Ten scientists from Leiden University will receive a Starting Grant from the European Research Council. This will allow them to launch their own project, form their own research team and implement their best ideas.

Online, hybrid, on campus... It was an unpredictable year, also for the Faculty of Humanities. Luckily, there were also non-corona related stories. Let's review 2021 with this list of the most-read news articles per month.

The EU proposal for a regulatory framework on artificial intelligence will not prevent the dangers of cybercrime or the spreading of fake news using ChatGPT. Cyber criminals can use the new technology to write harmful software, phishing mails and fake news.

One perspective, one cell, one outlook on life: what are we all prisoners of? That’s the question Vrij Nederland put to various experts, including Joni Reef, Assistant Professor and Research Fellow at the Department of Criminology.

Discovering while still studying whether work in science might be for you. That is what students get during the faculty Research Traineeship Programme. On Friday 1 September, they presented their results to each other and their supervisors.

Rafal Matuszewski is an assistant professor at the Institute for History since 1 August 2023. Below he introduces himself.

Two thousand years ago, the Middle East found itself caught between the rise of the Roman Empire in the west and the Parthian Empire in the east. PhD candidate Nolke Tasma has been awarded an NWO grant to investigate how local inhabitants experienced these changes.

As of 1 October, David Holmes has been appointed full professor of Pure Mathematics at the Mathematical Institute (MI). His work lies at the intersection of algebra, geometry and number theory.

In September 2023, Geert Ham started working at the Institute for History as a PhD candidate within the ERC-funded project 'Anchoring Innovation'. Below he introduces himself.

Translating texts, rehearsing scenes or practising music. Over the last few weeks, students of the BA Classics programme have been focused on just one thing: their production of the Greek tragedy Hecuba. Almost a third of them are involved in it. Iris de Smalen, who plays Hecuba, and Christoph Pieper,…

Sex without mutual consent is a criminal offence. The proposed new Dutch sexual offences law aims to better protect victims of sexually transgressive behaviour. But the key issue is this: the rules of evidence have not changed, so will victims actually benefit from the new legislation?

Investigation services and cyber criminals both make grateful use of the opportunities offered by digital technologies. Both groups' use of these services leads to breaches of privacy for citizens. The current legislation falls short in providing protective measures, is the conclusion reached by Professor…

Woensdag 7 september bezochten de nieuwe eerstejaarsstudenten Rechtsgeleerdheid en Criminologie de Stadsgehoorzaal voor een College Tour met als thema: Strafzaken en de media. Presentatrice Annemarie Brüning, bekend van Hart van Nederland, ging hierover in gesprek met professionals uit het vakgebied…

Leiden criminologists have co-developed an artificial intelligence technology that tracks firearms incidents by scanning over 350 news sources.

Met haar spannende onderzoek naar strafrechtelijke waarheidsvinding in Europa sleept Linda Geven dit jaar de Gratama Wetenschapsprijs voor jonge talentvolle wetenschappers in de wacht.

The Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies is proud to announce a fortified partnership with the International Bar Association to annually stage the largest moot competition focused on international criminal law: The International Criminal Court Moot Court Competition.

Research

A research team from Leiden University, in cooperation with Bureau Boekhoorn Sociaal-Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek en Advies (BBSO), is to evaluate Dutch counterterrorism legislation.

Compared to suspects with the Dutch nationality, foreign nationals face court proceedings more often and are given a prison sentence more often than Dutch suspects. This was the outcome of research conducted by Hilde Wermink, Assistant Professor at Leiden Law School, and American sociologist Michael…

Jus post bellum, the body of laws and norms governing the transition from armed conflict to peace, has emerged as a crucial issue for international law scholars, governments, and all concerned with building a just and sustainable peace. The Jus Post Bellum Project, funded by the NWO and hosted by the…

On 25 November, Professor Ineke Sluiter received the Medal of Honour for Arts and Sciences in the Order of Orange-Nassau. She was presented with the medal by King Willem-Alexander.

From Monday 19 July onwards, eighteen children between the ages of 10 and 12 are learning the programming language Hedy. In the Snellius building of Leiden University they will be taught the first principles of programming this week.

In a world where law and morality strive for clarity, order, and control, this book challenges us to confront what has long been forgotten: the tragic dimension of existence. Drawing on the ancient wisdom of Greek tragedy and the passionate urgency of both atheist and religious existentialism, Timo…

This year's London Hellenic Prize is awarded to Caroline Vout for her excellent study of representations of the human body in sculpture, Exposed: The Greek and Roman Body.

Research on the Greek and Roman times often focuses on important leaders, writers or politicians. However, Patricia Kret is more interested in the normal people living in these times. Her research focuses on amulets which were often used, for example to cure diseases. Why did people believe so strongly…

Jorrit Rijpma, Professor of European Law, together with Greek independent researcher Apostolis Fotiadis, investigated the European Commission’s enforcement powers in relation to fundamental rights compliance at Europe’s external borders. The study was commissioned and funded by the Greens Group of the…

Mattias Brand’s dissertation, The Manichaeans of Kellis: Religion, Community, and Everyday Life (Leiden, 2019) has been selected for one of the five prestigious Praemium Erasmianum Dissertation Awards 2021.

In its session of 15 April 2024, the Austrian Academy of Sciences elected professor Petra Sijpesteijn as one of its new Corresponding Members.

She stands out for the moderate tone she takes in discussions on Dutch talk shows. Without judgement you can have an open conversation, criminal lawyer Natacha Harlequin learned in her student days in Leiden. ‘What I personally think of the alleged act doesn’t matter so much.’

A presentation on the latest developments in artificial intelligence and law, several public lectures on Criminal Justice, and a brand new trial in which Leiden female serial killer ‘Goeie Mie’ was acquitted after all. It was all possible during Leiden European City of Science 2022. Below is an overview…

The coronavirus crisis had a major impact on the judicial system in the Netherlands: courts closed at the start of the pandemic and instead held virtual hearings. Research now shows that things did not always go smoothly.

‘Anne Frank inventor of the ballpoint pen’ was the laser message projected onto the Anne Frank House last Monday. It could be viewed on a video shared via Telegram channel ‘The Laser Nazi Bunker’. The suggestion behind the text was that Anne Frank did not write her diary herself.

The judicial authorities are looking into the possibilities for prosecution for the slogans that were projected on the Erasmus Bridge in Rotterdam on New Year’s Eve. Not an easy task, according to legal experts. When do we consider something to be ‘discrimination’?

Social media are playing a key role in calling for resistance to the corona measures. Online, agreements are made about where and when people will gather to protest. The authorities are not always fully aware of what is happening and cannot just infiltrate, whereas civilians can often easily participate…

Since graduating from Leiden Law School with master’s degrees in Jurisprudence & Philosophy of Law and Criminal Law, alumnus Allard Altena now works as a Public Prosecutor at the Dutch Public Prosecution Service. He says, ‘I leave work at the end of each day knowing I’ve done something useful.’

Leiden Law Cast is a podcast made by Leiden Law School, Leiden University, for everyone who wants to learn more about current legal issues.

On 21 January 2021, Fachrizal Afandi defended his thesis ‘Maintaining Order: Public Prosecutors in Post-Authoritarian Countries, the case of Indonesia’. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. A.W. Bedner and Prof. J.H. Crijns.

De veroordeling van Ali B voor zedendelicten krijgt veel aandacht in de media, en zorgt voor vernieuwde discussies rond consent. Hoogleraar Jeroen ten Voorde sprak met het Parool over de impact die deze rechtszaak zal hebben.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office Oost-Nederland, the Police in Oost-Nederland and the municipality of Steenwijkerland failed in their handling of a case involving discrimination in Giethoorn. This is the opinion of experts, including Professor Peter Rodrigues, in Dutch investigative journalism programme…

The Academia in Motion programme aims to activate Open Science and Recognition & Rewards across the university. Last year, the faculties were asked to establish their own working groups and set up initiatives. On Thursday 23 January 2025, Leiden Law School’s working group met for the first time.

Insurers determine for themselves whether someone has committed fraud, impose sanctions immediately and hardly ever report it. As a result, police, prosecutors, and criminal courts are side-lined. And policyholders are sometimes left out in the cold. Bart Custers, professor of Law & Data Science at…

The Greek diasporic queer poet Constantine P. Cavafy (1863-1933) has been recognized as a central figure in world literature and literary modernism. On December 9th, a symposium around his work will take place at Leiden University Libraries. This will be combined with the launch of Maria Boletsi's book…

Like many others, Ruurd Halbertsma has had a rollercoaster of a year. His museum, the National Museum of Antiquities (RMO), was closed for a long while because of the lockdown. Visitor numbers picked up again from September, but it the next few weeks will be tense now the hospitals are full again. Halbertsma:…

Associate professor Rens Tacoma has won the 2021 Research Prize for Historical Sciences. The prize is awarded annually by the Italy Studies Working Group for the best scholarly publication in the field of Italy Studies in Dutch or Flemish academia.

Anke Smits and Lucien van Beek have been awarded a Praesidium Libertatis Grant this year. Smits is an assistant professor at the LUMC and Van Beek at the Faculty of Humanities. They each receive a sum of 75,000 euros from the Leiden University Fund (LUF).

After the new government announced its plans to cut expenditure on academic education, the Faculty of Humanities launched the flash campaign ‘Stop the Catastrophic Cuts to Universities!’. Now academics across the university have been explaining why their discipline is needed.

Project TARGET is a research project aimed at the relation between the illegal arms trade and firearm violence. In a study conducted in seven countries, the researchers took a look at the differences and similarities. Katharina Krüsselmann and Marieke Liem took a closer look at the situation in the…

What do scholars, the Netherlands Public Prosecution Service, the police, the National Rapporteur Human Trafficking, Victim Support Netherlands, and the Violent Offences Compensation Fund have in common? They all work with victims, each from their own expertise. High time to combine that knowledge,…