2,200 search results for “defence” in the Public website
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In memoriam: Dr Johanna Stöger (1957-2018)
On 19th August, we received the sad news that our dear colleague, Dr Johanna Stöger, has passed on. Hanna died, surrounded by family, at home in Southern Germany. She had battled her illness for some time, and for a while it looked as if treatment would be successful. Alas, Hanna’s recovery was to…
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Peering Through the Legal Mobilisation Lens to Analyse the Potential of Legal Advocacy
Friday 3 February ILS 2.0 presents: Leiden Socio-Legal Series:“Peering Through the Legal Mobilisation Lens to Analyse the Potential of Legal Advocacy” by Dr. Jeff Handmaker – International Institute for Social Studies, Erasmus University.
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Leiden students win grand prize at iGEM international biology competition
The Leiden iGEM team has won the grand prize at the iGEM international biology competition. The students won a further five prizes, including those for best diagnostics tracks and best inclusion. ‘We still can’t believe it. It feels almost surreal,’ team member Amber Schonk said yesterday to University…
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Renewed LLP has started: 'Reflection is the beginning of progress'
'Working on your leadership starts tonight,' says lecturer Sandra Groeneveld at the introductory meeting of the Leiden Leadership Programme. The programme has been renewed this year, and students are ready to dive into it: 'I hope to get to know myself.'
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Art and Academia: do they go together?
The PhD students at the Academy for Creative and Performing Arts of Leiden University include a composer, an artist and a baroque flautist. Henk Borgdorff, who studied the phenomenon of PhDs in the Arts, says, ‘Artistic research in all disciplines of the Arts is a booming business worldwide.’
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Theological pamphlets reveal passionate religious debate
They might not have had Twitter, but they did have brochures (pamphlets), the Roman Catholics and ‘modern’ Protestants between 1840 and 1870. In these, they launched a passionate attack on each other’s ideas. Ineke Smit has catalogued the brochures from the collection of the University Library and outlined…
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Clever variant of antibiotic bypasses resistance in bacteria
Biological chemist Nathaniel Martin is going to test an alternative antibiotic that can combat common resistant bacteria such as MRSA. For this purpose, he will receive 350,000 euros from the NWO's NACTAR programme. ‘We want to know how safe and effective our antibiotic is in a realistic situation.’
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Racism: a daily reality
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.
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Wouter den Hollander defends his PhD Thesis De relativiteit van wettelijken normen
On Wednesday 22 June 2016 Wouter den Hollander will defend his PhD Thesis De relativiteit van wettelijke normen ('The Relativity of Statutory Provisions'). The public defence starts at 16.15 hours in the Academy Building.
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Childhood empathy important predictor of aggression
Young children who are less empathetic than their peers are more likely to be aggressive when older. This is what Malou Noten concludes in her dissertation. PhD defence on 25 November.
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Neanderthals on cold steppes also ate plants
Neanderthals in cold regions probably ate a lot more vegetable food than was previously thought. This is what archaeologist Robert Power has discovered based on new research on ancient Neanderthal dental plaque. PhD defence 1 November.
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Disrupted movement makes macrophages more lethal to tuberculosis bacteria
Macrophages – the front line of our immune system – protect us from infections. But in the case of the tuberculosis bacteria, this often goes wrong. The group of Annemarie Meijer from the Leiden Institute of Biology has now discovered that macrophages in zebrafish are better able to eliminate tuberculosis…
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Impact of triggers on bipolar disorder less than expected
Stressful events and a lack of support from the environment are both consequences and causes of mood swings in people with a bipolar disorder. This is the finding of PhD research by Leiden clinical psychologist Manja Koenders. PhD defence 7 April.
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The pathways of music improvisers
Improvisers in experimental music do not record their music in a conventional score, but in ever-changing 'tactile pathways'. This is the proposition put forward by researcher Christopher Williams. PhD defence 13 December.
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Professional female footballers have to play like a man
Women’s football is steadily gaining attention. It’s as though the sport is becoming emancipated. And yet in conversations with professional female footballers philosopher Nathanja van den Heuvel discovered that a male culture still prevails. Female footballers often feel like second-class athletes,…
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Daredevil behaviour of young people due to active reward centre in the brain
Young people tend to take more risks than children or adults. This trend is related to the reward centre in the brain, which is much more active when they are rewarded, PhD candidate Barbara Braams discovered. Personality, testosterone levels and social context also play a role in risk-taking.
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Eco-friendly farmers do what they say
Farmers who commit to environmentally friendly working methods also actively practise nature conservation in their farming - particularly when this is not financed by the government. These are the findings of research carried out by Anne Marike Lokhorst, who will receive her PhD on 17 September based…
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Medieval women better dressed than men
Women in the Middle Ages often wore better quality clothes than men. This is one of the conclusions drawn by Leiden archaeologist Chrystel Brandenburgh, who studied textile remnants from the period from 400 to 1000 A.D. PhD defence 10 May.
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Less power-consuming graphics on your phone
Network-on-Chips are hardware that are used to communicate between different parts of a microchip. They have been around for over twenty years, but they still cannot be widely used in real life because they consume too much power. Computer scientist Peng Wang tried to find a solution for this power-inefficiency…
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'An impressive step between professional practice and the academic world'
On 29 June 2017, Doris Dull-Zessner defended her PhD dissertation “Value Congruence in a Multinational Corporation”. The defence was at 12.30 hrs, in the Academy Building of Leiden University, Rapenburg 73. The supervisors are Professor J.A.A. Adriaanse and Professor J.I. van der Rest.
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Bahar Simsek: ‘Research does not need to be holistic’
How does audio-visual material shape the identity of people when those people do not own their own land and are being oppressed? Bahar Simsek delved into the effect of film on the Kurdish identity. She will obtain her PhD on 4 May.
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Family of footprints gives more complete picture of environmental damage
The world abounds with different footprints that calculate human impact on the environment. Environmental specialist Kai Fang is the first person to have developed a family of footprints that allow better measurement of environmental damage and the depletion of natural sources. PhD defence on 24 Nov…
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Luis Salome Abarca about plant chemicals and the Hortus botanicus
What chemicals do plants have available, and what happens if they use them when faced with bacteria or fungi? That is what PhD candidate Luis Salomé Abarca is keen to learn. He studies plants’ survival and their use of chemical components in communication and defence. Salomé Abarca works at the Natural…
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Domestic Agencies and the Global Playing Field
His dissertation has been completed for more than a year, but due to corona the defence had been postponed. On Wednesday 30 September, Machiel van der Heijden will finally be able to defend his dissertation Transnational Networks and Domestic Agencies: Making Sense of Globalizing Administrative Patterns…
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Collective Labour Rights and Collective Labour Relations of China
On Thursday 11 January 2018, Xiang Li will defend her doctoral thesis: “Collective Labour Rights and Collective Labour Relations of China”. The defence will take place at 11:15 hrs at the Academy Building of Leiden University, Rapenburg 73. The supervisors are Professor Guus Heerma van Voss and Professor…
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PhD candidate has patients barking up the wrong tree with virtual reality
People with intermittent arterial claudication often experience severe pain when walking. Psychologist Anne Cuperus used virtual reality to trick 20 patients, and discovered that they could suddenly walk much further. PhD defence on 10 December.
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Preventing heart attacks by earlier detection of cardiovascular disease
In the Netherlands, 1.55 million people suffer from cardiovascular diseases. Yet, acute cardiovascular events, such as a heart attack or stroke, often occur unexpectedly. That is because many people do not know they are at risk for such an event. Immunological researcher Amanda Foks and her colleagues…
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‘Investment risk is holding back energy transition’
The present market regulations make it extremely risky to invest in green energy, and this is impeding the fight against climate change. This is what Oscar Kraan writes in his dissertation. PhD defence on 25 April.
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‘Belief in the end of time slowed down modernisation’
In the nineteenth century many Dutch people believed in the end of time and the coming of God's thousand-year reign. This belief effectively slowed down the process of modernisation that was taking place in the Netherlands at that time, concludes historian Rie Kielman. PhD defence 13 April.
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Jihadist networks quick to evolve
The group structure of Jihadist networks changes rapidly, which makes it difficult to monitor them. This is the finding of research by criminologist Jasper de Bie. PhD defence 14 April.
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Legal Implications of Airport Privatization in India
On Thursday 24 November 2016 Moses George will defend his PhD dissertation ‘Legal Implications of Airport Privatization in India’. The defence will commence at 11.15 hrs, in the Academy Building of Leiden University. The Supervisors are Professor Pablo Mendes De Leon and Professor Brian F. Havel (DePaul…
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Lifelong friendships, started in Leiden
30 July is the International Day of Friendship. The student years are a time when many close friendships are formed, and a surprising number of them last a whole lifetime. Two of our alumni share their stories about a special friendship.
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Why did wealthy Romans dine with whole cities?
In some parts of the Roman Empire public meals were the norm: the wealthy treated the whole city to a meal. This phenomenon that suddenly arose and disappeared just as quickly had to do with political and social developments, according to historian Shanshan Wen. PhD defence 6 September.
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What to do with the fruit residue from oil palm seeds: refine it into bio-ethanol or use it as fertilizer?
When oil is harvested from the seeds of the oil palm tree, the fruit residue can be used to make bio-ethanol. However, it can also be used as a fertilizer on palm tree plantations; which option is best for the environment? Edi Wiloso compared the two green options at the Institute of Environmental Sciences…
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Percentage of women professors: Leiden in third place
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.
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From sensation to a sense of purpose: the draw of the far right
What makes people in the Netherlands join radical and far-right groups? PhD candidate Nikki Sterkenburg followed several activists. ‘Some feel it is their duty to defend the Dutch nation.’ PhD defence on 19 May.
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Dancing for science: Annebelle Kok finalist of Dance Your PhD
Explaining your PhD research to others can be quite difficult, especially without talking! PhD student Annebelle Kok of the Institute of Biology Leiden was one of the finalists of the 'Dance Your PhD' competition of scientific journal Science. ‘You have to understand your own research well if you are…
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‘Involve the local community in archaeology’
Local perceptions, attachments and knowledge are often not considered in the methodology of archaeology when researching a site, argues PhD-candidate Tomomi Fushiya. She proposes a broader integration of local perceptions in an archaeological narrative. PhD-defence on December 2.
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PhD and prize winner: filmmaker Itandehui Jansen talks about her work
Itandehui Jansen graduated from the Netherlands Film and Television Academy in Amsterdam and is currently making films as part of her PhD project at Leiden University. And with great success. Her films have been shown at the IDFA and the Short Film Corner of Cannes, and have won a number of prizes.…
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Researcher develops Google for archaeologists
An incredible quantity of archaeological reports are stored in digital archives. If you want to search for information in them, you have to do this manually. And that is a real chore. Archaeologist Alex Brandsen has now used deep learning, a form of artificial intelligence, to develop a search engine…
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Lingling Weng aims to improve clinical practice with placebo and nocebo effects
The placebo effect was completely new to her when Lingling Weng began the PhD project in Leiden. She is now a postdoc in China. 'It would be great to investigate the underlying mechanisms of placebo and nocebo effects with my current knowledge of EEG and fMRI.' PhD defence on 17 October.
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Monitoring the development of foster children
Foster children’s behaviour is more problematic than that of their peers in ‘normal’ family situations. However, it is difficult to determine the exact cause of behavioural problems. Anouk Goemans, a researcher in clinical child and adolescent studies, calls for more screening and monitoring. PhD defence…
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Technology integration in schools
Jingxian Wang, PhD at ICLON, examined technology integration in primary and secondary education. Defence on 6 July.
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Developing drugs with artificial intelligence
Developing new drugs is a difficult process. With the aid of artificial intelligence, Pharmaceutical scientist Xuhan Liu has developed methods that can help make drug design cheaper and faster. PhD defence on 15 February.
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Champion in headwind and predictions
It is a stormy Sunday afternoon, with gusts of a whopping 110 kilometres per hour. Chemist Teun Sweere defies the enormous headwind on his city bike and wins the NK Headwind cycling after 22,5 minutes. A new highlight follows six months later: his PhD defence (14 June).
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Bacteria inside plant roots battle fungal disease
Two bacterial species team up inside the plant root system to rescue their host from fungal infection. This was discovered by a team of microbiologists and bioinformaticians from the Netherlands Institute of Ecology, Wageningen University, and the Institute of Biology Leiden. They also identified the…
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Question fire for ambassadors Germany and France during debate
Europe lives! This became clear last Friday when students debated with the French ambassador to the Netherlands, H.E. Luis Vassy, and his German colleague, H.E. Dirk Brengelmann, on a range of topics relating to Franco-German relations and the European Union.
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Teach children who are deaf or hard of hearing more about emotions and social conventions
Children with hearing loss often fail to pick up on nuances in other people’s emotional responses. As a result, they do not always understand what is going on. Yung-Ting Tsou, a PhD student at Leiden University, found that having more knowledge of emotions and social conventions can help them in their…
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The legitimacy of political power
A fair distribution of goods and services is the most important factor in justifying political power. This is the conclusion of Honorata Mazepus in her PhD dissertation 'What makes authorities legitimate in the eyes of citizens?' PhD defence September.
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How does the brain of Japanese speakers choose pronunciation?
The way in which written language is processed in the brain is a hot topic in cognitive research. Cognitive psychologist Rinus Verdonschot studied a Japanese script in which a single character can have up to three possible pronunciations. He discovered that all three are simultaneously activated in…