Dr. Eduard Fosch-Villaronga from eLaw collaborates with researchers from the Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology Delhi (IIIT-Delhi) and University of Delhi (DU) in an effort to explore and reflect upon the potential legal, ethical and pedagogical challenges of deploying a social robot in…

'Make sure you separate yourself from your work.' And, 'Your dissertation doesn't have to be a magnum opus.' It was raining tips for PhD students at the humanities PhD event on well-being on Tuesday, 5 September.

It is said that robots replace human interaction, but not always. This spring, the robots were the reason why the eLaw Center for Law and Digital Technologies at Leiden University in the Netherlands and Mykolas Romeris University (MRU) Law School in Lithuania got together.

Unemployed people often need not only a financial safety net but also a stimulus to look for work. PhD candidate Heike Vethaak researched the effects of incentives used by benefit agencies, such as compelling people to widen their job search.

Whom do you ask for permission to conduct research at a primary school? And how do you collect data in countries where freedom of expression is under threat? This is what staff directly involved in the – often complex – process of research ethics recently discussed at a meeting, with the aid of some…

Jasper Knoester is the dean of the Faculty of Science. How is he doing? What kinds of things is he doing and what does his day look like? In each newsletter Jasper gives a peek into his life as dean.

An impressive 12 researchers from Leiden University have been awarded an 800,000-euro grant by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). This will enable them to develop their own line of research over the next five years.

White clouds of ice-cold gas flowing across the floor. Magical, but be careful not to freeze your fingers off. We are of course talking about liquid nitrogen and helium. You may have seen the spectacular Freezing Physics science show by the student organisation Rino. But did you know that this commodity…

Behind the scenes people are working hard on the vision and strategy plan of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences: a manifest of our priorities and ‘a pamphlet for change,’ according to Dean Paul Wouters and Board Secretary Jordi Kerkum. The faculty-wide conversation about our collective future…

Nausea, neurologic pain and hair loss: some of the severe side effects of chemotherapy. Not necessary, biochemist Liyan Zhang showed. Together with Leiden biologists and others, she achieved great results with a drug that is only active in combination with light. Zhang will defend her PhD on 4 July.

He was a popular face in the Leiden student world and even developed his own merchandise, but all good things come to an end. After seven years, community support officer Dennis Perdok (49) is leaving this role. Last week he bid farewell to the police and to his job in Leiden’s city centre.

Elise Sarton is using her inaugural lecture to give her field of anaesthesiology a chance to take the limelight for a change.

You should start working now, and the positive results will only be seen long after your term has expired. That is just about the worst thing you can say to politicians and policymakers. Yet that is exactly the message of two recent reports on sustainable resource use from the Centre for Environmental…

Jasper Knoester is the dean of the Faculty of Science. How is he doing? What kinds of things is he doing and what does his day look like? In each newsletter Jasper gives a peek into his life as dean.

During World War II, the Nazi’s ordered a coastal defensive line to be built from the south of France to Norway. This Atlantik Wall aimed to defend their territories in continental Europe from an Allied naval invasion. The defensive line went right through the Dutch city of The Hague. The material remains…

Almost two months have passed since the negotiation agreement was reached on the new CAO. Employers and unions have now signed there are still some unanswered questions. We are curious to know the latest status, so we got together on Teams with our HRM Director Heleen Cocu.

Is aviation on a one-way journey or a round trip? That is the question Steven Truxal will answer in his inaugural lecture From Disruption to Innovation in Air and Space: Legal Solutions for a Sustainable Future on Monday 15 November. This professor of air and space law is positive. That’s one thing…

Leiden University is under fire: it is allegedly doing too little to tackle antisemitism. Rector Hester Bijl responds to this accusation and to a video from 2014 on social media in which extreme remarks are made. ‘We can be short about such comments: they are unacceptable. The university is and always…

Organs and tissues grown in the lab may in the future be able to cure people with organ failures. Micha Drukker, professor of Stem Cells, Developmental Biology and Technology for Innovative Drug Research, is convinced that the use of stem cells will make this possible. He will deliver his inaugural…

The left is gaining more and more ground on the political map of Latin America, with the elections in Colombia as the most recent example. But what’s behind this pull to the left? Professor of Modern Latin American History Patricio Silva talks about the current political situation in the region.

University is often a period of sexual exploration and experimentation, generally to the satisfaction of all involved. But sometimes you want it and the other doesn’t. Or vice versa. Or you can’t really tell. This is what the Safe Space play at Theater Ins Blau was about on 11 October. And: can your…

December marks the 15th anniversary of the Dual PhD Centre (DPC). Director Johannes Tromp and associate professor Mark Dechesne look back and ahead. Dechesne: ‘The DPC forms a 'community of knowledge' in which science and society are connected.’

Presenting requires empathy, knowing the essence of your story and being able to put it into words. And, of course, a healthy dose of self-awareness and self-confidence. This forms the base for the presentation-training course for young researchers organized by the Centre for Professional Learning.…

Ab de Jong, professor of Comparative Religion, was appointed as the new the academic director of the Leiden Institute for Area Studies (LIAS) with effect from 1 September. We asked him about his plans for the future of the LIAS.

For over a year now, ombuds officer Marjan van Dasselaar has been devoting her efforts to a safer work environment at the university. What are her first impressions of this period? ‘People should feel free to call me sooner and more often, also for seemingly trivial situations.’

Seven researchers from Leiden University have been awarded an ERC Starting Grant. This will enable them to start their own project, build their research team and put their best ideas into action.

There’s been a lot of commotion about the ‘Apartheid in Israel’ panel discussion being cancelled. The organisers, Students for Palestine, wanted to hold this at Leiden University’s Wijnhaven building in The Hague on 21 March. The Executive Board would only allow the event to go ahead if guarantees…

Before patients can take a pill, scientists often spend years in the lab developing and testing a candidate drug. That often includes experiments with laboratory animals. As head of the rodent facility, Ilze Bot and her colleagues ensure that these experiments are conducted in an ethically responsible…

According to a new study, for half of the world population the answer would be yes. For the other half: maybe? Leiden environmental researcher and head author Nicolas Navarre explains: ‘With improvements to crop yields, reductions in food waste, and changes in consumption patterns, 90% of people could…

The war in Ukraine is leading not only to human suffering. Ukraine's cultural heritage is also experiencing the consequences of the war: museums are being bombed and 'Russification' in the occupied territories means children no longer learn Ukrainian. Researcher Evelien Campfens was commissioned by…

On 16 April 2021 the webinar ‘Children and young adults in contact with the law: Systemic vulnerabilities and institutional responses’ took place. In total 17 speakers and discussants engaged with the topic of vulnerability.

We can all look back on a turbulent year, a year in which we rapidly switched to working – and learning – online. Because pandemic or not, many staff members have continued to work on their development. Last year the Learning & Development team developed a wide range of online courses and training,…

Psychology teacher of the year is Roy de Kleijn. The Master Thesis Awards are for Roosmarijn Goldbach en Matija Čuljak. Jeffrey Durieux receives the PhD Publication Prize; Maedeh Nasri the PhD Wild card: Team Science Award. Wilma van Velzen earns the OBP Prize and Jos Brosschot wins the Leiden Psychology…

Sexual harassment was the theme of the recent annual symposium of student ambassadors to the Leiden-Bollenstreek police in collaboration with the police and the municipality. An extremely important issue to students − if the 100 places being claimed as soon as the symposium was announced was anything…

A new face is strengthening FGGA's Faculty Board as vice-dean in the coming months. Maarja Beerkens comes from the Institute of Public Administration, where she has been teaching since 2010 and has also been Associate Professor and Educational Director for many years. The enthusiastic The Hague resident…

André van der Laan has been appointed Professor by Special Appointment of Juvenile and Adolescent Crime at Leiden University, a chair established by the Leiden University Fund (LUF) and the Dutch Research and Documentation Centre (WODC). It is the first time that a professorship by special appointment…

Presenting a well-thought-out idea to Schiphol experts, a former ambassador or a security expert. For the third-year Security Studies bachelor students, this was a unique experience and a great opportunity last week. 'Who knows, maybe they can work for us in the future!'

'What nature made isn’t necessarily an optimized medicine to use in the human body,’ says Professor of Biological Chemistry Nathaniel Martin. That’s why a group of Leiden researchers is making a chemistry-based improved version of the frequently used antibiotic vancomycin. They received an NWO NACTAR…

Connecting worlds, enhancing research and teaching, and providing innovative solutions to complex social issues: that is the idea behind interdisciplinary research. In that respect, a huge amount happened at Leiden University in 2023.

What with coronavirus, the American elections and the Brexit botheration, we had almost forgotten that something miraculous happened in 2020: the repressed people of Belarus rallied against dictator Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in power for 26 years. Months later, what remains of the protest?…

Our institute is in full swing: the annual staffing review, Recognition & Rewards, Open Science and the introduction of GROW. Besides these positive developments, Hanneke Hulst also sees concerns, for example about the new outline agreement. 'I’m hopeful that together we will find smart ways to deal…

On 25 November, the global 16-day campaign 'Orange the World' against violence against women and girls started. Leiden University will also be paying attention to this campaign. On Friday 9 December, Renate van der Zee and Marieke Liem will give a lecture at the Campus The Hague (Spanish Steps, Wijnhaven)…

No fewer than 55 applications were submitted for a Kiem seed grant, an initiative for developing new interdisciplinary, interfaculty research partnerships and encounters. The draw took place on Monday for the allocation of 22 seed grants. The Executive Board was so impressed with the number of applications…

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.

Ecologist Sebastiaan Grosscurt became a successful wildlife journalist after graduating. But he decided to focus on science instead. He started his PhD research this year on the cumulative effect of light and noise pollution on animal behaviour.

LUMC Curium and the Dutch National Youth Council (NJR) have been working on integrating young people’s lived experiences of mental health problems in medical research and training. The aim is to broaden doctors' and researchers’ perspectives and improve the care offered.

A restless night aggravates symptoms in those experiencing suicidal thoughts, as psychologists Liia Kivelä and Niki Antypa have found in their study on the short-term risk factors of suicide. They argue that targeting sleep could thus be essential for suicide prevention.

Leiden University was present for the second time at the second Leiden Pride on Saturday.

Developmental psychologist Ili Ma has been awarded an ERC grant to investigate misinformation among teenagers, aiming to bolster their resilience against its potentially severe consequences.

On Monday 26 August, students were warmly welcomed at the Wijnhaven location with a blue carpet and live music. Accompanied by their friends and family, they gathered to receive their BSc Security Studies diploma.