‘Shouldn’t you get out of bed for once?’ Critical or controlling behaviour from parents, however well intentioned, can worsen the symptoms of young people with depression. That is the conclusion of PhD research by psychologist Wilma Wentholt. But warmth and emotional support can, in fact, have a protective…

Child marriage has become an increasingly important topic on the international human rights and development agenda. Many organisations are calling for a ban, but what problem would such a ban solve? PhD defence on 18 March 2020.

The Brain and Education lab is a research group in the Institute of Education and Child Studies at Leiden University in the Netherlands. We use a Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience approach to study the development of complex cognitive processes involved in learning and academic skills such as reading…

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The Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences brings together high-quality research and outstanding mono- and multidisciplinary teaching.

Along with your application, you will need to submit a variety of documents.

Leiden Child Law Department at Leiden University in the Netherlands formally entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the African Child Policy Forum (ACPF)

Do you want to apply for this master’s programme at Leiden University? Find out how to apply by following the step-by step guide below.

The Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences provides its ca. 5000 students with a thorough education in the social and behavioural sciences. The student population is very diverse and international in nature.

The use of virtual girl Sweetie, used by the police to investigate pedofiles, is problematic in the Netherlands. Researchers of Leiden University and Tilburg University conclude that this is due to the criminal law applicable at the moment.

On 14 December 2017 Charlotte Mol was awarded the fifth Jaap Doek Child Law Thesis Prize for her thesis: ‘The Child's Right to Representation of Article 12 UNCRC in Family Law Proceedings: A comparison and evaluation of the legal frameworks in Australia, France, the Netherlands and South Africa’. This…

Thanks to the virtual girl Sweetie created by Terre des Hommes, more than a thousand men who had webcam sex have been identified worldwide. They thought they were chatting with a ten-year-old girl. Whether that is punishable by law depends on the country, Leiden legal experts conclude.

The programme group Clinical Neurodevelopmental Sciences is one of the six groups within the Institute of Child and Education Studies at Leiden University. The group participates in all stages of the education programme: the bachelor's, master's and research master's programme.  The group is particularly…

The master’s programme 'Jeugdrecht' (Child Law) at Leiden Law School has been awarded the gold medal by EW Beste Studies. It is the only degree programme at Leiden University to have earned this top award. Professor Mariëlle Bruning says, 'it’s the best compliment you could ever get in your career'.

On Thursday 17 November 2016 a delegation from the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Social affairs and UNICEF Tunisia paid a visit to Leiden Law School, organised by the International Juvenile Justice Observatory.

At the request of the Dutch Parliament, Professor Marielle Bruning, Dr Kartica van der Zon (Dept. of Child Law), Professor Lenneke Alink and Dr Sabine van der Asdonk (Education and Child Studies) have produced a fact sheet on the placement of children in care in the Netherlands.

Across cultures, parents help their children master the social and linguistic codes needed in adult life. Recent research on language socialization found important cross-cultural differences, pointing out the need for more diversity for a full understanding of this process. Deaf communities form…

Leiden University has written an advisory report at the request of the Ministry of Justice and Security on a legislative bill to improve legal protection in youth protection. The report acknowledges the improvements that the proposed legislation would bring, but also provides criticism.

Do you want to apply for this master’s programme at Leiden University? Find out how to apply for your programme by following the step-by step guide in the application and admission section.

The Resilience Center Leiden investigates how stress impacts the mental health of young people. For that, the team studies a multitude of factors, such as childhood experiences, the social environment, psychological factors, and neurobiological factors. With this multidimensional approach, we aim to…

The Master’s specialisation Educational Science offers students cutting-edge insights into how individuals develop and learn and how education can be optimized to include every learner.

PhD candidates Mies Grijns and Hoko Horii were interviewed about their research on Child Marriage in Indonesia in the ‘Jakarta Globe’, a daily online English language newspaper in Indonesia.

The programme of Parenting and Child Development consists of four substantive courses devoted to the following subjects:

What causes depression in a child and how can they get over it? Leiden Professor of Psychology Bernet Elzinga and behavioural scientist Carine Kielstra recently hosted a webinar on the subject of depression in teenagers. The level of interest was overwhelming.

Mozambican politician and child rights activist Graça Machel will receive an honorary doctorate from Leiden University for her commitment to the rights of women and children in Africa and elsewhere. She will be awarded the honorary doctorate on the Dies Natalis, the University’s foundation day, on 8…

The maths level of Dutch primary school children? Nothing to write home about—at least, that’s the common perception. But according to researchers Marian Hickendorff and Emilie Prast from the Institute of Education and Child Studies, that idea is simply not correct.

The Department of Child Law collaborated on a study on missing children in the European Union for the European Commission. The outcomes of the study aim to help to improve the mechanisms involved when children are missing in EU Member States.

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Child development expert Marga Sikkema-de Jong explains how the online world affects children and how to talk to them about what they see.