Young Academy Leiden (YAL) will change its board this month and welcome seven new members. Outgoing chair Julia Cramer and incoming chair Rachel Plak look back at the highlights of the past year and discuss YAL’s plans for the coming period.

Leiden scientists and companies receive 1.37 million euros to develop technology for the Einstein Telescope. This underground telescope will measure gravitational waves and must therefore be extremely sensitive. To that end, the consortium conducts research on the damping of vibrations at temperatures…

‘Safe working is a form of professionalism,’ says Hugo M. Nijhof, head of the Health and Safety department. Starting next year, there will be more focus on this topic. New opening hours will be introduced for the buildings, along with new rules for working outside office hours. Nijhof: ‘Together, we…

Lara Ummels came from Maastricht to study law in Leiden, and never left. She recently joined the board of the 3 October Association.

Due to technological and societal developments, we are being flooded with more information than our brains can process. How does this affect our decision-making, both as individuals and as a society? And can we learn to make better choices? This is what Lotte van Dillen will explore with her profess…

Jasper Knoester is the dean of the Faculty of Science. How is he doing, what exactly does he do and what does his day look like? In each newsletter, Jasper gives an insight into his life.

In the eighteenth century, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) housed its enslaved people on ‘Slave Island’ in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka. Today ‘Slave Island’ is under serious threat from property developers. Senior lecturer Alicia Schrikker, together with her Sri Lankan colleagues Iromi Perera…

As of 1 September 2024, Thed van Leeuwen is professor by special appointment of the chair “Monitoring Open Science Policies and Practices” at the Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) at Leiden University. The mission of the chair will be to understand the changes in policies and practices…

Over 160 years ago, the Hague-based photography pioneer and traveler Alexine Tinne (1835-1869) captured current South Sudan and its inhabitants on film. These photographs represent some of the earliest images taken in the heart of the African continent.

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…

Yeast, alpacas, and antibodies. They may seem unrelated, but within the project of the Leiden iGEM students, they come together perfectly. For the international synthetic biology competition iGEM, the team is working on an innovative method to produce nanobodies—a special form of antibodies—using brewer’s…

In the complex academic playing field, it is crucial that researchers and research support professionals know how to find each other. At Leiden University, these collaborations are indispensable too, say professor Gilles van Wezel and project manager Mariana Avalos Garcia. ‘Without support, this project…

Already during their bachelor’s programme, students in Pharmaceutical Sciences are presented with challenging projects. One of these is the Bachelor Research Assignment (BOO in Dutch), which is often their first real experience with scientific research. This means a lot of responsibility and failures,…

From 1 November we will have a new mobility policy and will track our commuting with an app. The new regulation is more sustainable and will also save us time and effort, say the union reps from the Local Consultative Body.

As an employee, the Faculty of Law at Leiden University also allows you to go on an exchange. Read here how Esther Kentin experienced this and where to find more information.

How do games help shape our perception of the past? Associate Professor Angus Mol receives a Vidi grant to answer this question.

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Lunchbyte

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Study information | Graduate School

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Course, Winter school

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Terra Symposium

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Debate

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Lecture, Tech Trends Workshop

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Discussion

Didactics

2021 was an eventful year once again for the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs (FGGA). Hybrid, working from home, online education, on-campus education, face masks, self-tests, keeping distance, quarantine and the coronavirus. Words that have now become a standard part of our vocabulary when…

In November 2023, the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) underwent its first full external research evaluation for the period from 2016 to 2021 with outstanding results. In its final assessment report, the independent external evaluation committee underlines that ‘the committee is impressed…

This month's flash interview is with alumna Sytske Besemer, Criminologist, who works at a startup called Cradle. Sytske has specifically chosen to work for a company with societal impact. And she is about to move again, this time to Zürich.

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Lecture, European Union Seminar

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