PhD defence

Half the world's population is introverted and comes home drained after an evening of drinks. Their social battery is empty. 'People with autism have a similar experience, but much more intense,' says Boya Li, who researches emotional regulation in children with autism and hearing impairment. Does this…

Political games have existed throughout history, but what is the role of 'play' in the way the American political world has developed? University lecturer Sara Polak has received an ERC Starting Grant to investigate this.

At the beginning of July, a committee appointed by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) presented its report 'Social Safety in Dutch Academia. From Paper to Practice', to the Dutch Minister of Education, Culture and Science. The committee was chaired by Professor Naomi Ellemers…

Marie Schwed Shenker, PhD candidate at eLaw, has successfully completed an intensive summer school on Social Robotics at Utrecht University. The program offered a comprehensive mix of theoretical instruction and hands-on experience, providing her with the skills to design and experiment with social…

PhD defence

Each year, Latin American diplomats meet the researchers and students from Leiden University who specialise in their region. This year, they visited the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences. ‘The social and behavioural sciences have improved our understanding of social unrest.’

Working towards resilient communities, transparency in science and connecting with the employment market – these are the three key themes being addressed by the departments of Social and Behavioural Sciences at Dutch universities. On 11 February, they presented a joint sector plan to Marcelis Boereboom,…

PhD defence

How anonymous is an individual in a social network? And is it possible for hackers to extract sensitive information from data? These were the main topics of the hackathon organized by POPNET and the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) on May 3 at the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science.

Together. If we look back on the corona crisis some time from now, that will have been the keyword in the political communication, says Arco Timmermans. Having allies is imperative, especially in these times.

Professor Janice Bellace (Warthon, University of Pennsylvania) gives the Social Justice Lecture this year. The title of her lecture will be: ‘Social justice, business and labour rights and the role of the International Labour Organization (ILO) to influence corporate behaviour of multinational enterprises.’…

KWR Watercycle Research Institute and the Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) at Leiden University are collaborating in the area of social impact.

Inaugural lecture

Laurens Hessels was appointed Professor by Special Appointment, lecturing in the Social Value of Science at Leiden University, effective 1 September 2021. His research will focus how best science and industry can work together. Alongside his new position he will continue his work at the Rathenau Institute…

Empathic or anxious mistakes? A neurocognitive investigation of the development of social performance monitoring in youth growing up in stressful versus non-stressful environments

Join this lecture from professor Daniel Aldrich at the Spanish Steps in Wijnhaven on Wednesday 3 November. Dr. Sanneke Kuipers, associate professor in Crisis Governance, will be the moderator of the lecture and she and professor Aldrich give us a preview of the event.

Contemporary Maya Calendars

Stephanie Rap and Julia Sloth-Nielsen have presented at the International Symposium on Social Work in Juvenile Justice in Beijing, from 27-28 October 2018.

Since January 2019, The Leiden Institute for Advanced Computer Science is part of the RISE_SMA project. In this European project 6 universities, in collaboration with companies, government authorities and NGOs, will join forces to get more insight in social media data during crisis situations. The kick-off…

Slavoj Žižek is one of the most prominent public intellectuals of the left. His central claim holds that “today, it is more crucial than ever to continue to question the very foundations of capitalism as a global system”.

The ESSHC is coming to Leiden (Wednesday 18 - Saturday 21 March 2020)! The European Social Science History Conference is one of the largest gatherings of historians in Europe. The next conference will be held in Leiden in 2020. We are very happy that Leiden has been chosen to host this conference.…

Commentators and scholars view both social media and cities as sites of fragmentation. Since both urban dwellers and social media users tend to form assortative social ties, so the reasoning goes, identity-based divisions are fortified and polarization is exacerbated in digital and urban spaces.

The Radboud Institute for Culture and History is looking for a researcher/PhD candidate in the project 'The Social Life of Early Medieval Normative Texts'. Deadline for applications: July 6.

Maurits Berger worked as a lawyer in Amsterdam and as a journalist and researcher in Egypt and Syria. Since 2008, he has been a Professor of Islam in Leiden. Now he finally gets to do what he really wants: bringing his social knowledge and experience with Islam to the academic world. His call to the…

How can business strategies help us solve social problems? This was researched by students of the Master Honours Class 'Social Innovation in Action' over the past twenty weeks. During the final seminar of the class they presented their creative enterprises to tackle child poverty in Leiden. ‘It’s not…

It’s not a regular occurrence at Leiden University: two professors giving their inaugural lecture on the same day. Berna Güroğlu and Ellen de Bruijn specialise in related disciplines: they both research the influence of social context on processes in the brain – Güroğlu in adolescents and De Bruijn…

Experts from several disciplines have raised concerns about the use of seemingly precise models to guide policies in matters as complex as the current Covid-19 pandemic. 22 scholars wrote down five principles on how to responsibly use scientific models. This comment was published in Nature on 24 June…

Developmental Psychologist Anna van Duijvenvoorde talks about her research on the development of brain and behaviour in adolescents. An important part of this research is social learning which is crucial in puberty. Several media sources devoted attention to her research. In 2020, she received the Heineken…

How does the medieval body of texts known as 'canon law' reflect social and moral ideas? With a combination of AI and an advanced dataset, can we reveal patterns in the transmission and alteration of these ideas over time? Join the SOLEMNE project as a research assistant to explore these questions and…

Call for participation:

Turbulent times in Italy: Deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini wants new elections so that he can become prime minister himself. He is campaigning on social media, including photos of himself posing in his swimming trunks.

At the Faculty's opening of the 2019-2020 academic year, the focus lay not just on the vision for the future of the social sciences, and the opening of the refurbished library, but above all on the government's plans for university financing. The speeches included an interview between Annemarie Samuels…

Autistic children have indeed potential: most of their emotional abilities improve with age, concludes developmental psychologist Boya Li in her research on the emotional development of autistic children. Promotion on 10 November 2021.

Ten Leiden social and behavioural scientists have successfully applied for the NWO Open Competition. With this Open Competition, NWO gives researchers the chance to start small, high-risk, innovative or promising research projects.

Hardly ever before have different groups in the population retreated into their own bubble as much as they are doing today. Professor of Sociology and Law Maartje van der Woude and her students will be examining the effect of social distancing on relationships. How do the people of Leiden look at students…

Inaugural lecture

Valedictory lecture

Inaugural lecture

A clean street, public transportation, or taxes: these are all public goods that keep society running. But how do people decide which public good to invest in, if at all? These are the kind of questions PhD student Laura Hoenig explores.

Yvonne Erkens, Associate Professor Labour Law, was a guest lecturer at the FHR Institute for Higher Education in Paramaribo, Suriname, from 4 to 11 November.

Our Winter School alumna Ginevra Montefusco defended her Master thesis this March with the title Food in the Margin: a feminist analysis of sense of place in Barriera di Milano, Turin (supervisors: Alessia Toldo and Egidio Dansero).

Governments worldwide invest huge sums in their digital services and data strategies. Efficiency and effectiveness are key. But these are not achieved for some people at least, says Professor of Public Policy Sarah Giest. This makes the intended digital inclusion far from inclusive, as she will explain…

An investigation carried out by Dutch news programme Nieuwsuur has revealed that despite a recent ruling by the Centrale Raad van Beroep (Central Appeals Tribunal, CRvB), people who for years cared for a seriously ill relative paid for via a PGB (persoonsgebondenbudget, personal care budget) do not…

Young Academy Leiden wants to bring together young academics. After all, it is not that easy in practice to meet peers outside your field. With inspiring and fun Faculty lunches, the organisation strives to connect young researchers. The most recent, hosted at the Faculty of Social and Behaviourial…

Leiden’s ‘Learning with the City | On Location’ knowledge store opened its digital doors in Leiden-Noord on 8 February. This is where students, residents and professionals can work together on social issues.

In Ancient Egypt, prominent families engaged in ancestor worship to maintain their high standing. Renata Schiavo researched this link between religion and power for her PhD. ‘People were afraid that their ancestors would bring misfortune if the family’s prestige declined.’

The corona crisis relates to not only the medical field but also the field of the social sciences and humanities. SSH Beraad, a consultation body that aims to improve the position of the social sciences and humanities in the Netherlands, has launched a website bringing together experts in the social…

In a joint letter, the Leiden student associations have appeal to students to practise 1.5m distancing and to only meet others if they are fit and well. They urge them to observe the corona rules to prevent a local spike.

Both play and politics have the potential to create worlds in which new rules apply, meanings are created, and possibilities emerge for collaboration, strategy and creative solutions. In this sense, play and politics have always been very much alike. But what happens to this kinship in a post-digital…