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Plant diversity is essential for us and our planet as it sustains the stability of our ecosystems, provides vital materials and food to us and supports many ecosystem services.

On the 20th of June, Camil Staps successfully defended a doctoral thesis. Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Camil on this achievement!

Alice Twemlow has recently been interviewed for Design Exhibition Scotland.

Leiden University, Wijnhaven Campus, Turfmarkt 99, The Hague | Date: 12 June 2023 | Time: 14:00 – 17:00

Students from Leiden University will be able to study in the Stadsgehoorzaal on Breestraat in Leiden from Saturday 5 to Tuesday 15 December. The main auditorium of this city centre concert hall has been transformed into a unique pop-up study area that will provide temporary study spaces for over 200…

The year 2023 saw the earthquake in Turkey and Syria, the Wagner Group rebellion and wildfires and floods as all the weather records were smashed. Our most-read stories were about the climate crisis and the elections: here’s the list.

More than 100 teachers, educators and policymakers from 25 countries gathered in Leiden from 18 October for the Space Education International Workshop. Their goal is to inspire children using astronomy and space sciences.

The Hague Diplomacy Podcast aims at bringing the themes of the journal's research off the page, and onto the discussion table. Each episode will feature a guest who will share their insights and personal experience within their practice of or research on diplomacy. Available via SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts…

The production of sustainable energy can take up to 1000 times more space than fossil fuels, environmental researcher Paul Behrens concludes in a publication in Energy Policy. Various media reported on this remarkable outcome.

This thesis discusses several questions regarding the double ramification cycle as a Chow class on the moduli space of stable n-pointed genus g curves using tools from so-called logarithmic geometry.

Two talented academics from Leiden who recently obtained their PhD have been awarded a Rubicon grant by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). The grant enables them to gain experience at a knowledge institute abroad.

Science education project Space Awareness engaged 230,000 people in 68 countries with the excitement and challenges of space sciences and technologies. After three years, the project coordinated by Leiden Observatory came to an end in March and has now been evaluated.

Until 15 May, Open Space will give room for artistic creation and experimentation in a partnership between artists and astronomers. The project is a collaboration among Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT), Korzo and the Leiden Observatory. Starting on 3 May, young dancers of NDT 2, three choreographers, three…

An international team of laboratory astrophysicists and astrochemical modellers has shown that glycine, the simplest amino acid and an important building block of life, can form under the harsh conditions that govern chemistry in space. The results have been published this week in Nature Astronomy and…

The Werkgroep Leidse Sterrewacht (WLS) is an amateur association that, in addition to organising public activities, is also heavily involved in maintaining the historical telescopes in the Old Observatory.

With a special symposium at Museum Boerhaave, ESO celebrated its 60th anniversary on Monday, 26 September. More than 100 scientists, politicians and people from industry were present to look back on collaborations, milestones and discoveries. Leiden astrochemist Ewine van Dishoeck was one of the pre…

Spatial analysis on the basis of material culture has always been one of the major topics in archaeological research. Designating Place analyses the urban space of Roman Ostia and Pompeii in different ways, namely via geophysical analysis, spatial analysis, iconographic analysis and epigraphic analy…

Research truly comes to life when it contributes meaningfully to society. By sharing our findings, advising policymakers or contributing to community projects – we can make a real impact. Scroll down and discover how Science and society can mutually benefit from each other.

Space diplomacy, defined as ‘processed of dialogue that result in outcomes of cooperation or conflict on a given space issue’ [1], has shielded space from great power conflicts playing out elsewhere – both during the Cold War and in the decades that followed.

Bridging the gap between the space sector and society, together with students from other disciplines. That’s the aim of the LDE Space & Society Honours Programme, which is launching this year. Applications close 6 October 2024. Read on to discover if it’s for you!

The Leiden Science Young Talent Award is awarded yearly to a student who completed their bachelor’s degree with an excellent thesis.

A symposium on space diplomacy for experts and the general public will take place in The Hague on Monday 12 June. Everyone has an interest in learning more about this topic, says Professor Jan Melissen. ‘The scope of international relations has expanded beyond our planet.’

Asteroids, pieces of matter orbiting round the sun, have turned out to be extremely valuable. Asteroid Psyche contains a quantity of metals that together are worth more than the entire global economy. NASA is heading for it.

The Univerisity of Sharjah organises a conference on February 22-23, 2017 ; Call for papers has started.

Tanja Masson-Zwaan, an assistant professor at the Institute of Air and Space Law, spoke on Friday 14 April about space mining on BBC Radio.

The Hague Space Resources Governance Working Group, hosted by the IIASL, has recently agreed on the Draft Building Blocks for the Development of an International Framework on Space Resource Activities and will present the outcome of its work during the NewSpace Europe Conference in Luxembourg. The Executive…

One of the ECSL’s most prominent activities is the ECSL Summer Course on Space Law and Policy, welcoming students at all academic levels as well as select young professionals currently active in the space or related sectors. Now in its 33rd year, the course has built a vast global network of alumni.

With 8.9 million euros from the Danish National Research Foundation, Aarhus University and Leiden Observatory will establish the Center for Interstellar Catalysis. The centre is led by Aarhus professor Liv Hornekær and aims to find out how and when the building blocks of life formed in the Universe.…

Leiden team runner-up in the European Regional Round at the Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court 2016!

An international team of astronomers has shown in a laboratory at Leiden University (the Netherlands) that methane can form on icy dust particles in space. The possibility had existed for quite some time, but because the conditions in space were difficult to simulate, it was not possible to prove this…

German scientists and NASA have developed a bacteria-killing coating for space toilets. With this coating they hope to protect astronauts in space stations from pathogens. Professor of Biological chemistry Nathaniel Martin sheds light on the discovery: 'You don't expect nasty bacteria up there, but…

On 10-11 October, the conference "The Charter's Spaces" will take place at the University of Namur. The programme has now been published.

Promotor: Prof.dr. H.V.J. Linnartz, Co-Promotores: H.M. Cuppen, S. Ioppolo

The project ‘Founding an Inclusive Space’ investigates the histories of various LGBT+ archives in the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom.

This research combines archaeological, archaeometric and ethnohistorical research to study the organisation of settlement space and residence rules among the Taino Indians during the Late Ceramic Age (AD 1000-1492).

The LOFAR radio telescope produces petabytes of data every year. Radio Astronomers use complex multi-step pipelines to process this data and produce scientific images.

Amino acids are the building blocks for life on earth. They may originate in space and reach the Earth via comets and meteorites. Daniël Paardekooper examined part of this hypothesis. PhD defence on 5 July.

The Leiden University Green Office is pleased to announce its Spring Podcast competition -- Beyond the Safe Space -- on the theme: the Planetary Boundaries.

In 2015, Jorryt Matthee thought he discovered an extremely distant galaxy called CR7, which lacked elements heavier than helium. Three years later, he shows with measurements using the ALMA telescope that the galaxy does have carbon after all, and even in normal concentrations. The American Astronomical…

The Old Observatory of Leiden is the oldest existing university observatory in the world. While students from Leiden University attend lectures in the main part, the visitor center in the basement and the telescopes on the building serve the general public. On this website, you will find information…

The Leiden | Islam interview series contains short documentary-style videos including interview flashes with leading scholars in the field of Islam and Muslim societies. With this series, LUCIS aims to show the value of unconventional insights related to Islam and Muslim societies, and to relate them…

How we think about and act on the usefulness of scientific research has epistemological and political implications: what knowledge consists of, how it comes about and to what ends. In this dissertation, I situate the usefulness of scientific research in concrete places for knowledge exchange. The exchange…

Parliaments in democratic systems serve as the people’s representatives, legislators and overseers of the executive. They have the power to define the framework in which the executive can act and must report about its action. For parliaments to fulfil their roles, though, they depend on access to information.…

Starting from Husserl’s somewhat controversial claim about the immortality of the constituting subjectivity, this thesis uses the limit-case of death in order to present a phenomenological exploration of the notion of subjectivity and its relationship to nature. It also offers a second-order discussion…

The Old Obervatory Leiden is one of the partners of the local learning ecosystem ‘Verwonder om de Hoek’, an educational platform from Leiden that lets school children and families wonder about the world of Nature, Science, Technology and Sustainability. On this page you will find the educational programmes…

On this section of the website you can find more information about the Old Observatory and the current astronomy research institute.

Promotor: M. de Jong, Co-Promotor: Samtleben