Special amplifying agents can make MRI scanners and NMR techniques hundreds of times more sensitive. Leiden physicists have now found a method to test their efficiency. More sensitive MRI scans could for example improve our understanding of cystic fibrosis or Parkinson’s disease. Publication in PCCP…

The combination of data science and sports is a hot topic. In a talk during the opening of the Academic Year at the Faculty of Science, Professor Joost Kok explained what data analytics can teach us about sports.

Following the success of the Dutch version, the podcast 'Scandal and Controversy in Russian Literature' is now also available in English. Senior University Lecturer Otto Boele guides listeners through eight infamous texts in this version.

Below thesis archives will be moved shortly (work in progress) to the Leiden Repository. Once this is done, theses submitted by MI students (from 2008 onwards) can be accessed via the Repository and will be removed from this site.

The biweekly Lunch Time Seminar is an online only event, but it is not publicly accessible in real-time. If you would like to attend one of the upcoming sessions, please send an email to sails@liacs.leidenuniv.nl.

Lecture, LUCIS What's New?! Series

The Joan van der Waals colloquium is an ongoing bi-weekly lecture series.

A 35-year-old uranium crystal will not disclose its secret: what causes a dramatic phase transition at 17.5 Kelvin? Thanks to a new artificial intelligence approach, half of the possible explanations are excluded, but the definitive answer remains to be found. 'It is very frustrating', says physicist…

No more lectures and exams for the Radio Astronomy course taught by Michiel Brentjens. The corona crisis is a moment of reflection that has changed his whole way of teaching. Instead of being in front of the class, he lets his students build a radio telescope with paint cans.

Nineteen researchers who have recently been awarded their PhD are to receive a Veni grant of up to 250,000 euros. Science funding agency NWO has awarded a total of 158 Venis in this round; Leiden University's share of the awards is 12 percent.

Helping first-year students at the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs find their way in a rapidly changing university world because of Covid-19. That was the goal of the mentor project that has been running since this academic year. At the end of January, the first phase ends and in February new…

Lecture

The ability to collect and interpret huge quantities of data has become indispensable to society and academia. Leiden University is a knowledge and expertise centre for data science that places the emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation.

Research in the POD-group addresses all features of random phenomena – modelling, structuring, analysis, control, optimisation – and covers both fundamental and applied aspects.

Knowledge and culture subproject 3:

In this year in review we show you various projects we're very proud of. Driven by our values at the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences.

Knowledge and culture subproject 1:

The Faculties of Leiden University have developed several themes for research cooperation between Leiden University and its Indonesian partners.

An overview of awards and prizes granted to our staff and students in 2019, as well as special appointments and royal distinctions.

Leiden Law School has a strong tradition of research in the field of fact-finding and evidence in criminal cases.

To develop a new generation of brain science (and train scientists) focused on explaining complex real-world behavioural patterns.

Psychology alumna Inge Schilperoord works as a forensic psychologist in the Pieter Baan Centre, a psychiatric observation clinic. Her debut novel 'Muidhond' about a man struggling with his paedophilic tendencies, has received the Bronze Owl 2015 for best Dutch debut novel. Schilperoord: 'The detective…

Commercial MRI systems cost millions of euros to purchase and require highly trained technicians to operate. Prof. Andrew Webb works on accessible MRI techniques that offer new opportunities in both developed and developing countries. Webb is a professor at the Radiology Department of the LUMC and,…

Researchers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope may have detected atmospheric gases surrounding 55 Cancri e, a hot rocky exoplanet 41 light-years from Earth. This is the best evidence to date for the existence of any rocky planet atmosphere outside our solar system.

AI ultrasounds: LUC alumna empowers women in rural Africa

PhD defence

Learn more about the former members of the Young Academy Leiden who contributed to a better position for young academics. In the academic year 2023-2024, Young Academy Leiden said goodbye to eleven of its members, who became YALumni. In the five years they were member of YAL, they all experienced…

Lecture, seminar

Conference

Engaged, active students who can see the links within their discipline. These are key aims of the University vision on teaching and learning, but how do you achieve them? An interdisciplinary research team led by ICLON has developed an inventive method that helps lecturers do just that.

The new privacy laws make it more difficult to combat human trafficking: under-age victims are often not registered. In her lecture, Cleveringa Professor Corinne Dettmeijer called on everyone to be on the alert. 'We don't want to live in a society where people are treated as throw-away objects.'

Many traces of the city's slavery history can be found in Leiden but the public isn't always aware of them. The initiators of 'Mapping Slavery in Leiden' want to change this with guided tours and street markers. Representatives of the University and other Leiden institutions will be giving the first…

Fantastic plants, dizzying patterns and pulsating sounds: researchers from Leiden are going to study the effects of a simulated psychedelic trip on the mind and body at Lowlands Festival. Why might this be interesting for therapies?

Curiosities from the anatomical theatre, swords from the fencing school and 17th-century portraits of the University's founders. The new University Room in Museum De Lakenhal portrays the turbulent first hundred years of Leiden University.

In the documentary ‘Pretend Student’, former students talk about why they let everyone believe they were still studying. How can you make sure you don’t end up in such an impossible situation? Four questions for Leiden Student Dean, Romke Biagioni, who worked on the documentary.

Opting more often for mocktails or soft drinks rather than beer or wine, talking to others about their drinking and pointing out the ban on drugs. Leiden University’s new covenant on alcohol and drugs for study associations encourages providing more alcohol-free alternatives.

What makes peace missions succeed or fail? Which new technologies will determine the outcome of wars? In recent decades, insufficient use has been made of knowledge of modern warfare, when this is crucial to European security. This is what Frans Osinga, Professor by Special Appointment of War Studies,…

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.

Only one in five young people with emotional health problems such as an anxiety disorder receives appropriate professional help. GPs often fail to properly recognise the signals in children and young people, according to psychologist Semiha Aydin. How can we improve this? PhD defence 23 February.

At the initiative of several of its professors, Leiden University has joined the international Healthy Universities network. Surrounded by space hoppers, the initiators of this move and those present exchanged experiences and tips at the kick-off meeting on 17 October. ‘I don't miss my chauffeur'…

Colonial art and artefacts were not necessarily looted. Pieter ter Keurs, Professor of Museums, Collections and Society, calls for more nuance in the debate on art and collectors’ items from a loaded past. Inaugural speech on 2 December.

How adaptable can and should a government organisation be – in a crisis situation, for instance? How can such organisations join forces to solve the problems faced by citizens? Leiden University will collaborate with six government organisations that are opening their doors for research and the joint…

On 26 November historian Jan Grabowski and sociologist Barbara Engelking will both give the Cleveringa Lecture. They wrote a book about the Holocaust in Poland and were taken to court for defamation.

Healthy lifestyle campaigns are often unsuccessful. It is hard to get people to eat healthily or do more exercise. Behavioural science expertise should be drawn on at a much earlier stage in policy development, say twelve behavioural scientists in a position paper. They will present the paper to Maarten…

Supercomputer ALICE has been expanded, making it even more powerful and faster. This means researchers and students can work with heavier models. From language research to brain activity scans, this expansion is good news for a variety of disciplines. So who gets to work with this prima donna?

Nearly a year since the abrupt switchover to mostly online learning, the Digital Education seminar gave teaching staff the opportunity to review their experiences. What can stay in 2021 and what must go? Frequently voiced opinions: yes please to digital tools that make lectures more interactive; yes…

Seven large reproductions of works by Rembrandt on seven Leiden University buildings reveal the relationship between the painter and the University. Rembrandt van Rijn enrolled in the University in 1620 and painted the portraits of various alumni of the University. In addition, the University Library…

After an extremely painful conclusion, the Western allies have left Afghanistan and the Taliban have regained supremacy. How will Afghanistan move forward, and what does the departure mean for global relations? Rob de Wijk, emeritus Professor of International Relations and Security, analyses the failure…

The corona crisis has had a major effect on research. Sarah de Rijcke, Professor of Science and Evaluation Studies, and her group research the effects of performance evaluation on the work of ocean scientists. The majority of the fieldwork was supposed to be carried out on ships and at marine labs throughout…