Europe is of great importance for Leiden University: as an academic discipline, as a funder for research and education activities, and as a legislator, the EU offers us many opportunities.

The European Law Master’s specialisation is founded on the Europa Institute’s research programme, The progression of EU law: Accommodating change and upholding values. The programme distinguishes itself by its broad intra-disciplinary approach, covering institutional, constitutional as well as substantive…

Can smart suggestions help translators work better with machine translation? As machine translation becomes the norm, professional translators are asked to correct its output; a process called post-editing. But how can we make this easier and more effective?

The new Japanese Ambassador, Michii Rokuichiro, visited Leiden University on 2 March.

On Friday 21 May, the Europa Institute held an online roundtable on the European Union’s coronavirus relief fund NextGenerationEU. The roundtable was organised in the context of the Leiden Law Exchanges (LLX). Their aim is to facilitate an exchange of ideas on current legal issues between academics,…

Psychologist Bernou Melisse was shocked at the long waiting lists in the Netherlands for people with binge-eating disorders. The problem was not yet on the map in Saudi Arabia. She therefore decided to study how people suffering from binge eating can be helped better in their own region of the world.…

Professor Ewine van Dishoeck, together with an international team of colleagues, has written an overview of everything we know about water in interstellar clouds thanks to the Herschel space observatory. The article, published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, summarizes existing knowledge and…

From towering mechanical heroes to city-destroying battles, giant robots have become one of the most iconic images in Japanese animation. On 28 April 2026, Leiden University will host

Lecture, LUCL Colloquium

Keynote speakers: Jennifer Gaynor (University at Buffalo SUNY) and Sue Peabody (Washington State University)

For a long time, bird song was considered as a typical male trait. But over the last twenty years, research has shown that a lot of female songbirds sing as well. Female scientists turned out to be the key factor in these findings, amongst others from the Institute of Biology Leiden.

Majid Khan, born and raised in Pakistan, left his wife and daughter behind to do research in Leiden. After obtaining his PhD, the Netherlands has taken a special place in his heart. ‘Biking in the rain and wind was weird. But I loved it.’

Merijn Tinga hit the headlines in 2016 as the Plastic Soup Surfer. In force six winds, the Leiden biologist ventured across the English Channel on a hydrofoil kiteboard made from plastic bottles. Interview with this Leiden artist who is fighting the mountain of plastic waste and finding his feet as…

The role of religion in the identity construction of LGBTQIA+ folks

Using brain imaging to discover the area in the brain that recognizes emotion.

European Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, gave a warning in the Europa Lecture on 14 June about large companies that abuse their power. 'An honest society begins with honest markets.'

The toe bone of a prehistoric deer carved with lines by Neanderthals 51,000 years ago is one of the oldest works of art ever found, according to a study released Monday. Leiden archaeologist Dr Andrew Sorensen, not involved in the study, reacts on the find in a news article by NBC News.

For her internship at the Textile Museum, master's student Evi van Stiphout researched the Surinamese cloths of the Leiden Cotton Company. Leiden and Suriname have a closer relationship than many people think. ‘Not much is written about Suriname’.

A new chair has been added to the partnership between Leiden University and the Royal Conservatoire The Hague. Richard Barrett has been appointed Professor of Research in Creative Music (ACPA) as of 1 December 2020. 'For me it is important that music and academia are not placed in an ivory tower.'

A young refugee who wants to give something back to the Netherlands; a Greek girl who wants to study in her mother's home country and, of course, a lot of Dutch bachelor's students. The visitors to the Leiden Master's Day on Friday 11 March were as diverse as the range of programmes offered.

Vedran Dunjko appointed to full professor of quantum computing at Leiden University, the Netherlands.

Abeer Abazeed, PhD-student at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, will defend her thesis on Wednesday april 21st. Four questions about her PhD-research ‘Is it One Nile? Civic engagement and hydropolitics in the Eastern Nile Basin’.

On 22 August was the start of the HOPweek, the introduction week for first year students studying at Campus The Hague of Leiden University. First year students were assigned to their own group with their own mentors. During this week the students could do fun activities and workshops where they got…

Manuscripts that look like a comic book, that's how you could describe the manuscripts of the Dongba people from China. The manuscripts are one of the last examples of a so-called pictographic script that can only be interpreted by Dongba priests, shamans, who have knowledge of the ancient Dongba cu…

We invite proposals for the conference entitled ‘Ruins and Memory in the Muslim World: Typologies and Motifs (622-1800 CE)’ to be held in Leiden between 14-16 September 2026.

In the last two decades, there have been heated public and scholarly debates in France, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands on the violent end of empire. Nevertheless, the broader comparative investigations into colonial counterinsurgency tend to leave atrocities such as torture, execution, and…

On Thursday 16 November, the Europa Institute had the honour of receiving HE Jana Reinišová, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the Netherlands. She delivered a speech in the framework of the European Union Seminar Series, jointly organized by the master’s programme in International Relations, the…

On 21 April 2021, Armin Cuyvers lectured students and staff of the University of Nairobi on EU law and comparative regional integration.

Is EU law still supreme? Most national high courts have formulated some limits on the absolute supremacy claimed by EU law.

On 11 November, Armin Cuyvers, Assistant Professor at the Europa Institute in Leiden, was one of the speakers on Brexit during the autumn meeting of the Netherlands Association for European Law (NVER).

The Europa Instituut is honoured to announce that two Leiden alumni received awards for their master theses at the annual meeting of the Netherlands Association for European Law (NVER) in Utrecht.

On Wednesday 27 January, EU Careers, an organisation that on behalf of the Dutch government offers assistance with job applications at EU institutions, and the Europa Institute organised a Q&A session for the students of the LLM European Law on the Blue Book Traineeship at the European Commission.

Jorrit Rijpma, Associate Professor of EU law at the Europa Institute of Leiden Law School, has been named Jean Monnet Chair by the European Commission.

On 6 June, Armin Cuyvers lectured students and staff of the University of Nairobi on EU law and comparative regional integration

On the 28th of April 2021, The Europa Institute welcomed Mr. Menno Cox, Policy Officer at the European Commission (DG CONNECT).

Dr. Gruni was invited by the Society of International Economic Law (SIEL) to join their PEPA conference which will be held in Tilburg on the 20th and 21st of April.

The Europa Instituut of the University of Leiden and the British Institute of International and Comparative Law annually organize a conference to discuss current developments in European Union Law.

The Common Market Law Review is proud to present a Special Issue on legal issues relating to Brexit following the lustrum conference on Brexit and the Future of the European Union that was held in Leiden in 2017 to mark the 60th Anniversary of the Europa Institute of Leiden University.

On 24 May Maarten Aalbers, phd fellow at the Europa Institute, presented his research during the Irish Society of Comparative Law Conference, held between 23 and 25 May in Galway.

There are certainly ten airlines who do not carry out an identity check in the Schengen area upon check-in.

On 12 September the students of the European Law Master gathered in the Lorentzzaal for the festive opening of their programme.

Almost all the western countries were too late responding to the outbreak of Covid. Why was that? Three governance experts, including Leiden professor Arjen Boin, have written a book about the response to the pandemic. ‘Our current system isn’t geared towards identifying and managing a long-term crisis,’…

A delegation from Leiden University visited the Netherlands Institute Morocco (NIMAR) in Rabat at the end of February.

Do young people trust the law? That is what HC Law students are trying to find out. Regular guest speaker and social worker Carlito Jones invited the students to the Bezuidenhout-West neighbourhood centre in The Hague to talk to youth workers and neighbourhood police officers: what do they run into…

In a sailboat, a canoe or stowed away on a ship: during the Second World War, many Leiden students tried to cross the sea to join the Allies in Britain. ‘Soldier of Orange’ is the most famous, but who were the other ‘England voyagers’ or Engelandvaarders as they are known?

How does Russia use propaganda and what characterises Russian propaganda in terms of language and argumentation?

Steven Verburg wins the 2022 Hugo Weiland Prize for best thesis in Central European Studies; Caroline Schep and Anneke Romijnders awarded “Honorable Mentions” for their thesis work.