As a result of the refugee crisis and the terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels, the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee (RNM) is stepping up immigration controls in the Dutch borderlands. These measures are part of the so-called Mobile Security Monitor (in Dutch: Mobiel Toezicht Veiligheid), “Schengen…

Jeroen Wolbers is Assistant Professor of Crisis Governance at the Institute for Security and Global Affairs, Leiden University. In the coming 4 years, Jeroen will study command tactics during sudden-onset crisis operations with his Veni grant. He will investigate how crisis managers can deal with fr…

Professor Maurits Berger is presenting an online course, starting on 6 November, on the images that Islam and the West hold of one another. The course will be useful for diplomats from Teheran to Islamabad.

Why use Google Maps when you can also calculate your bike route based on your own data. Statistician and cyclist Alexander Dürre sees statistics in everything around him. He analyses data of soccer games and calculates the possible winners of cycling races. ‘When I have too much time, I apply statistics…

We are very happy to announce that as of 1 March Marleen De Meyer is our new NVIC Director!

Today, Leiden University announces who the new Cluster Zuid on the Witte Singel will be named after. Summer 2023, a ballot determined the name of the complex on the former Van Wijkplaats/Van Eyckhof, which is expected to be completed in March. It was already established that the complex would be named…

A series of upcoming activities by docARTES researchers Niels Berentsen, Bobby Mitchell, Shaya Feldman, and PhDArts researchers Jonas Staal, Riccardo Giacconi, Yota Ioannidou, and Brigitte Kovacs

The Conference on Computers, Privacy and Data Protection (CPDP) is an annual world-leading multidisciplinary conference that takes place in January in Brussels. In January 2017, eLaw, the Centre for Law and Digital Technologies of Leiden University, participated in the CPDP conference as one of the…

On 24 January 2020, eLaw attended the Annual Conference on Privacy and Data Protection (CPDP) in Brussels, Belgium. The overarching theme of the 13th edition was

On April 13 2018 during the Arts Festivals Summit in Ljubljana, Prof. Frans de Ruiter has been appointed Honorary Member of the European Festivals Association, of which he has been President for 14 years.

In the second year of the implementation of the Matra Rule of Law Training Programme, Leiden University hosted a group of 30 civil servants from pre-accession countries in its campuses in Leiden and the Hague as participants in a training on the Administration of Justice that took place from 20-31 January…

Joachim Koops has been appointed as scientific director of the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) of Leiden University in The Hague. ‘ISGA is in the position to connect research to policy in the field of security and global affairs, a remarkable combination for this young and creative institute.…

30 July is the International Day of Friendship. The student years are a time when many close friendships are formed, and a surprising number of them last a whole lifetime. Two of our alumni share their stories about a special friendship.

Prof. Dr Isabella Diederiks-Verschoor passed away on 17 October 2017 at the age of 102. She was a pioneer of air and space law, both in the Netherlands and all over the world.

From 25-27 March, second-year students of the Advanced MSc in International Relations and Diplomacy (MIRD) took part in the programme's annual visit to Geneva, Switzerland. Students participated in institutional visits focusing on a wide range mandates in the field of International Relations and Dip…

What is the relationship between democracy and peace? Do the two go hand in hand, so that less democracy means less peace? Or can democracy work against peace: for example, by producing protectionist and militarist governments? Or is there something more deeply wrong with democracy as we know it, such…

eLaw reflects on a very successful turnout at this year's 17th edition of the annual CPDP Conference in Brussels. This year, the conference was rebranded as CPDP.ai in order to draw attention to AI regulation and governance beyond privacy.

Tech giants such as Google, Apple, and Microsoft are increasingly shaping the digital world we live in. Reijer Passchier cautions: 'Urgent measures are needed to curb this influence.'

Following a highly successful first edition, we are delighted to announce the second Leiden eLaw Summer School on ‘Regulating AI in the EU Digital Market’ taking place from 23 to 27 June 2025, both in person in Leiden and online.

Twenty students and alumni from our faculty recently went on a working visit to NATO. Led by Leiden alumna Beaudine Verhoek (MA in International Relations), who is now Officer for Political Affairs and Security Policy at NATO, we were treated to an informative programme at the organisation’s brand-new…

‘We have to have accountability.’ That was Roberta Metsola’ for her audience on Thursday evening. The President of the European Parliament had come to the Wijnhaven building to speak with students.

During an open debate in the UN Security Council on the topic of peacekeeping and human rights, the project

The Netherlands holds the presidency of the European Union for the coming six months. There are too many urgent issues for the country to spend time on Dutch political hobby horses, says Stefaan Van den Bogaert, Director of the Europa Institute.

The Leiden Law Blog is celebrating its first anniversary. The blog attracts many visitors and scores well in Google. Tips for bloggers: link to previous blogs, post them on social media and respond to comments.

On Monday 22 January 2024, the University of Florence hosted the conference 'Artificial Intelligence, between Ethics and Law'. Organised by the Department of Legal Sciences, the conference brought together leading experts to discuss the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence (AI) and…

Many students on the Master’s programme in International Relations and Diplomacy had their internship cancelled last year because of the pandemic. As an alternative, together with Professor of International Relations Madeleine Hosli, they wrote a book: The Future of Multilateralism.

Many of the language rules we use today were formulated in the 17th and 18th centuries. In a dual track at the universities of Leiden and Brussels, PhD candidate Eline Lismont investigated why some rules became successful while other rules were quickly forgotten.

Feeling nostalgic, Professor in Public Administration Science Bernard Steunenberg explains how some years ago he would occasionally show a TV broadcast to his students, first removing the videotape from its big box and putting it in a VHS player. Today, a student from Maastricht, sitting in the train…

For the eleventh time in a row, Leiden University’s unique liberal arts and sciences programme has been awarded the ‘Top Rated Programme’ quality seal by Keuzegids universiteiten 2024.

This section provides an overview of online tools for the study of the medieval Low Countries. The websites linked down below are often times both available in Dutch and English.

The shocking murder of MP Jo Cox has brought it home to the British public that the referendum debate is in disarray. How has the campaign been handled and what would be the consequences of a Brexit? Jan Rood, Professor by special appointment of European Integration, and political scientist Hans Vollaard…

Following our Leiden Brussels Alumni Event, I (external officer M. Blaauw, ed.) met our very own Leiden Law alumna Helena-Loutas Paraskeva. An Australian who works for the European Commission. Interesting, how did she get this job, what does she do and how did her Master in Leiden affect or influence…

Historian Joost Welten has written a book entitled 'De vergeten prinsessen van Thorn' (The forgotten princesses of Thorn). For his book, he analysed thousands of handwritten letters from the eighteenth century, mainly written in German and French. His personal mission is to visualize the daily lives…

Conference

Book presentation & panel discussion

C-SIDe project involves a broad selection of associates in solving cybersecurity problems. Security of software systems has emerged as a critical need in our interconnected society. Companies developing software products look for Security-by-Design approaches accommodating security into their software…

You can find an overview of events organized by the Platform for Post-Colonial Readings below.

Both the international perspective and the Dutch language and culture are deeply embedded in Leiden University’s identity.

The Institute of Psychology is committed to play a prominent role in teaching and research at the national and international level.

The programme focuses on the medieval dynamics of intellectual life in the Rhineland and the Low countries, nowadays divided over five countries (Switzerland, France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands) but one cultural region in the later Middle Ages.

Friday 5 July 2019 was the graduation of the Advanced Master International Relations and Diplomacy (MIRD). ´If the MIRD is like a good wine, this has been a vintage year'.

In 2018, the Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML), born out of activism, exists for forty years. The institute celebrated this on 28 June in the Stadsgehoorzaal in Leiden. In the morning, proud directors and researchers looked back and forth. After this several experts discussed the current environmental…

Researchers, policymakers and funders have to take more account of the effect of sex and gender in scientific research. This is the view presented in an advice paper published by LERU, the League of European Research Universities. The lead author is Vice-Rector Simone Buitendijk.

Fourteen students from developing countries spend the last years studying Public International Law at Leiden University. They did so with a fund that was established at the departure of former mayor of The Hague, Wim Deetman, in 2008.

For his PhD, historian and army major Dion Landstra researched the effectiveness of observers in peace operations in the Balkans between 1991 and 1995. What risks are acceptable for bringing about and maintaining peace? Landstra will defend his PhD on 28 September.

In the summer of 2019, South African student Tarryn Abrahams was awarded a scholarship from the Mandela Scholarship Fund. She is now spending a semester in Leiden, and following four courses at Leiden Law School. ‘I’m learning to engage more in lectures.’

Marlien van Mever delved into the analysis of tiny samples, cerebrospinal fluid from transgenic mouse models for example. She validated methods that can now be used to study brain diseases such as migraine and epilepsy. Van Mever will receive her PhD on 14 June.

Policy makers urgently need scientists’ help with the phenomenon of big data. This was the view expressed by Prince Constantijn, speaking at the opening of the Leiden Centre of Data Science, the virtual centre for research on big data at Leiden University.