In this article, Martin Sievert and Jonas Bruder investigated whether and how administrative burdens influences citizens' perceptions of welfare policies and attitudes towards beneficiaries.

This new article by Monica Kaminska is part of a special issue for Journal of Cybersecurity, based on a selection of contributions from THe Hague Program for Cyber Norms' 2019 Conference.

Pericytes, the mural cells of blood microvessels, are important regulators of vascular morphogenesis and function that have been postulated to mechanically control microvascular diameter through as yet unknown mechanisms.

Reputation literature has provided crucial insights about the evolution of the US regulatory state. Daniel Carpenter’s influential account painstakingly demonstrates the relevance of reputation to bureaucratic ‘power’ and to early institutional state-building in the US context. We argue that adopting…

The Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) will start construction this year of the largest non-profit stem cell and gene therapy facility in the Netherlands, and one of the largest facilities in Europe. NECSTGEN – the Netherlands Center for the Clinical Advancement of Stem Cell and Gene Therapies…

In this project, we aim to obtain a quantitative understanding of the role of the immune system in tumor regression, of the role of tumor cell heterogeneity in cancer growth and of tumor cell migration properties.

Promotor: G.A. van der Marel, Co-promotor: J.D.C. Codée

PhD defence

In recent decades, the Netherlands’ struggle with multiculturalism has caused an upsurge in public interest in the relationship between state and religion. In this, the Dutch address a subject relevant not just to them, but to all of Europe.

Mei-Wen Chen defended her thesis on 29 June 2016

On 10 June 2021, Merinda Stewart defended her thesis 'Freedom of Overflight: A Study of Coastal State Jurisdiction in International Airspace'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. P.M.J. Mendes de Leon en Prof. J.J. Rijpma.

We aim to provide new insights relating to the spectacular multi-cellular life cycle of streptomycetes and other actinobacteria.

Politically speaking, the Frisian coastal area constitutes a special case in late medieval Europe since it was not subject to an overlord as it withstood feudalization in the 13th century. Its many sub regions, which were dominated by elites of small noblemen and freeholders, long time succeeded in…

One of the effects of climate change is the phenomenon of desertification, a process that occurs in semi-arid and arid areas and causes land degradation as well as vegetation loss. Due to the lack of resources, vegetation self-organizes to sustain itself by forming large-scale spatial patterns.

Single-celled organisms have stiffer DNA than multicellular lifeforms like humans and rice. Theoretical physicists managed to simulate the folding in full genomes for the first time to reach this conclusion. Publication in Biophysical Journal on February 7.

Vice-rector Organisatieontwikkeling en oud-decaan FGGA Erwin Muller start op 1 april 2026 als staatsraad bij de Afdeling Advisering van de Raad van State.

Emily Wolff, PhD candidate at Leiden University, wrote a paper about the inclusion of imperial citizens in the Dutch post-war welfare state.

The Hague Program for Cyber Norms, a research program at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, published its first policy brief, in which Dennis Broeders, Sergei Boeke and Ilina Georgieva explore the role of intelligence agencies in cyberspace and the (im)possibilities of oversight and regulation…

A group of single-celled organisms organises its DNA in a similar way to higher organisms such as plants, animals, and fungi. However, the way packaged DNA is read out differs between the two related groups, Bram Henneman discovered. PhD defence on 5 December.

Political Scientist Katharina Natter (Leiden University) advances theory-building on immigration beyond the liberal state and demonstrates how immigration politics can provide valuable insights into the inner workings of political regimes. Connecting scholarship from comparative politics, international…

Leiden researchers have found minute movements in the laccase enzyme. This discovery could lead to the development of much more efficient biofuel cells. Publication in Biophysical Journal.

This research aims to investigate how different social forces interact with hydropolitics in the Eastern Nile Basin and what are the constraints of engagement.

Healthy aging is one of the prime goals in today's society and atherosclerosis is among the greatest causes of morbidity in elderly. Cardiovascular disease patients receiving treatment are often of advanced aged and have an aged immune system, which limits translating experimental findings to the pa…

Glucocorticoids (GCs) are widely prescribed as anti-inflammatory drugs due to their well-established immunosuppressive effects.

How were (post) colonial migrants included in post-war welfare systems?

Promotor: Prof.dr. G.P. van Wezel

This research deals with the royal houses of the Vijayanagara Empire and four of its successor states: Ikkeri, Tanjavur (under both the Nayaka and Bhonsle rulers), Madurai, and Ramnad. This study is thus concerned with dynastic politics and imperial legacies in south India between the 14th and 18th…

Advanced fluorescence microscopy techniques have revealed how steroid receptors move inside the nucleus. The results were published by a team from Leiden University and the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, led by IBL-researcher Marcel Schaaf.

Analysing the ways in which immigration structurally challenges and changes the organization and conceptual boundaries of national welfare states.

Religion, Class, and the Postwar Development of the Dutch Welfare State. Dennie Oude Nijhuis.

Book by Soledad Valdivia Rivera

United States and Chinese foreign assistance and diplomacy addresses the analytic weaknesses of mainstream analysis of foreign aid, which often focuses on its material dimensions. The book underscores the constitutive relationship between foreign aid as a material resource and the diplomatic discourses…

This dissertation combines the use of defined microenvironments, high-resolution fluorescence microscopy, and time-resolved analysis, to study intracellular and cellular motility.

Parkinson's disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disease in the world. One of its symptoms is the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta.

Methods of treatment for chronic illnesses are limited. Doctors and researchers at Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) and Leiden University are working on new therapies as an alternative for organ transplants. The goal is to cure the illnesses by restoring organs to their original function. Stem…

Promotor: Prof.dr. J. Kuiper

The research described in this thesis focused on the use of bioorthogonal antigens to investigate immunological processes in antigen presenting cells. Bioorthogonal antigens are antigenic proteins produced through recombinant expression in a methionine auxotrophic E. coli strain.

At the division of Biopharmaceutics, we aim to develop and test new therapeutic approaches to limit or even prevent the development of atherosclerosis in order to reduce the number of acute cardiovascular syndromes such as myocardial infarction or stroke.

Throughout all domains of life, from bacteria and archaea to eukaryotes, genomes adopt well-organized three-dimensional structures that can change in space and time to accommodate preferred transcriptional programs for environmental adaptation, the maintenance of cellular identity and differentiation…

Identifying and explaining change in the structure of central state bureaucracies and the determinants of survival of individual public organizations are two closely related areas of research in public administration. We aim to bridge the gap between these two main strands of studies of organizational…

With the help of quantum mechanics, digital quantum hardware may be able to tackle some of the problems that are too difficult for ordinary computers. But despite these expectations and the ongoing effort of the research community, reliable quantum computers are not yet realized in a lab setting.

On Wednesday 25 June 2025 Dechun Zhang successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

Promotores: Arjen Doelman, Jens Rademacher, Max Rietkerk

In this thesis we study bistable reaction-diffusion equations on lattice domains.