As a student of Leiden University, you can join a number of co-participation bodies together with university staff members. Co-participation is an important democratic right that enables you to play an active role in university decision-making and advisory processes.

The members of the various co-participation bodies are democratically elected. This happens during university elections.

The university council and faculty councils are democratically elected co-participation bodies that represent both students and staff of the university and its faculties. Co-participation also takes place at departmental level through programme committees.

A team of researchers has dated a prehistoric painting in Indonesia to at least 51.200 years ago, they have proposed in a study that this painting is the oldest known example of “figurative” art.

Did you know that research and education in the field of digital innovation are key pillars of the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs? Over the next seven days, we are organising Cyberweek on our social media channels to showcase what we have to offer.

Students can stand as candidates during university elections via a party. On this page, the student parties present themselves.

The Student Cabinet, a shadow cabinet with students from the Dutch universities, has presented its first ‘coalition agreement’. As Minister for New Democracy, Leiden student Zeineb Romdhane says inclusion should form ‘the basis of our democracy’.

The university elections are coming up. Sustainability, inclusion, student well-being: what do you think should get more attention? From 22 to 25 April you can vote for who represents you as a student on the University Council and your faculty council. Read on to find out more about the six student…

The university elections are coming up. Sustainability, inclusion, student well-being… What do you think deserves more attention? From 17 to 20 April, you can vote for who represents you as a student on the University Council and your faculty council. Read on to find out more about the five student…

The relationship between academia and democracy is a complicated one. Should policy makers listen to scientists or to citizens? That is the dilemma Valérie Pattyn and Johan Christensen will discuss with a panel of experts during the academic conference EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF).

In the University elections in April, the eight student seats on the University Council have gone to six parties, and newcomers the Liberal Student Party and the Party for Biomedical Students have each won one seat.

The Leiden interdisciplinary research programme Global Transformations and Governance Challenges (GTGC) and the Embassy of Ireland are jointly organising a special book launch in The Hague. On 13 November, Gerry Finnegan, author and a former director of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), will…

The results of the 2024 university elections have been announced. Who will represent us on the university’s participation councils?

The annual conference of the Global Transformations and Governance Challenges (GTGC) interdisciplinary research programme will take place in The Hague on 7-9 June. As a researcher at Leiden University, why should you be there? ‘Nearly every research study has a governance dimension, but academics often…

Climate and human rights will again become major issues on the world stage by the end of 2023. The new series of lunch seminars by the interdisciplinary research programme Global Transformations and Governance Challenges (GTGC) seamlessly tie into these events. All Leiden researchers and students are…

A bloody civil war has raged for years in the Central African Republic. PhD candidate Crépin Mouguia points out a tragic pattern: young people have been recruited as fighters or soldiers for generations and thus fuel the conflicts.

On 5 May we celebrate freedom, a basic human right that should not be taken for granted. We asked international students and staff what it means to them.

The late 1960s: across Europe, students are demanding the right to more participation within their universities. In 1971 Leiden University was granted an elected University Council. It became quite powerful: the Council even had the right to dismiss the Chairman of the Board.

Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, gave a guest lecture to first-year law students at Leiden University. He spoke about democracy, the war in Ukraine and the role of the Netherlands.

The exhibition Leiden celebrates – 450 years of parades at Museum De Lakenhal shows how parades and society have changed through the centuries. Alumnus and historian Danielle van Goethem worked on the exhibition. She gives a preview.

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Did you also read a lot this summer? We made some real headway on our bookshelves. After all, nothing beats reading a beautiful or thrilling book outside. In this reading list, you'll find our favourite books for the summer of 2022. If you have any suggestions, let us know via Twitter, Facebook or I…