Professor Judi Mesman interviewed 40 people of colour in leadership positions. What can we learn from them?

Ijeoma Uchegbu is Professor of Pharmacy at University College London (UCL). As a female scientist of colour, she was initially reluctant to play an active role in the university’s diversity policy. Until, that is, she had a radical change of heart: ‘I knew it; I had to become an evangelist.'

Paul Wouters received the RISE Award, an award by the women’s network RISE, for his commitment to increasing gender equality at the Faculty of Science. ‘It makes it clear that it is possible to truly make a change in 9 months. That is why I am happy with this award.’

Last year Leiden University appointed an extra 25 female professors. With these appointments the Executive Board has increased the percentage of women in the highest academic role.

Leiden Business Law student Raz Ahmad has won the ECHO Loyens & Loeff Law & Tax Award 2019. The ECHO Awards are presented each year to excellent students in higher education with a non-western background.

Eliminate violence against women. That is the message of the Orange the World campaign. Leiden University is joining in this year, hence the ‘oranged’ Academy Building and Oude UB.

The Faculty of Humanities is proud to launch its new D&I Calendar for the academic year 2023-2024. This calendar is an effort to build awareness and cultural understanding of important religious holidays and other special observances of the diverse groups within our academic community.

After seven years, the Faculty of Science said goodbye to Geert de Snoo as dean During on 29 August. This happened with a pub quiz, a special edition of Our Talents & Discoveries and no less than two decorations. Take a look at the pictures for an impression!

The Faculty of Humanities is proud to launch its new D&I Calendar for the academic year 2024-2025. This calendar is an effort to build awareness and cultural understanding of important religious holidays and other special observances of the diverse groups within our academic community.

Older children more frequently link Black Pete with a black person. Both younger and older children think positively about him. This is the conclusion of a study conducted by Judi Mesman, Professor of Diversity in Parenting and Development.

Professor of Higher Education Estela Mara Bensimon approaches diversity from a specific viewpoint. Examine and reflect on your own motives, is her advice to lecturers. Do you know for sure that you don't treat students from minority groups differently?

Daniela Kraft will be awarded the NWO Athena Prize 2019 in a ceremony at the CHAINS Chemistry Conference on 10 December. The prize recognizes excellent female chemists who carry out outstanding scientific research and act as role models for their fellow researchers. Kraft will receive the Athena Prize…

Leiden University is in third place in the Netherlands for the percentage of women professors, behind the Open University and Radboud University in Nijmegen. This is reported in the Review of Women Professors 2018.

The Van Bergen Fund aims to promote contacts between Dutch and international students in order to achieve a better understanding of each other's cultures. At the Symposium for Diversity and Inclusion the two winners of the Van Bergen Award 2015 were announced.

Rainbow flags, funky sounds and drag queen Petty Libel: the very first Canal Pride Leiden has become reality. Leiden University joined the parade with a packed and buzzing boat. ‘The Leideners were really supportive and gave us a great response.’

A shadow cabinet has just been formed. This one consists of students from all the Dutch universities. They will be keeping politicians on their toes in the coming year, and want to show that progress cannot be made without academic research and teaching. Master’s student Zeineb Romdhane is Minister…

Inspiration from outside and best practices from inside the University. These were the most important ingredients of the symposium on inclusivity organised by the Diversity Office at Leiden University on 22 November.

During the Dean’s lecture on April 21 a portrait of Corrie Bakels will be unveiled. This portrait is part of the initiative of Athena’s Angels project ‘Room for women!’

Exhibition, Photo exibition

Working towards a more inclusive and diverse society, next to your studies. Humanities students Aline-Priscillia Messi and Ruşen Koç devote a considerable amount of hours to this every week. Now they have been nominated for an ECHO Award.

A valuable community of female researchers, providing solicited and unsolicited advice to the Board of the Faculty of Science. Those are the strengths of women’s network RISE. On 11 September the network presented its second biennial report.

Fifty years ago a group of students started the Leiden Student Working Group on LGBT. Today students can contact Leiden University Pride and for staff there is the LGBTQ+ Core Network. Five questions for Kirsten de Mare, student of linguistics and chair of LU Pride.

March 21 is International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. We spoke to Leiden University’s Diversity Officer, Aya Ezawa, and asked her how we can combat racism and discrimination.

Why should your sexuality or gender identity be relevant at work? This is the question that Jojanneke van der Toorn, Professor by special appointment of LGBT workplace inclusion at Leiden University, addressed in her keynote at the annual Workplace Pride Conference on Friday 23 June 2017 in Brussels…

How do I get into this hard-to-reach classroom with my wheelchair? How do I learn to divide my time better over the courses I’m taking? Can I take an exam on my laptop? These are all questions with which students have approached Jaap de Witte. For several years now, he has been a study adviser for students…

Leiden has the second-highest percentage of female professors of all the Dutch universities. These are the results of the annual Women Professors Monitor. The Open University is the only university with more female professors.

With a barbecue at the Scheveningen beach the Leiden Science Buddy Programme was kicked off on 7 August. In this first round, 64 new international students are paired to current students. These buddies will do their very best to make the new students feel right at home in Leiden.

Researchers, policymakers and funders have to take more account of the effect of sex and gender in scientific research. This is the view presented in an advice paper published by LERU, the League of European Research Universities. The lead author is Vice-Rector Simone Buitendijk.

People who are attracted to more than one gender often experience a disadvantage in the workplace and labour market. How can the workplace can be improved for bi+ people.

How can we make studying easier for students with a functional disability? This will be the key question during a public conference on 20 April. Romke Biagioni (Fenestra) explains why there is such a need for this conference. Are you going to be there?

Bringing Dutch and international students together. One way to do that is by playing Archery Attack, archaeology student Timothy Stikkelorum suggested. On 13 November, he and his team, a committee from the Terra study association, won the Van Bergen Prize with their idea.

How can we adapt the Dutch we use at the University so that everyone feels comfortable and included? This was the subject of debate during a panel discussion on 28 June at Leiden University.

Author and political scientist Mounir Samuel has spent recent years delving into the many ways that language can exclude people and bring them together.

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

Jorinde van de Vis wins the For Women in Science Rising Talent-prize for women in science, for her PhD thesis in cosmology and particle physics.

Like last year, the percentage of female professors at Leiden University is 31.2 per cent in the Women Professors Monitor 2023. This puts Leiden University above the national average of 27.6 per cent.

It is still not easy to ‘come out’ about your sexual orientation or gender identity. On Coming Out Day (11 October), the issue was the focus of global attention. This year, instead of the traditional rainbow flag, the ‘progress pride flag’ flew above University buildings.

Yesterday marked the start of the National Accessibility Week. How accessible is Leiden University for people with a disability? We asked Lucia Langerak, disabled herself and working at the Honours Academy, about her experiences: ‘Significant improvements are being made.’

Not all gay and lesbian students feel equally safe at their sports clubs. ‘Homo’ is used almost unthinkingly as a term of abuse and players often face homophobic comments. What can sports clubs and teams do to make sure everyone feels safe when playing sports?

Proud family members, lecturers and, above all, students congregated in the Van Steenis building on 27 June to celebrate the students' having completed the Preparatory Study Year in Leiden.

The percentage of female professors at Leiden University has risen to 31.2 per cent. These are the results of the Women Professors Monitor 2021 published by the Dutch Network of Women Professors (LNVH). This puts Leiden University above the national average of 26.7 per cent.

For a month long, the Senate Chamber of Leiden University was reserved for portraits of women. The work of art showing a hundred unique portraits of female professors has now been put into storage, but the board of the University is taking measures to promote the image of women in science.

Programming is an excellent career option for blind children, and a way to have fun and express themselves. But the existing tools for programming are often not suitable for the blind and visually impaired. Leiden researchers will change that.

Dutch and international students brandishing bows and arrows fire at each other on the fields of the University Sports Centre on 11 May. This is the aim – not the shooting each other, but the act of getting together.

Women are are on the agenda again at Leiden University. That was clear on 8 March in the Academy Building. First there was an informal get-together with women professors and talented researchers, followed by the 27th Annie Romein-Verschoor lecture, on happy and angry women.

More than a hundred people took part in the conference on Studying with a Disability on 20 April. Dozens of students shared their experiences. 'I would rather you ask me the same question a hundred times than that you decide on my behalf.'

Towards the end of February, three Leiden University buildings will be assessed for their accessibility to people with a disability. The assessment will be carried out by Ongehinderd, a social enterprise committed to making the Netherlands more accessible. Its founder and director, Gerard de Nooij,…

Jojanneke van der Toorn has been proclaimed the young and promising researcher of 2015. At the official opening of the academic year on 31 August she was awarded the Gratama Science Award for emerging talent.

This ethnographic research is a joint project with the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology, Leiden University, and KITLV/Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies. It aims to understand the experiences of social inclusion and exclusion of female migrants…

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