Care robots, medical treatments, deepfakes and self-driving cars all with the aid of artificial intelligence (AI). The BrAInpower exhibition at Rijksmuseum Boerhaave shows spectacular applications of AI and explains how it can make such huge leaps. Bas Haring, Professor of Public Understanding of Science,…

On the 15th of March, the radio program “The World of BNR Nieuwsradio” was live broadcasted from the Spanish Steps at the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs in The Hague. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, associated with the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, was one of the radio show’s guests. Following…

Jasmina Mačkić, assistant professor at the Europa Institute, presented her research during ‘The Dissident’, a live talk show which is organised regularly by World-Talks, on 24th May 2018. The event revolved around the Nigerian human rights defender Justus Ijeoma, the founder of the International Human…

Researcher Daan van der Vliet, together with colleagues from the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Leiden University and Utrecht University, has discovered an important mechanism that may be linked to severe cases of multiple sclerosis (MS): the brain contains large numbers of abnormal immune…

Faculty of Archaeology opened its doors to welcome over 100 archaeology and living archaeology enthusiasts from all over the Netherlands

Bright explosions appear all over the radio and gravitational-wave sky. This dynamic side of the universe which has just been discovered, can be mapped by self-learning machines. The National Science Agenda granted 5 million euro’s to CORTEX, the Center for Optimal, Real-Time Machine Studies of the…

On 28 February, Professor E.W. Meijer, member of Leiden University’s Board of Governors, was appointed Commander in the Order of the Dutch Lion.

Over 1600 astronomers and space scientists will gather online from 29 June until 3 July for the annual meeting of the European Astronomical Society (EAS). The virtual meeting will also host NAC 2020, from 1 July until 3 July: the 75th Conference of the Royal Netherlands Astronomy Society (NAC).

At first glance, archaeology seems like a job that is hard to take home. Nothing could be further from the truth though! Our archaeologists are currently developing new dating methods, are looking for lost cities in their living rooms, and perform daring acts of experimental archaeology!

Elena Maria Rossi is fascinated by black holes. Her appointment as a professor was a long-held wish, partly because there are so few female professors in her field. ‘My appointment is also a milestone for the Leiden Observatory.’

In the upcoming months, PhD candidates Neske Baerwaldt (FdR / VVI) and Wiebe Ruijtenberg (FSW / CAOS) will produce the ethnographic podcast series ‘Grensverhalen’. The series will be published online in September, and will be used as teaching material in various courses.

PhD defence

With a self-converted red camper van, biologists and twin brothers Kevin and Marvin Groen go on a nature adventure in Eastern Europe. Together, they search for wild animals, beautiful nature and places to sport. From a long search for a bear in the Slovakian wilderness to the discovery that pelicans…

Leiden astronomy Master's student Arend Moerman has received an A+ for his thesis research on the simulation of chaotic interactions of three black holes. The simulations, which he carried out together with his Leiden and Oxford colleagues, show that lighter black holes tend to slingshot each other…

A team of astronomers led by Dutch scientists have directly imaged a giant planet orbiting at a large distance around a sun-like star. Why this planet is so massive, and how it got to be there, is still a mystery. The researchers will publish their findings in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

An international team of astronomers, including Professor Koen Kuijken, has published a series of online articles presenting the first results of a major search for dark matter. Never before have researchers been able to chart so precisely the characteristics of groups of galaxies and their dark matter.…

Professor Renata Kallosh (Stanford University), one of the world’s leading theoretical physicists, will be this summer’s Lorentz Professor at the Leiden institute for theoretical physics. Her main areas of interest are cosmology and string theory. She studied physics in Moscow, where she also obtained…

Alessandra Silvestri, a cosmologist at the Leiden Institute of Physics (LION), has been awarded an NWO Vidi grant for understanding the expanding universe. A growing number of theories explain why the expansion of the universe is accelerating, while more and more relevant observational data is pouring…

Moldavia is going through a governmental crisis. Antoaneta Dimitrova was asked to clarify the events on the Dutch radio programme ‘Bureau Buitenland’. She commented on the current political relations but also issued a warning: ‘Panic is rising, there is a real danger of conflict in the country.’

Clear information about support services, a well-being self-test and advice on finding a room. YounginLeiden.nl helps students and other young people get started, literally and figuratively. Why is this site so desperately needed?

Lecturer Michiel Luining appeared as a guest on a EU panel on the Dutch BNR Radio programme ‘Zakendoen’. During the item the ongoing political games surrounding the EU top positions after the European Elections held in May 2019 were discussed.

The Catholics were by no means pitiable victims over the two centuries that they had to practise their religion underground, Caroline Lenarduzzi writes in her PhD dissertation. They managed to keep their faith alive from the mid-sixteenth to the mid-eighteenth century. PhD defence 25 October.

The Business & Liability Research Network’s (BLRN) Opening Conference on Business Resilience was a resounding success and the report below provides an overview of the inspiring speeches, insightful panel discussions and informative workshops.

Much of the work of Serge Fehr, Professor of Quantum Information Theory, is abstract and theoretical and comprehensible to very few people. But his work helps make the digital world safer so that in future our internet banking will still be problem free, for instance. He will explain more in his inaugural…

Using an innovative method, psychologist Loes Janssen and colleagues measure how long and how often parent and child are close in daily life, and how they experience that togetherness. The researchers combine ‘Bluetooth low energy beacons’ with the smartphone app Ethica to track participants' physical…

Europe can only maintain its level of consumption by structurally relying on resources extracted abroad. This finding was published in the September issue of the prestigious journal Global Environmental Change, in a paper that was co-written by scientists at Leiden University.

Historian Dario Fazzi is the new professor by special appointment at the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies (RIAS), a strategic partner of the Faculty of Humanities. He starts on 1 September and will combine his new position with his current teaching duties at the Institute for History.

When a baby is born too soon, every minute counts – and so does every decision. To reduce uncertainty in those critical moments, biopharmaceutical scientist Manchu Umarani Thangavelu dedicated her PhD to identifying molecular markers of preterm birth and neonatal infection.

On Friday April 6th, Leiden University organizes its biannual try-out day. We pay a visit to Physics and Astronomy, which saw their student numbers almost quadruple over the past decade.

On Wednesday September 26th, theoretical physicist Sean Carroll will give an Ehrenfest colloquium. It is part of a lecture series that has been running since 1912 and was founded by physicist Paul Ehrenfest.

On February 2nd the book Beelden zonder weerga appears, written by professor in science history Dirk van Delft and biochemist Ton van Helvoort. They describe the rich history of electron microscopy, which comes to a conclusion in the final chapter with the current state-of-the-art ESCHER microscope…

Henk Hoekstra will take up the role of Scientific Director of Leiden Observatory on 1 January 2027. He succeeds Ignas Snellen, who has served in the position since 16 August 2022. Hoekstra has been appointed for a four-year term.

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…

JUSTREMIT is an ERC-funded project that brings together political theory, ethnography, and security studies in an interdisciplinary study of remittances and global justice.

Computers are capable of making incredibly accurate predictions on the basis of machine learning. In other words, these computers can learn without intervention once they have been pre-programmed by humans. At LIACS, we explore and push the borders of what a revolutionary new generation of algorithms…

Pushing the boundaries of quantum theories – that’s exactly what the physicists at Leiden University excel at. Researchers in Leiden are launching eight new quantum research projects as part of the Quantum Limits consortium.

An overview of awards and prizes granted to our staff and students in 2017, as well as special appointments and royal distinctions.

The ability to collect and interpret huge quantities of data has become indispensable to society and academia. Leiden University is a knowledge and expertise centre for data science that places the emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation.

Debate, Book Launch

Lecture, Book Talk

Study information

Study information

Study information

Study information

As of April 2022, Mark de Rooij has been appointed SAILS Professor AI and Data Theory at the Institute of Psychology. This position will enable him to contribute to the goal of the interdisciplinary programme: to build on and expand the current expertise on AI within Leiden University, working from…