After receiving positive feedback from peers, socially anxious young people feel as confident about themselves as their non-anxious counterparts. 'These young people are then able to handle new social situations more confidently,’ says Leiden psychologist Anne Miers. Her research is published in the…

Light makes us flourish – in this respect we humans are just like a rose or an azalea. Light can also be used to treat people who are ill. In Leiden, Sylvestre Bonnet and Esther Habers are working – each in their own discipline – on new applications of light in a clinical context.

Have you had a busy week at work? If so, it’s better to take a walk in a natural environment than to go shopping in the city.

From monitoring pollution to tracking rainfall, citizen science comes in different shapes and sizes. But at its heart, it’s about the relationships between citizens, policymakers and researchers.

How do the starchy botanical foodways reflect upon previous archaeological understandings in the northern and circum-Caribbean?

Meet the newest Full Professor at the Leiden Observatory: Joe Hennawi. All the way from Santa Barbara, California, Hennawi will strengthen the astronomy institute. In Leiden, he will use his recent ERC Advanced Grant to study how supermassive black holes come into existence.

Lecture

The article deals with the influence of the Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons between Switzerland and the EU on the international tax separation, more specifically on the tax separation of tax deductions for natural persons.

In the ‘Imaginary’ exhibition, its curators show how society is made up of mathematics. From algorithms that save lives to ones that generate art. The exhibition is from 2 June to 25 July at Oude UB in Leiden.

In the 60s and 70s, Black Power groups were also active in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. This is what PhD candidate Debby Esmeé de Vlugt has discovered.

The postwar Liberal International Order faces grave challenges today mostly in the form of geopolitical competitions among great powers and exclusionary identity politics unfolding across different countries.

For people who are seriously ill, an empathetic doctor can make a world of difference. Psychologist Janine Westendorp examined helpful and harmful communication in the consulting room. ‘It’s very important to stress that you are always there supporting the person, even if there’s no cure.’

Digitalisering ondermijnt de democratische rechtsstaat en verschuift macht van parlementen naar Silicon Valley, waarschuwt Reijer Passchier, hoogleraar digitalisering en beginselen van de democratische rechtstaat (OU) en docent staatsrecht in Leiden, in een podcast van de Publieke Ruimte.

The Dutch Government recently announced measures to limit the loss of purchasing power. These include, for example, raising the minimum wage and healthcare benefits. Another way for households to maintain purchasing power is to work more. Olaf van Vliet, Professor of Economics, explains the effects…

During the guest lecture on 9 February, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Rob de Wijk and Frans Osinga discussed the situation in Ukraine and Taiwan. The crises in eastern Ukraine and the increasing tensions around Taiwan highlight the challenges the West faces in deterring aggression in the new era of key dynamics…

According to Brussels, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has systematically been dismantling the rule of law in Hungary since 2010. In a final attempt to do something about this, the EU wants to make payment of subsidies dependent on respect for the rule of law.

The Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies in collaboration with the University of Geneva, the Chinese Journal of International Law (ChineseJIL, OUP) and the European Society of International Law (ESIL), are pleased to invite public international scholars and researchers to attend a conference…

Eating fewer carbs, moderate amounts of protein, and more fats — welcome to the ketogenic diet! While a ketogenic diet can have various effects on body and mind, did you know there are different types of ketogenic interventions? In this episode, Eline Dekeyster shares more about this topic.

On 24 April 2025, political scientist Pawan Kumar Sen will defend his PhD dissertation,

Parents’ talk about new stimuli such as persons or objects strongly affects how avoidant or fearful their child will react. No stronger effect was found when parents had an anxiety disorder or in children with fearful temperaments. Publication by a team of Leiden psychologists in 'Clinical Child and…

Anyone can tell a story. That is the guiding principle Hans Dekker, Senior programme leader at the Centre for Professional Learning (CPL), and his colleague Suzanne Verhees use to kick off their multi-day Storytellling course. Arjan van Unen participated in the course over the summer and learned how…

In this article, Barrie Sander together with his colleagues explore whether fairness in digital governance inadvertently entrenches structural inequalities

PhD defence

This Spring we relaunched our free online course The Importance and Power of Music in our Society.

In April, the Honours Class 'Law, Power and Inequality: Global Perspectives’ will start. Professor of Law & Society Maartje van der Woude has developed and coordinates this unique class which is innovative both in content and collaboration as in design.

Thanks to fanatical lobbying various groups of citizens and traders had a lot of influence on the initial success of the Dutch colony in Brazil. This is the conclusion of Leiden PhD candidate Joris van den Tol, who defended his thesis on 20 March.

In a recent article for the magazine Public Seminar, Santino Regilme argues that democracy across continents is being quietly usurped by a transnational billionaire class.

How did Google's computer programme AlphaGo become so powerful? On June 29, developer Aja Huang elaborated on this during a lecture in the Gorlaeus building.

In this sub-project a selected number of narrative texts will be examined written in the Eurasian realm in the period 1300-1800, focusing on representations of kingship and royal authority.

In this publication, May Tamimova and Tahir Abbas researched the existing literature about violence and hatred against places of worship.

The response of international organizations to the problems of cross-border death and gift taxation needs to be revisited, according to PhD candidate Vassilis Dafnomilis. PhD defence on 3 June 2021.

Do you wanna know how to recycle? Check out the guides LUGO made! The recycling guides can be both found in Dutch and English, and are specified for both Leiden and The Hague.

She knew that a degree in Public Administration would be a stepping-stone to a career in politics. And that is exactly what Leiden alumna Samira Rafaela (30) wanted. Thanks to preferential votes, this member of the D66 party is the first Dutch MEP from an Afro-Caribbean background.

President Donald Trump’s decision to freeze U.S. foreign aid is raising concerns about ceding global influence to China. The Associated Press explores how this shift could weaken America’s soft power, traditionally used to build alliances and counter adversaries.

While the U.S. reconsiders its global commitments, Japan remains a stable partner, having cultivated the roots of its bilateral partnerships in the Indo-Pacific region and expanded its commitment to global health.

On Wednesday 13 December 2017 Jaap Wieland defended his doctoral thesis entitled ‘De bescherming van concurrentiebelangen in het bestuursrecht’ (the Protection of Competition Interests in Administrative Law).

Subjects Barbarian, Monstrous, and Wild responds to a contemporary political climate in which historically invested figures of otherness—barbarians, savages, monsters—have become common discursive currency.

Peak Performance: Collaborative Crisis Management Before and During International Summits. This comparative case study probes into conditions for collaborative governance in the security organisation of international summits.

The correctness of computational systems is of great importance to our society, since it becomes ever more reliant on the benefits of computing.

Inspired by a critical reconsideration of current monolithic approaches to the study of Greek religion, this book argues that ancient Greeks displayed a disquieting capacity to validate two (or more) dissonant, if not contradictory, representations of the divine world in a complementary rather than…

The stratum corneum (SC) plays a fundamental role in the barrier function of the skin. The SC consists of corneocytes embedded in a lipid matrix.

Peter Rodrigues contributed a chapter 'Human Rights and the Best Interests of the Child in European Family Reunification Law' in the book by Bergamini E., Ragni C. (Eds.), Fundamental Rights and Best Interests of the Child in Transnational Families.

On 22 November, Leiden scientist Jan Vonk received an ERC starting grant for his research on the building blocks of mathematics. This grant is not his first this year: in fact, this July Vonk also received a Vidi from NWO. Four questions to the scientist who got two grants this year.

Frits van der Meer and Gerrit Dijkstra of the Institute of Public Administration reflect on the increasing power of political assistants in the magazine “De Hofvijver”.

Leiden University's 2017 annual report has now been published. This year for the first time the University has also published a separate sustainability report. Leiden University is the first university to produce a separate report on the progress of its sustainability policies.

In this video, Joseph S. Nye Jr. discusses the new challenges faced by public diplomacy practitioners in the modern global information environment.

On January 25th, artist Jonas Staal will defend his dissertation which explores the development of propaganda art from the 20th to the 21st century.