in the history of European…

Er dreigen onmenselijke toestanden als gedetineerden niet twee weken eerder vrijgelaten mogen worden, stelt Miranda Boone, hoogleraar criminologie en vergelijkende penologie, in een opiniestuk in Trouw. ‘Waar de grens naar overbevolkte gevangenissen wordt overschreden, is er geen weg terug.’

On Wednesday 24 April 2024, the European Integration cluster at the Institute of Political Science and the Centre for the Study of Political Parties and Representation hosted a panel on the topic of 'The 2024 European Parliament election: what’s at stake?'

Elif Naz Kayran and Anna-Lena Nadler have received the European Political Science Review (EPSR) Prize for early career scholars.

The student debate in Leiden’s Stadsgehoorzaal promised to be ‘the key to your vote’. That may sound hyperbolic, but what this well-attended debate did achieve was increased trust in politics. ‘They even let each other finish their sentences’, the flabbergasted students concluded at the end.

SBB alumni Dennis van der Wiel and Max Wijsman are nominated for the ''Best tech-idea of 2017'' of the scientific magazine 'kijkmagazine'.

The molecule calix[4]pyrrole, synthesised in the group of associate professor Sander Wezenberg at the Leiden Institute of Chemistry, has been voted ‘Molecule of the Year’ by the readers of C2W Mens & Molecule. Wezenberg received the award from editor Daniël Linzel.

Special Issue Workshop Res Publica

At the New Year’s reception of the Faculty of Science on 6 January, it was announced that Annelien Zweemer, Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research, has been awarded the ‘Discoverer of the Year 2014’ prize. Matteo Brogi, Leiden Observatory, wrote the best dissertation in 2014 and Dennis Claessen, Institute…

After the May elections a new University Council has now taken seat. The university democracy is the result of the long-lived national student protests in 1969. Students from Leiden joined the protests for greater representation, although their actions were less revolutionary than at other universities.…

Three Dutch scientists - including Professor of Korea Studies Remco Breuker – put forward forty propositions this summer aimed at improving science. The Young Academy Leiden organised a meeting on 18 November to discuss the pamphlet.

Why are the local parties so popular? Researchers at Leiden University gave their reaction the day after the elections of 21 March.

Research on this theme concerns the legitimacy and effectiveness of Europe’s institutional order in the face of public alienation and normative contestation.

Leiden researchers study the extent to which Asian citizens can invoke the rights that they have on paper. This knowledge helps them advise the different levels of government and NGOs on how to improve the lot of poor citizens in particular.

Energy transition will entail the construction of large numbers of new energy installations. Such construction projects may meet with opposition from people living close by. Assistant Professor Bríd Walsh investigated how the local community can best take part in such projects.

Social science research helps us understand human behaviour and social structures. These are determined by various factors, which makes the research complex and increases the likelihood of drawing the wrong conclusions. The choice of research method and analysis is therefore extremely important. It…

It’s Not Easy Being Green – but we’re here to help! Do you want to live more sustainably but have no idea where to start? Are you interested in making the world greener and do you want to get to the bottom of hot topics? Or are you sceptical about climate change and do you want to hear about the…

Students awarded the highest scores to Leiden University and the Radboud University Nijmegen. These are the findings of an annual survey by Elsevier into the best study programmes in the Netherlands. Elsevier Magazine has a weekly readership of half a million, making it one of the most iinfluential…

Following the European Union membership referendum in the United Kingdom on 23rd of June 2016 and its result, Brexit has turned into a theme dominating public discussion in Europe and beyond.

Bastiaan Rijpkema, legal scholar and philosopher at Leiden University has won the 2017 New Scientist Academic Talent Prize.

The shocking murder of MP Jo Cox has brought it home to the British public that the referendum debate is in disarray. How has the campaign been handled and what would be the consequences of a Brexit? Jan Rood, Professor by special appointment of European Integration, and political scientist Hans Vollaard…

The elections for the Leiden University Student Council and Faculty Councils are coming up, starting on the 17th of May!

On 29 February there appeared a column by Maaike Warnaar in the Volkskrant on the Iranian elections.

The Synergy Award aims to connect PhD students with academic and non-academic professionals to explore the practical dimensions of their research. Four candidates will be invited to pitch their compelling impact ideas to a jury at Synergy 2021. Each pitch will also be broadcast to a live audience during…

Research from weekly magazine Elsevier shows that both the Leiden bachelor Wiskunde as the master Mathematics are rated as the best educational programs of the Netherlands according to professors. The first place was achieved by up to 70% of the votes.

Bram Geurds (20) is fascinated by politics. When he was 12, a political debate on TV caught his attention. And he decided he wanted to be mayor one day. Unsurprisingly, Bram is studying political science and is politically active. It might seem like he’s on course to become a professional politician.…

In a survey held last year by the publication Elsevier, Leiden's Computer Science programme was voted by students as the best university programme of its kind in the Netherlands. And the Rotterdam Economics programme was voted the best in its field. Leiden University now offers a combined study based…

On 6 April the Netherlands will vote on far-reaching cooperation with Ukraine. Referenda are exceptional in Dutch political history, according to Professor of Electoral Research Joop van Holsteijn.

Political scientist Leila Demarest tells about her research to Nigeria’s National Assembly. How do politicians cooperate and how are public resources distributed among the different regions?

This week we can vote in the University elections. The University Council and faculty councils are incredibly important. During the fantastic seminar on 50 years of participation that the University Council recently held, our former Rector Carel Stolker aptly said: ‘Without participation, there would…

How do you keep students’ attention when you have to compete with digital distractions like Facebook? What skills do you need in today’s rapidly changing world? Teachers attended a congress on innovative teaching on 23 November.

Wat zie jij als je verderkijkt? Hoe ziet studeren aan de Universiteit Leiden in 2075 eruit? We nodigen je uit om mee te doen met Verderkijkers.

Leiden academics Remco Breuker and Auke-Florian Hiemstra stand to win the title of Person of the Year.

Why is the sky blue? Why are most people right-handed? Why are spiderwebs so strong? These are just some of the questions arriving at Postbus 71, a Leiden2022 project where everyone can ask their questions. Friso de Hartog, the driving force behind Postbus 71, is busy answering as many questions as…

If you know a crime is about to occur, should you be able to prevent it before it has even happened? This was one of the questions that was posed in light of predictive policing as a form of mass surveillance during the debate in the elective Governance of Crime and Social Disorder class of the Crisis…

Today is the general election in the Netherlands – although the polling stations have actually been open for two days already because of the coronavirus restrictions. Leiden researchers and students are involved in all manner of ways, and are analysing the campaigns and possible results.

As of 12 Januari 2026, the FSW faculty building is called Agora. This name was chosen by the FSW community. In ancient Greece, the agora was the heart of the city: a place for meeting, dialogue and the exchange of ideas. This is exactly how we see our faculty building: an open space where knowledge,…

Hoogleraar Encyclopedie van de Rechtwetenschap Bastiaan Rijpkema roept met een opiniestuk in NRC op tot een weerbare democratie in 2025: ‘Democratisch ethos vraagt meer dan een gloedvol betoog.’

The Municipality of Veere wants to limit accommodation for tourists. However, this puts a number of council members in a dilemma. Are they allowed to debate the future of tourism in the area while being landlords themselves? Wim Voermans, Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law, comments…

At an extraordinary summit held in the Ghanaian capital of Accra, the ECOWAS states have decided to impose a string of economic, financial and diplomatic measures against Mali.

In the last few weeks Armin Cuyvers was several times in the news on Brexit. He was a studio guest during the new years episode of Legal Affairs on BNR national radio and he was a studio guest in the news programme EenVandaag.

Leiden University and Springer launched International Journal of Multimedia Information Retrieval.

Auke-Florian Hiemstra is the Leidsch Dagblad Person of the Year 2022.

The LLM Advanced International Civil and Commercial Law programme (ICCL) got off to a successful start last year. As a result of the academic bonds forged between staff and students Ilya Kokorin (ICCL student 2014-15) and Jeroen van der Weide (ICCL lecturer) took part in a competition for best comparative…

In May 2024, ahead of the European elections, Professor Wolff spoke to 135 pupils from the European Primary School The Hague about Democracy, Europe and the European elections.

On 18 January 2020 Christa Tobler took part in a fireside talk on the above-mentioned topic, together with European Parliamentarian Andreas Schwab, Swiss Parliamentarian Eric Nussbaumer and German Ambassador to Switzerland Riedel.