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.…

Als gevolg van de grote technologische vooruitgang in de gezondheidszorg worden in toenemende mate gegevens verzameld tijdens de uitvoering van klinische onderzoeken.

NASA’s telescope SOFIA has provided a new glimpse of the chemistry in the inner region surrounding massive young stars where future planets could begin to form. Leiden PhD candidate Andrew Barr writes about it in the Astrophysical Journal. The scientists found massive quantities of water and organic…

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…

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.

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 two-year master's programme in Japanese Studies, a specialisation of the MA in Asian Studies, offers teaching by leading academics and a multi-disciplinary approach to the study of the East Asian region.

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.

This edited collection brings together canonical texts on intermedia and expanded cinema in 1960s Japan, most of which translated into English for the first time, in hope to introduce the local critical discourse on this subject to international readership.

Leiden University’s two-year MA Japanese Studies offers a unique opportunity to conduct graduate-level research on various aspects of modern and pre-modern Japan, and to spend a full academic year in Japan.

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

Astronomers want to understand the Universe, from the Big Bang to the present day, and what the future will hold. In Leiden they focus on two key questions: ‘How did stars and planets originate’ and ‘How were galaxies and black holes formed in the young Universe?’ A new generation of telescopes – just…

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 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

On 23 March a Sonology concert took place in the Arnold Schönbergzaal at the Royal Conservatoire, dedicated to Gabriel Paiuk’s The Construction of an Imaginary Acoustic Space, a composition for ensemble and electronics performed by New European Ensemble.

If X is a locally compact Hausdorff space, then a representation of the complex C* algebra C_0(X) on a Hilbert space $H$ is given by a spectral measure that takes its values in the orthogonal projections on $H$.

Every month there is an opportunity to visit the Old Observatory in the evening. These open evenings consist of a lecture followed by a visit to the telescopes in the building.

This thesis describes the implementation and on-sky demonstration of high-resolution integral-field spectroscopy for extreme adaptive optics systems that are used to find and characterize exoplanets.

The Old Observatory is still used intensively as a university building. Yet there is still plenty to see and experience in this beautiful monument. Find out what the possibilities are here.

Leiden has a strong tradition in theoretical physics, thoroughly linked with experimental disciplines.

In the large gas clouds between the stars, chemical reactions take place under extreme conditions, giving rise to both small molecules, such as water and common salt, as well as large complex molecules that can serve as the building blocks of life. This is known as astrochemistry and it is something…

Is there extra-terrestrial life out there? It now looks as though we can sketch out an answer to this enduring question. Leiden Observatory is helping to build new instruments to find the most promising exoplanets.

In 2017, Leiden University secured ties with numerous foreign partners. This is how we bring foreign talent to Leiden, and ensure our students and scientists can gain experience across borders. In this article, we look back on four foreign trips.

A new way to decipher the light from distant worlds could give us unmistakable evidence of extraterrestrial photosynthesis, and maybe alien plants, finds astronomy author Colin Stuart in the New Scientist. In his article, he describes the work of the group led by Leiden astronomer Rob van Holstein.…

Met AI kunnen nieuwsredacties razendsnel beelden genereren — maar tegen welke prijs? Dit onderzoeksrapport opgesteld door prof. dr. Jaap de Jong, dr. Astrid Vandendaele, Maartje van der Woude en Stef Arends (Universiteit Leiden), baseert zich op 59 interviews met beeldmakers, redacteurs en experts uit…

Overview of the Leiden Asia staff per area or country.

Speech Prosody is the biennial meeting of the Speech Prosody Special Interest Group (SProSIG) of the International Speech Communication Association (ISCA).

Andrea Giolai defended his thesis on 3 May 2017.

Promotor: H.W. Lenstra

The American Library Association has selected the Space Scoop website as one of the Great Websites for Kids (GWS). Space Scoop, which launched a dedicated website one year ago, provides the latest space news to educate and inspire children. The website will be included in a compilation of exemplary…

The International Institute of Air and Space Law hosted a book launch event at the Leiden Law School on March 20, 2025, featuring the launch of two important publications in the field of air and space law.

The Dutch-Japanese made DESHIMA instrument has passed its first practical tests when measuring the distances and ages of distant galaxies. The core of the instrument is a chip the size of two euro coins that measures 49 shades of far infrared light. The developers of the spectrometer publish the results…

The SpaceEU project, coordinated by Leiden University, has launched an online toolkit with a collection of space-centred activities that engage people with the wonders of space. The toolkit is targeted at girls and underrepresented communities and can be used by schools, youth centres, museums, NGOs…

Connecting space to society and gaining problem-solving experience: that’s the goal of LDE Space & Society, a new honours programme for bachelor’s students in Leiden, Delft and Rotterdam. What does the programme look like? And what do students hope to learn? We visited a kick-off session full of exc…

A team of students from the Advanced LL.M. in Air and Space Law represented Leiden University at the Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition. The European regional rounds of the competition took place at the headquarters of the European Space Agency in Paris, France from 1 to 3 April 2025 and…