Only the fittest cyclists stand a chance of taking yellow in the brutal Tour de France. Team Jumbo-Visma is working with data scientists from Leiden. They have analysed the stages and performance of Jumbo-Visma’s riders in previous Grand Tours. And they are researching how to determine the fitness level…

As long as we humans have existed, we have told each other stories. But how does a story change each time it is told? Which elements stick and which ones are forgotten? This is what Max van Duijn and Tessa Verhoef will research in their Lowlands Whispers experiment at Lowlands Festival.

Why do some smokers quit much more easily than others? Can we think ourself to insomnia? And does playing music together help to calm conflicts? Psychology students investigated these questions and presented their findings during the Psychology Science Day 2023.

OSCL members, amongst which our representative in the Archaeology faculty, were part of Data Carpentry for Social Sciences. Here's what happened.

Seminar 12th of April

Anyone who creates a page for a magazine, a PowerPoint presentation, a brochure, a poster or dreams up an idea for an infographic is faced with important questions:

This inaugural lecture discusses the question: How to cooperate in the digital era?

Lots of efforts are being made to promote open science practices in scholarly publishing. However, information on the openness of scholarly journals is highly fragmented. There are various data sources that provide information on specific aspects of openness, but there is hardly any integration of these…

IBL-PhD-student Michelle Spierings delivered a great performance at the FameLab national final on the 21st of April. She is now also happy to be back behind her desk.

On 8 October, the Leiden Bio Science Park won the Menzis award for the Best Business Park 2009. The jury particularly praised the fact that 25 years ago when the park was founded, the choice was made in favour of the biomedical life sciences, a specialisation still successful today.

Local residents, scientists and students are investigating riverbanks in Leiden for the 'Bank Plants' citizen science project. Which plant species are found where? And how can the municipality of Leiden improve its riverbank management to ensure optimal biodiversity?

New housing in old labs and striking architecture for University buildings and high-tech companies, not to mention waterside parks. An exhibition in Oude UB shows the radical changes that are in store for the Leiden Bio Science Park over the coming years.

How can data analytics be used as a research method in the field of legal research? This question was addressed during the Research Lab Legal Data Science on 23 September, 2016.

How can misleading graphs be effectively corrected, specifically for people with low graph literacy?

‘Take science communication more seriously.’ This is the message that Ivo van Vulpen, professor by special appointment in Science Communication in Physics, wants to convey during his inaugural lecture. At the moment, a lot of researchers look down their noses at this while it is extremely important…

On 1 November 2019, international Master's students Data Science from Leiden University presented the elaboration of their data concepts to senior officials of the House of Representatives and Rijks I-Ecosysteem. With the presentation, they successfully completed this part of the Data Science master…

In science, it is of vital importance that multiple studies corroborate the same result. Researchers therefore need to know all the details of previous experiments in order to implement the procedures as exactly as possible. However, this is becoming a major problem in neuroscience, as animal studies…

June 23rd was the annual Science meets Business & SBB barbecue. The event offered brilliant opportunities for SBB alumni to meet companies for internships, job openings and networking, or to just reunite with old friends.

A record number of 83 teams collected a record sum of 10,566.37 euros on 29 September during the Leiden Science Run. The full sum goes to the Foundation for Refugee Students UAF.

On 7 February, the first co-creation event of the Expanding (Event) Horizons project took place at Leiden University. Nearly 30 educators, scientists and consultants from diverse backgrounds designed inclusive projects for engaging students from underrepresented minority groups with educational Science…

A large new campus square on the Leiden Bio Science Park will be used for a range of activities for students, staff and Leiden residents, a knowledge festival, shows and sporting activities, for instance.

In recent years, the use of primary data in terrorism research has increased. In order to maximise the benefits of this trend, we want to encourage terrorism scholars to implement open science practices more systematically. This article therefore presents different avenues towards open and reproducible…

LIACS is a partner in RISE_SMA, an interdisciplinary, international network combining excellent scholars and practitioners to enable vigorous knowledge sharing and to develop solutions for contemporary challenges for Social Media Analytics (SMA).

Microbial rhodopsins are photosensitive pigments implemented in the growth and adaptation of a large population of microorganisms.

The first phase of the construction of the new building for the Faculty of Science is finished. The Cell Observatory of the Institute of Biology Leiden will be moving to the new building on the 19th of May.

The university campus at Leiden Bio Science Park will change rapidly over the next few years. A short film shows the transformation to a full campus. See what this mix of new university buildings, student accommodation and restaurants and cafés will look like. And sustainability and biodiversity won’t…

The MORE project covers the development of the new entrance area for the Leiden Bio Science Park. Partners Leiden University, the Municipality of Leiden and the Amstelveen-based development agency Yisheng signed the agreement on 18 March, marking the official start of the project.

The Citizen Science Netherlands (CS-NL) network was officially launched this month with the aid of an Open Science NL grant. The new vision for this network was presented on 28 May.

Reprohack, an initiative from community members, won the Open Initiative Trophy on 11 February, a prize for the best open science initiative in the Netherlands. A Reprohack is a hackathon-like event where participants repeat research to see whether the results were reproducible.

In a survey held last year by the publication Elsevier, Leiden's Computer Science programme was voted by students as the best university programme of its kind in the Netherlands. And the Rotterdam Economics programme was voted the best in its field. Leiden University now offers a combined study based…

The title of European City of Science was officially handed over to a delegation from Leiden in the Italian city of Trieste on 6 September. Leiden will be the science capital of Europe for the year 2022. The EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF), the largest interdisciplinary science conference in Europe, will…

Science is under pressure and ‘alternative facts’ are increasingly being taken as truth. On 22 April, scientists will let their voices be heard on Museumplein in Amsterdam, for anyone with a passion for science. Zsuzsika Sjoerds is co-organiser of this March for Science and explains why knowledge is…

New funding instrument to stimulate Open Science

From 1 January 2017, Professor of neurocognitive developmental psychology Eveline Crone has been appointed member of the Social Sciences Council of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW).

A team of Leiden researchers has received the Ammodo Science Award for conducting innovative humanities research into the experience of cultural heritage. They investigate how 'play', such as the video game Minecraft, can contribute to a deeper understanding of the past.

Mateo Cohen (research assistant at the Open University of Israel and PhD candidate at Leiden University’s Institute of Political Science) studied arguments articulated by diverse members of the Right-Wing elite in Israel and explains how these views lead to the rejection of a two-state solution and…

Leiden University strengthens the collaboration with the Chinese Xi’an Jiaotong University. The Chinese delegation visited the Faculty of Science to talk about collaborations in the field of life science and data science.

As many as seven first-year students from the Faculty of Science were honoured as young talents. In addition, the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities (KHMW) also lauded three master's students and an astronomy project during a vibrant ceremony on 28 November. Professor of Science Communication…

Data Science seminar at the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs

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…

Martina Huber, Jacqueline Labra Munoz research Alzheimer's disease. They study ferritine, iron storage in the brain. An inbalance of iron could play a role in this form of dementia.

A large delegation composed of 11 delegates from institutes from the Faculty of Science has made an extensive visit to China and enhanced Leiden’s influence in the Chinese academia, industry and local government.

Just a few weeks until a festival full of exciting science activities bursts into life in Leiden. From January the city will be European City of Science for 365 days. Many researchers are enthusiastic participants. ‘I see it as an opportunity to help people feel the joy of discovering something new…

Is scientific research useful? In his dissertation, Jorrit Smit argues that in order to answer this question one should not look at, for example, prominent scholars or influential organisations, but at places where knowledge exchange and co-creation take place. Promotion 6 May.

How do we get better at detecting research errors? And how do we ensure that we no longer see those errors as evidence of our inability, but as keys to better and more reliable research? Scientists offer advice during the third Psychology Connected.

Socialising with other people is an important part of feeling good. What do children need from their surroundings to do this?

Annelinde Vandenbroucke received the new science communication grant for NeurolabNL Young in December 2020. This grant will help her in her mission: to make science attractive for and by youth. Vandenbroucke tells Humans of Psychology why youth is important to science and vice versa,

The Faculty of Science celebrated the Chinese New Year on 26 January, with an event that was organised together with the Leiden Science China community. After a warm welcome and New Year Wishes by Dean Geert de Snoo, visitors could participate in various activities, such as a calligraphy lesson.

From bedtime stories about mathematics to podcasts about microplastics and games on weeds: master students from the Science Communication & Society track presented the real-life products they developed during their final presentations on 20 December. Many of the products are already implemented by c…