On 10 May 2021, Melanie Fink and Barbora Budinská published their views on recent developments in the areas of EU regulation of Artificial Intelligence and the Banking Union respectively as Op-Eds on EU Law Live.

In cryptography, the sky is the limit according to the new professor Mathematical Cryptology Léo Ducas. He already designed several cryptosystems as part of his research at the Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI), some of which might soon be adopted as new international standards. Since December,…

Arnold van der Valk on Food Council MRA.

Iranian molecular plant biologist Salma Balazadeh started her career in Germany. Now she sets up a research group in Leiden to study stress in plants to secure global food supply. Her outlook on women in science in the context of the International Day for Women and Girls in Science, 11 February.

Research into depression in children, Leiden alumni in the Dutch House of Representatives and an exceptional achievement by one of our students: what do this topics have in common? They are among our most read stories of 2021.

‘Hugo Chávez could gain an iconic status among left-wing groups in Latin America that is comparable with that of Che Guevara,’ says Patricio Silva, Professor of Modern Latin American History. ‘Latin America as a whole is beginning a new chapter in its history.’

It is difficult to imagine a society other than a hierarchical nation-state. This is in part because we neglect alternative forms from the past, argues archaeologist Lewis Borck in the Journal of Contemporary Archaeology.

Dr Moritz Jesse, European Institute at Leiden Law School, has been awarded a Jean Monnet Professorship. From November 2023, Moritz will teach bachelor's and master's courses as part of his ‘Migration, Integration, Non-Discrimination in the EU’ project [MIND-EU]. At a later stage, Jesse’s Jean Monnet…

Renske Janssen started her PhD project at LUCAS and LUIH in October 2015. Her project is part of the research field ‘History and Culture of Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity’, supervised by Jürgen Zangenberg.

Always taking the same route to work, going for that one dish in restaurants and going on the same holiday each summer: this may ring a bell for those who don’t like uncertainty. Researchers are now discovering that this aversion affects how we understand the world.

In the academic year 2022-2023 the Social Resilience and Security interdisciplinary programme will offer a new minor for students who are interested in studying interpersonal violence and who are entering the third year of their Bachelor's degree. The announcement went down well with students: the available…

Since February 1, 2015, Adriejan van Veen is working as a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for History. Here, he is preparing a NWO grant proposal on local experiments with candidate selection in British and Dutch politics in the nineteenth century.

Two researchers at the Faculty of Archaeology have received a Veni award from the Netherlands Organisation for Academic Research (NWO). This award offers promising young researchers the opportunity to further develop their ideas for a period of three years.

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…

As young people’s friendships improve, their mental resilience also increases. This is according to research conducted by Anne-Laura van Harmelen, Professor of Brain, Safety and Resilience at Leiden University.

Spend an hour on any social media canal (Facebook, Twitter, you name it) and you will find opinions and frustration. Frustration about asylum seeker shelters being built in local villages; frustration about trade negotiations with the US, Ukraine or any other country; and thousands of opinions about…

Since the end of the nineteenth century Arabic book designers have influenced the social and cultural situation in the Middle East with their work. Huda Smitshuijzen Abi-Farès has written the first global overview of this neglected field of science. PhD defence 10 January.

The LUCL has a new Scientific Director. Professor Sjef Barbiers took over the reins from Lisa Cheng with effect from 1 January. 'This is a great opportunity to contribute to a wonderful institution.'

On Thursday 16 November 2017, Lalin Kovudhikulrungsri will defend her doctoral thesis entitled ‘The Right to Travel by Air of Persons with Disabilities’. The defence will commence at 11.15 hrs at the Academy Building of Leiden University, Rapenburg 73. The supervisors are Professor P.M.J. Mendes de…

In the academic year 2021-2022 the Social Resilience and Security interdisciplinary programme will offer two courses for interested students who are entering the third year of their Bachelor's degree. You can sign up for these courses in your elective (minor) space. The courses are available to students…

Brothers and sisters within a family, with the same parents, experience their upbringing differently. As well as the impact of their own negative experiences, the way siblings experience their upbringing also plays an important role in anxiety and depression. This is the conclusion reached by Marie-Louise…

On Thursday 6 and Friday 7 June, criminologists from across the Netherlands and Flanders descended upon the KOG Building for the sixteenth time. Leiden Law School hosted this year’s annual conference to mark the 50th anniversary of the Dutch Association for Criminology (NVC).

Do children growing up in a jihadist or right-wing extremist household develop the same extremist views as their parents?

Preventie, signalering en opsporing van seksuele uitbuiting van jongeren kan effectiever via buren, klasgenoten en andere mensen uit hun sociale leefomgeving. Dit volgt na onderzoek van universitair docent Ieke de Vries in samenwerking met het Centrum Kinderhandel en Mensenhandel (CKM).

Global Interactions sponsors a number of research projects of Leiden University researchers.

Astronomers from Leiden Observatory have developed a new method to find distant quasars and better distinguish them from other objects that look like them, using machine learning techniques. The research result has been accepted for publication in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. It is the last…

Two courses on Central Asia will be offered within the Leiden Central Asia Initiative, funded by the research profile area Asian Modernities and Traditions. 'History of Central Asia & Afghanistan' will be open to BA students of Middle Eastern Studies and 'Material Culture, Memory and Commemoration along…

The Tour of Asia, an afternoon filled with science and culture about Asia, attracted many visitors. In spite of the heavy rain, the visitors chose from among dozens of lectures and debates. This knowledge festival marked the opening of the Asian Library earlier in the day.

The availability of natural resources, the energy transition, the importance of circularity and our dependence on China. This and more is what Professor of Industrial Ecology René Kleijn's inaugural lecture is about.

The family of the famous diplomat, sinologist and writer Robert van Gulik has donated his personal archive and part of his collection to Leiden University Libraries (UBL). The collection and archive provide insight into the life and work of Robert van Gulik, who became known to the general public for…

Fourteen of the candidates for the European parliamentary elections on 23 May studied at Leiden University. We ask four of them about their motivation and ambitions. In this article: Conny van Stralen, who studied German, and Maurice Hoogeveen, who studied history.

Since May, Assistant professor BioTherapeutics Lu Su works in our faculty. Although she is still young, she already worked in many different fields and co-operated on two publications in big scientific journals. How did she become so successful and what motivates her to keep researching the possibilities…

Her love for China made her study Chinese and go on an exchange trip in her third year of studies. As an Outbound Student Coordinator at the Humanities International Office, Karin Aalderink (45) now supervises students who go abroad.

Hao Liu moved from China to Leiden to do her PhD trajectory at the Institute for Philosophy. What is it like to do a PhD so far from home?

Dubai is teeming with world leaders these days at the United Nations' annual climate conference. What can we expect? We look ahead with university lecturer and environmental politics specialist Shiming Yang. 'The funding always comes slowly.'

All the world leaders have had to choose an approach during the global Covid-19 crisis. But which approach is the most effective? André Gerrits, Professor of International Studies & Global Politics, who lectures in the BA International Studies, is observing some interesting developments. ‘Democracies…

How much energy and greenhouse gas emissions can Dutch homes save? Xining Yang uses Leiden as an example and shows with his research how enormous the impact can be. At least, if we work harder on becoming more sustainable. Based on the models he developed, Yang will receive his doctorate on 28 June.

Hydropower plants need not be disastrous for fishermen and nature. For that, we need to place new dams more strategically, but also modify or even remove some existing ones. Valerio Barbarossa and Rafael Schmitt showed that with a computer model of the Asian Mekong basin.

The European Commission has released 50 million euro to strengthen artificial intelligence in Europe. Five consortia were selected to spend this 50 million to prepare artificial intelligence research in Europe for greater investment. With the funding, four new networks of centres of excellence in artificial…

The third and final introduction week at Leiden University is in full swing. Orientation Week Leiden (OWL for short) is giving a record 1,378 new international students the chance to get to know the city and one another. We got the lowdown from the new arrivals at OWLands Festival.

Due to the increasing resistance to certain antibiotics, the life-threatening condition sepsis is becoming harder to treat. For her PhD project, Leiden pharmacologist Feiyan Liu used mathematical modeling to find out how antibiotics can be used more effectively to cure sepsis.

A group of early career scientists have written a code of ethics through an initiative of the World Economic Forum. Chemist and co-author Sander van Kasteren explains its importance: ‘We want to show that we scientists have our own inherent morals too, and that we too are part of society.’

On May 15th, from 15.15 to 17.00 in the Vossiusroom, Leiden University Libraries will host a program on web-archiving and digital archives of Chinese communities in the Netherlands and Indonesia.

Leiden University, Wijnhaven Campus, Turfmarkt 99, The Hague | Date: 12 June 2023 | Time: 14:00 – 17:00

Starting 1 September, Suzy Sirks-Bong will be appointed as the Director of Operational Management of the Faculty of Humanities Faculty Board. She will succeed Menno Tuurenhout, who has been on the Board since 2015. The Director of Operational Management is responsible for financial management and 'staff…

Swarms of drones, pedestrians or the cells in your body. Those are all examples of active matter: materials whose building blocks can move autonomously. That’s what Luca Giomi studies. Giomi has been appointed Professor of theoretical physics in the area of soft matter and biological physics at the…

This remarkable statement appears in Yi-Wen Cheng’s dissertation on state monopoly and forms of competition in the Chinese tobacco industry. Cheng presents her conclusions and looks back on her fieldwork. ‘I had to accept a lot of drinks in order to establish a network of contacts.’

When Daan van Esch, master’s student in Chinese Studies, travelled through China last summer, he noticed that he often did not understand what the inhabitants of the different villages and cities were talking about. There turned out to be huge differences within the language. He decided to map this…

Jingxian Wang, PhD at ICLON, examined technology integration in primary and secondary education. Defence on 6 July.

Alumna Minke Lok (26) programmes many announcements in various languages at almost all major airports in Europe, including at Schiphol. ‘Millions of people around the world hear what I create.’