Alumnus Dennis Jansen was recently elected as Youth Delegate at the United Nations. For the next two years, he is committed to the area of Sustainable Development and will discuss this topic with young people.

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.

On Saturday 11 May 2019, the BA South and Southeast Asian Studies programme held an Alumni Event for former students. All current students and staff were also invited. Several alumni were invited to talk about their study and career during two panel sessions. An inspiring afternoon!

Alumnus Maarten Asscher (60) is mentor of the month. He studied Law in Leiden and has worked as a literary publisher, senior official at the Ministry of Education and director of Athenaeum Booksellers. Will he be your mentor?

The Groot-Auditorium of the Academy building was recently stage to the graduation of the first cohort of the BA-track Arts, Media and Society. This impressive room, normally only used for PhD defenses and inaugural lectures by professors, was accommodated a ceremony attended by 17 students and their…

The banking system was in dire need of an overhaul; that much was clear from the credit crisis in 2008. The EU has made significant changes since. PhD candidate Barbora Budinská is researching the legal validity of the new supervisory mechanism for banks.

Kerstin Fischer and Angus Johnston were exchange students in Leiden in 1995. Sparks flew when they met at a Leiden International Student Club party, but then they lost touch. They met again 19 years later and the flame was rekindled. A Leiden love story – with a bit of a delay.

Kersti Börjars studied English language and literature in Leiden. She became a professor and now she is Master of the largest college at the University of Oxford: St Catherine’s College. What impact is coronavirus having on St Catherine’s and how has she benefited from her studies in Leiden.

Wija Wijayanto and Arum Perwitasari both were Indonesian PhD students at Leiden University, funded by the Leiden-DIKTI Graduate Scholarship Programme. With the help of this scholarship, literally thousands of students travel abroad to write their dissertations. During their research period, Arum and…

Graduates of Leiden University College The Hague, Juliette Nicolai and Elena Venturoni on their recent win in the Global Health Case Challenge 2019, Copenhagen.

Want to sponsor scientific research by raising funds? You can now do just that via Leiden University's campaign platform acties.steunleiden.nl. A broad range of projects have already started, including for research on genetic diseases.

Rie Schild-de Groen watched over ‘her’ Gentlemen, the residents of the ‘t Heerenhoeckje (Gentlemen’s Corner) Minerva house at Rapenburg 110, like a mother hen for 70 years. She was moved by the stories of residents who had lost loved ones to cancer. Jaap Koster and a few other former housemates helped…

A permanent job or start your own company? After her studies in English Language and Culture and History, Anna Visser (28) was faced with this exact choice and chose the latter. She started working as a freelance translator. How did this go and how did her studies benefit her?

Alumna Minke Lok (26) programmes many announcements in various languages at almost all major airports in Europe, including at Schiphol. ‘Millions of people around the world hear what I create.’

Looking for a job after a financial crisis is not easy, but Ward Hoskens (28) managed to take his fate into his own hands. During an internship, he found his way to the Pieterskerk, where he now works as a junior curator. Director Frieke Hurkmans took him on.

Sander Kok (35) was a hit as a model for Armani and he is now making a name for himself as a writer. His philosophically tinted first novel 'Smeltende vrouw' was acclaimed as a literary sensation. How do Literature Studies and Art History benefit him today?

Your own food truck, working from the comforts of a tropical beach in Bali, or a permanent job? Children, living together, getting married, a registered partnership? Thirty-somethings have a lot to think about. On Monday 16 April, Psychologist Nienke Wijnants gave a popular lecture to 120 young alumni…

‘Don’t worry and be open,’ is what Lisa Quants’ mentor told her before her job interview. And it helped. Lisa found her mentor through the Leiden University Mentor Network, an online platform where students can contact Leiden alumni for support and advice.

From political confessions to life lessons from his own student time. On 14 March, Prime Minister Mark Rutte gave candid answers to questions from Leiden law students.

Your career may seem a long way off, but now is good to think about it and talk to people in the know. On a speed date with alumni, for example.

Ankie Broekers-Knol, President of the Dutch Senate and Leiden alumna, opened the new Alumni House at Rapenburg 68 on 5 September. The Alumni House, next door to the Old University Library, where the University's Administration and General Services are located, is the new home of the Leiden University…

Where do Humanities alumni work after they graduate? And how should they prepare to enter the labour market? According to three Humanities alumni and their employers, the answer is: ‘Find the biggest challenges the world has to offer – they hold all kinds of possibilities for ambitious people.’

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…

On February 13th, former students Methodology & Statistics (M&S) of Leiden University will share their current and previous professional activities, to provide M&S students an insight into their career perspectives.

Chiara Porro from Australia studied International Relations and Diplomacy at Leiden University and has been Australia’s Ambassador to the Holy See since August. How did she end up at the Vatican and what is it like? ‘The Pope told me his door was always open!’

Tommy Hopstaken and Jochem Haverhoek run an escape room in Kruithuisje, a medieval tower on what was once the perimeter canal in Leiden. They are also secondary-school teachers and make good use of their escape room experience in their lessons. How do their degrees in Dutch and Astronomy come in use…

At a time when statues of figures from history have an uncertain future Valika Smeulders has just become Head of History at Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum. What changes does she want to make? And how does she look back on her Languages and Cultures of Latin America degree programme in Leiden?

Many alumni are frontline health workers and are working day and night to treat thousands of corona patients. Intensivist Michael Frank (53) is one of them. As head of intensive care at the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Dordrecht, he is steering his department through the corona crisis.

The International Institute of Air and Space Law (IIASL) has always been proud of its network, and most notably its alumni. These unprecedented Corona times mean that the students have not had the same opportunities as in past years to meet and engage in personal relationships with that alumni-base,…

A glowing first-time mother-to-be with an impressive CV for someone of her age, newsreader Amber Brantsen would seem to lead a charmed life. ‘But I began to resent that image,’ says the Leiden Public Administration alumna. This led her to write the impressive and personal Uit Beeld (Out of the Picture).…

Yuven Muniandy (36) from Malaysia recently obtained a PhD from Leiden University. His ‘orientation year’ visa gives him a year to find work in the Netherlands. But with Covid-19, companies have frozen recruitment. Yuven and seven other graduates are asking for a visa extension. He explains why.

On February 15th 2018 former students in Methodology & Statistics (M&S) of Leiden University will share their current and previous professional activities to provide M&S students an insight into their career perspectives.

Leiden alumna Tulasi Das moved to England to pursue a career in film, was accepted onto the BBC Trainee Scheme and now works in London as a researcher on historical documentaries. “I still can’t believe I get to do such cool work.”

Philosopher Stefan Buijsman obtained his doctorate this year at the age of 20 at the University of Stockholm, making him the youngest PhD in Sweden. He was already taking lectures in Astronomy in Leiden when he was 12, and at 15 he started a degree programme in Information Technology. 'The first reaction…

The research group of Eric Snijder, Professor of Molecular Virology (LUMC), has been conducting research on coronaviruses for decades. Then in March this year their work accelerated at an unprecedented rate. The first new results are now available: insight into how the virus replicates.

Even the Mohawk Indians were talking about Serv Wiemers’ thesis. This Law alumnus, who has been intrigued by the world of American Indians since he was a boy, recently wrote a book about that world.

Akke de Hoog (26) helps asylum seekers whose application has been rejected to plan their future and voluntary return to their country of origin. Her master’s programme taught her about migration and how international politics, the climate and the economy impact different migration flows, as well as…

Nassim was in the first cohort of students who began the bachelor’s programme in International Studies in 2012. His foreign classmates changed his outlook on the world. He now advises managers and civil servants on issues in higher education and internationalisation. His international perspective helps…

Professor Leo Lucassen often adds his voice to the public debate on his specialist field. If there is talk of a 'flood of migration', he feels compelled to give the issue some historical perspective. 'Concerned? Yes, I am.'

The Linked In profile of alumnus Arne Driessen describes him as a ‘serial entrepreneur’. After studying Japanese he ended up working for a translation agency, after which he founded his own online marketing company, which he later sold to enable him to do something different again: making offices more…

What does life look like after International Studies? For Chris Colijn who graduated in 2018, it involves working on his master’s in Russian and Eurasian Studies, in combination with a bustling traineeship for “Raam of Rusland”, a think tank, focusing on Russian and Ukrainian politics, economy and culture.…

In Dutch TV programme Early Birds, Marvin and Kevin Groen (26) showed viewers areas of nature in the city that often go unnoticed. These good-natured brothers - twins, in fact - were a big hit with the viewers. How much influence do they have on one another's studies and work?

The first South and Southeast Asian Studies Alumni event that took place on 7 May was a great success! The event was organized by the 2016 Alumni Committee in cooperation with the KITLV, the research institute for the study of Southeast Asia and the Caribbean.

Mathematician Gonny Hauwert (33) is one of the mentors in the Leiden University Mentor Network. Through multiple jobs she found out what she really enjoyed: data analysis. ‘My experiences can help students.’

How can we speed up the transition from large cities to a circular metropolis? This is the question that Leiden students and former students Elsemieke, Fabian and Eveline are getting their teeth into. They and seventeen other young academics are taking part in the National ThinkTank and they have four…

Last Saturday (4 November) almost 100 LUC alumni returned to the campus at the Anna van Buerenplein in The Hague for the big autumn Alumni Meet up. They were welcomed by Dean Prof. dr. Judi Mesman, who emphasized the role alumni will play in the future of LUC. “From January on LUC will have more alumni…

The Europa Instituut is honoured to announce that two Leiden alumni received awards for their master theses at the annual meeting of the Netherlands Association for European Law (NVER) in Utrecht.

Over thirty research projects have been awarded a grant from the Leiden University Fund (LUF). The academics each receive a sum of between 5,000 and 25,000 euros to conduct their research.

Part One: Casting off, Amsterdam

For most, it had been a while since they had seen each other: about thirty BA International Studies alumni who met up at Cafe Luden for a reunion on July 6. And, now that the BA programme has existed for seven years, there were some people who had never even met each other. 'What year did you start,…