LCD screens use liquid crystals which have a high degree of order, even though they form a fluid. A new theory maps out the interplay between order, temperature and symmetry. Publication in Physical Review X.

Promotor: W.Th.F. den Hollander, Co-promotor: F.R. Nardi

Following a special donation, the Stichting Pro Juventute foundation is facilitating a new special chair in Educational Theory and Law. Through the chair, Pro Juventute hopes to realise optimum child protection from a coherent legal and educational perspective.

What can Robotics and AI bring to archaeological theory and practice? In return, how can archaeology contribute to the developments in robotics and AI research? Colleagues tackled these questions at an event organised by the Faculty of Archaeology and sponsored by SAILS.

Ten years after its introduction, the controversial idea of Erik Verlinde on gravity is still a hotly debated topic, and is still surrounded by a cloud of scepticism. Scepticism in which the media have played a major role, theoretical physicst Koenraad Schalm says in an article by NWO. ‘The media simply…

‘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.’

This article presents two related arguments. First, the limits of doctrinal analysis cut deeper than many EU lawyers realise. Most would probably accept that legal doctrine does not determine every legal dispute, but lawyers studying EU institutional balance often still assume that it can be deduced…

Every summer, Leiden University is the setting of dozens of summer schools in which professionals and students can receive extra training on a specific topic within a short space of time. We took a look at a summer programme on extremism. ‘A recruiter for al-Qaeda said that I could change the world.…

Predicting the collective behaviour of systems, like a large group of people electing one of the parties, is no easy task. But there’s a theory that scientists have been using for decades to do just that: the theory of Gibbs measures. Last week, mathematician Mirmukhsin Makhmudov earned his PhD for…

Dividing Worlds: Tsunamis, Seawalls, and Ontological Politics in Northeast Japan

On Thursday 23 November, Professor Betty de Hart delivered the lecture ‘Exploring the Legal Archive on Race: Methodological Challenges’ as part of the lecture series ‘Reconsidering the Socio-Legal Gaze’ organized by the Van Vollenhoven Institute. Over 40 people attended the lecture, held online due…

This dissertation shows that dialogical logic constitutes a powerful and flexible general framework for the development and study of various logical formalisms and combinations thereof.

In this thesis, classes of strongly interacting quantum field theories, have been studied.

Using mathematics to determine whether scientific results are significant or not. Peter Grünwald, full professor of Statistical Learning at the Mathematical Institute (MI) and senior researcher in the Machine Learning group of Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI), has been awarded an ERC Advanced Grant…

Jelle van Buuren, Assistant Professor at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, appeared as guest on VICE to discuss the usefulness of recent ban on QAnon.

'The way we consume information has changed dramatically over the past fifteen years. You're no longer just a receiver; you participate, create, and spread information. So why not use that to improve society?'

Professor Edwin Bakker, director of the Centre for Terrorism & Counterterrorism, released his new book “Terrorism and Counterterrorism Studies: Comparing Theory and Practice”, published by Leiden University Press.

During the final meeting of the Thesis Project on 10 February at 'Pand Zuidwest' in The Hague, several students presented their theses. Students from different disciplines conduct research on formulated practice-oriented challenges in The Hague South-West. 'The Thesis Project provides a connection between…

Dr Anouk Goemans has been appointed professor by special appointment of Youth Services and Child Protection from an Educational and Legal Perspective as of 1 November 2024. This chair is funded by the 'Stichting Steunfonds Pro Juventute' support fund foundation and serves as a bridge between the Department…

The most recent edition of the journal ‘The Theory and Practice of Legislation’ contains a contribution by Jelle But, Demy Jongkind and Wim Voermans.

In this article, Jasmijn Boeken, explores in which ways the defining characteristics of the different zones can be found in the digital sphere.

Promotor: P. Stevenhagen, Co-promotor: R.M. van Luijk

Jelle van Buuren, Assistant Professor at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs at Leiden University, can be heard in the latest Podcast of Wetenschap.nu.

What is the origin of educational ideas, e.g., the idea that intervention in infancy has long-lasting effects on development.

Everyone has heard arguments like this before as a child: ‘Whether you like it or not, you have to go to school!’ It seems as though you are presented with two options, but there is only one real outcome. Charlotte van der Voort of the MA Dutch Studies won the Leiden University Thesis Prize on her research…

This dissertation provides a formal description of the relationship between diatopic/diachronic micro-variation and phonologization through analysis of the phonetic/phonological properties of unstressed vowel reduction and vowel insertion in two Northern Italian dialects.

Promotor: Prof.dr. P. Stevenhagen, Jan-Hendrik Evertse, Co-promotor: Pascal Autissier

Exploring the application of game-theoretic frameworks to quantum physics, this study creates novel AI training methods for the precise control of quantum systems.

Bringing the theoretical world of mathematics and computer science to more applied research areas. That is what Daan Pelt, assistant professor at the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS) is trying to achieve with the methods he is developing as a solution to challenges in image proc…

This dissertation provides crucial but as yet missing empirical data on the tone accent opposition in the so-called

Organic molecules in interstellar space are important as they influence the structure of galaxies and star formations. Studying catalytic processes in space allows us to understand how molecular species are formed and chemically evolved in the interstellar medium and solar system objects.

This thesis explores Breaking of Ensemble Equivalence (BEE) in random graph models by examining the spectral properties of adjacency matrices. The goal is to identify spectral characteristics that differentiate random graph ensembles, enhancing the understanding of complex network structures and beh…

Promotor: S.J. Edixhoven

JUSTREMIT and the Institute of Security and Global Affairs at Leiden University will host a conference on 12 and 13 October on Global Regulatory Regimes and Remittances. invite paper and panel proposals for consideration for the third JUSTREMIT Conference. Academics, practitioners from the regulatory…

The Court of Justice of the European Union is facing renewed scrutiny after expanding the reach of Article 2 TEU in Commission v Hungary. In a critical analysis published on Verfassungsblog, Martijn van den Brink argues that the judgment is indicative of the suffocating grip of “EU constitutional orthodoxy”…

One and half years ago, Lewis Borck exchanged the arid and hot Southwest of the USA for the Netherlands. While an expert in Ancestral Pueblo and Hohokam archaeology, he switched to the Caribbean as a researcher in the NEXUS 1492 project. “Theories and methods brought me in first.”

For associate professor Jenneke van der Wal, things have been good recently. After being awarded a Vici and Una Europa grant, she has now also received an Ammodo Science Award. ‘It is a nice confirmation that I am doing valuable work.’

There are a number of problems in philosophy that seem to share a similar possible solution: 'Why do promises and contracts bind?', 'Why ought citizens and judges obey the law?' and 'Can we realize the gains to be made from cooperation?'. All three problems (as well as some others) share a possible…

An interdisciplinary cultural analysis of how the Hindustani double migration informs contemporary processes of identification and problematises the juxtaposition of tradition and modernity.