Rogier Creemers is a lecturer in Modern Chinese Studies. While he looks for challenges in his lectures, in his free time he much prefers to go back to basics and work with his hands.

No more smelly lorries disposing of building waste or delivering building materials to the centre of Leiden. That’s Leiden University’s ambition for its future renovation or construction projects in the city centre. Electric boats should make the process cleaner and less inconvenient for the people…

International prosecutors, for instance at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, investigate particularly serious crimes such as genocide. They decide, among other things, whether or not to prosecute. PhD candidate Cale Davis investigated how prosecutors come to such decisions and will defend…

If a young person from a migrant background climbs the social ladder despite internship discrimination, the exclusion often gets worse. It is only when we acknowledge these problems that we can resolve them, say Nadia Bouras and Tikho Ong, who are both experiential and academic experts. ‘Racism and…

Artificial intelligence systems are smart. They can recognize patterns better than humans, for example. Yet humans are still very much needed. How can you better steer those AI systems? LIACS lecturer Jan van Rijn wrote a book about this together with a number of colleagues. We asked him a few quest…

The Leiden Leadership Programme is going to innovate. After 12 years, the honours track for master’s students will get a new set-up. We asked two of those involved about the ins and outs of the new LLP. ‘You learn what leadership style suits you and how to make an impact.’

In the upcoming months, we’ll talk to students of the FGGA faculty who have finished their internship. What did the internships bring them? And what kind of work did they do? In this interview we speak with Justin Spuit, a Master’s student Political Science: Dutch Politics and International Relations:…

A group of biology students are working on a solution to the world’s plastics problem by getting bacteria to make biodegradable plastic.

How is it that the internet works so well, with billions of users sending millions of gigabytes all together every day? That's because the foundation of the internet is solidly set up. Yet sometimes there are problems on the internet. For example, when certain systems misbehave and disrupt the routing…

Mining for natural resources harms the environment. But we desperately need them, for both the development of countries and the transition to a sustainable energy system. Professor of Sustainable Resource Use Ester van der Voet researches how we can reduce the environmental impact of natural resources…

The government spends millions regulating companies that work with large quantities of hazardous substances. But we don’t know whether this is making the industry safer. The number of violations and incidents remains constant. This is the conclusion of external PhD candidate Rob in ’t Veld in his dissertation.…

Human resources

For her research, PhD candidate Liselore Tissen put one famous painting after another through a 3D scanner. The resulting reproductions were indistinguishable from the originals. But what does this mean for our interpretation of art?

The importance of digitalization has become even more evident during the Corona crisis. Society and the Dutch economy are therefore rapidly digitizing. This calls for a good balance between seizing opportunities and reducing risks.

Finance

All Leiden University staff will receive an invitation on 17 October to fill in the Personnel Monitor. Why is it important that everyone completes it? And what has happened with the results of the last Personnel Monitor? Vice Chairman of the Executive Board Martijn Ridderbos explains.

Young Academy Leiden (YAL) will change its board this month and welcome seven brand-new members.

Teacher training should do more to prepare teachers for the pedagogical aspects of teaching, Professor of Educational Sciences Tim Mainhard will argue in his inaugural lecture. ‘Children who find learning difficult particularly benefit from a close relationship with their teacher.’

Campus The Hague gained a new facility. On Thursday 17 February, POPcorner was opened, helping students find their way during their studies and within the university buildings.

Young researchers met this month for the fifth Science Communication Summer School. ‘This is the first time some participants get to meet other researchers who also enjoy science communication. It’s great to see’, says Julia Cramer, one of the coordinators.

The Sustainable 100 is an initiative by Dutch newspaper Trouw, consisting of a list of the top 100 sustainable civil initiatives. In October of 2020, the Jonge Klimaatbeweging (Youth Climate Movement NL) became the first youth organization to win first prize. An interview with LUC Alumna and Board Member…

Organisation, Research

The MSc Life Science & Technology receives a bronze medal in EW Best Studies 2023. Every year, Elsevier selects the top programmes in higher education. A medal means that students are above-average satisfied with the quality of their programme.

Education

We are living through an age in which social media platforms have given way to entirely new forms of politics and politicking. It is no exaggeration to say: there is a before and after social media.

An international team of astronomers, led by Will Rocha of Leiden Observatory, using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have discovered that the key ingredients for making potentially habitable worlds are present in early-stage protostars, where planets have not yet formed.

Daniël Vredenberg did his master’s internship at the communications department of the Rijksvastgoedbedrijf. In this interview, he talks about his internship and the difference between actually working at an organisation, as he is currently doing, and doing an internship.

David Versluis successfully simulated an infant gut virtually. This is crucial for research on improvements in formula milk. Currently, such research primarily relies on diaper contents, which is not optimal. Versluis defended his doctoral thesis on April 23.

Leiden University offers a Dual Career Programme (DCP) to assist the life partners of new academic staff (on pay-roll) in finding employment in The Netherlands. The programme is offered in close cooperation with nearby universities of Delft and Rotterdam.

On 29 September 2023, Carlotta Rigotti and Eduard Fosch-Villaronga participated in the Lawtomation Days at the IE University. They presented the preliminary findings of desk and empirical research on fairness of AI applications in the labour market that had been conducted for the Horizon Europe BIAS…

The New Scholar, an interdisciplinary peer-reviewed journal at the Faculty of Humanities of Leiden University, is launching its first issue, and how? With a double issue!

There's a myth that people with autism avoid eye contact in conversations. This can come across as indifferent. Unjustified, stresses Jiayin Zhao, who is doing her PhD research on the socio-emotional development of children with autism. 'That people with autism don't care is anything but true.'

The Leiden Archaeology social media team presents its first documentary on one of our faculty's research projects. A team led by Bleda Düring, Victor Klinkenberg, and Maria Hadjigavriel explores the Cypriot Chalcolithic period in Palloures, Cyprus.

Migrants are expensive. Or are they? Professor Olaf van Vliet collaborated on a big research project from Leiden University to map the costs of migration. During the last episode of this season of the podcast Open Geesten (Open Minds), he talks about the initial results. Do migrants really put a lot…

A lot of municipalities work with a points system to encourage construction projects to take biodiversity and creating green areas into account. But this way of working also benefits local neighbourhoods and residents, master's student Marije Sesink discovered. She based her study on The Hague.

On Thursday 6 May 2021, alumni of the Bachelor Security Studies (BaSS) and the Master Crisis and Security Management (CSM) were gathered in an online event arranged by the Institute of Security and Global Affairs and the study association L.S.A. Custodia.

During the event 'Fout?' by De Jonge Akademie, Ellen de Bruijn held a lecture about the social context of making mistakes and the psychological elements of learning from it.

The sixth edition of the Max Rood Moot Court Competition was held on Friday 24 June 2022. This Dutch interuniversity labour law moot court unfortunately could not take place the last two years due to the coronavirus, but this year teams from four universities took on each other again. The day was organised…

Vanessa de Malmazet has been working as HR policy advisor in FGGA's Faculty Office since March. Promoting employee well-being is high on the Faculty Board's list of priorities for the coming years. In this new role,

If you have an idea for a new degree programme, be aware that the registration procedure is complex and time-consuming. Your faculty, the Executive Board, the Efficiency Committee for Higher Education (CDHO) and the Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders (NVAO) must all approve.

Leiden University offers its staff members an attractive package of benefits including a holiday allowance of 8% and a end-of-year bonus of 8.3%. Using the Individual Choices Model it is also possible to opt for personalised benefits. Here we have summarised the most important terms and conditions.

If you were declared disabled for work on or prior to 1 January 2016, and you are the recipient of a wage-related WGA benefit, you may also be eligible for what is known as a WGA compensation benefit.

The 30% facility is a tax measure for employees from abroad and employees sent abroad by the University. Under specific conditions the employer may provide a maximum of 30% of the salary for the first 20 months, 20% for the subsequent 20 months, and 10% for the last 20 months of your income in the form…

Starting five years before your AOW (General Old Age Pensions Act) retirement age, you are allowed to submit a request to reduce your working hours per week by one or two days. You forfeit a portion of your salary, but you retain your original pension accrual. This arrangement is known as the Vitality…

A consortium made up of Leiden University (Institute of Public Administration/Digitalisation & Public Policy, Bram Klievink, Sarah Giest, Bart Schermer), VU (Professor Fabio Massacci), TU Delft, TNO, and Thales has been awarded a NWO grant of 1.5 million euros. This research project looks into the ‘metadata…

Rich countries are getting richer because of environmentally polluting (construction) investments from the past, largely at the expense of poor countries. This was shown by long-term economic and environmental data. 'The gap between poor and rich countries is widening.' Scientists from the Leiden Institute…

Facility

Egbert Jongen is appointed Professor of Economics and Socio-Economic Policy at Leiden University from 1 November 2023. His expertise is in the field of socio-economic policy, inequality, and the labour market.