PhD defence

A new website has been set up that provides information about the government funded Law Sector Plan in the Netherlands, including the plans of the participating universities and developments within the agreed themes.

Alexander van Oudenhoven has been appointed as the new Director of Education of the Governance of Sustainability master's programme. Van Oudenhoven has been appointed for a four-year period, from 1 October 2022 to 1 October 2026. The programme is taught in The Hague.

Your PhD studies culminate in a ceremony. The thesis defence is the most important part of the ceremony, and your supervisor or co-supervisor also delivers a eulogy about your work. Find out about the PhD ceremony and what is expected of you as a PhD candidate.

Chris Suijker, since 1 July the new director of Real Estate, likes healthy and sustainable university buildings where you ‘get the feeling you’re right at the heart of society’. Her aim is to achieve the same effect with even more buildings.

The Teaching Fair is coming up again. On Thursday afternoon, 20 June, you can be inspired by your colleagues about educational innovation. University lecturer Elpine de Boer will be at the information fair with her project on social issues and an external client.

How can we continue to work on an open university culture where everyone’s contribution is recognised and rewarded? Over 120 university staff spoke about breaking academic barriers at the first Academia in Motion Festival in PLNT.

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…

In 2023, it will be fifty years since Vietnam and the Netherlands established diplomatic relations. This will be commemorated in both countries. At the beginning of November, outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte visited Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. On that occasion Leiden University Libraries will launch…

Since 1 October 2022, Sarah Nelson is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Institute for History. Below she introduces herself.

Rogier Creemers is a lecturer in Modern Chinese Studies. While he looks for challenges in his lectures, in his free time he much prefers to go back to basics and work with his hands.

AI is already widely being used in HR processes, but it’s unclear whether these applications contribute to fair and inclusive decision making. Leiden researcher Carlotta Rigotti is involved in BIAS, a big consortium research project that aims to provide answers and develop a new, trustworthy AI app…

Lecture

Inaugural panel discussion

Deze week sluiten we het academisch jaar af met verschillende FGGA-studenten, waarin zij hun zomer- en toekomstplannen vertellen, maar ook terugblikken op het afgelopen jaar: ‘Ik vond het ontzettend prettig om weer terug te komen naar de fijne sfeer op Wijnhaven.’

Strong leadership is essential for building an open and learning organisation.

The theme of the Opening of the Academy Year on 4 September was sustainability and how the university could take the lead as a change agent. How is it going about this and what else can it do? There was also room for a critical note.

The winners of the JSVO teaching prizes for academic year 2020-2021 were announced at the opening of the faculty year on 7 September 2021.

No more ones, twos or threes, but focusing on development opportunities. This summer, the Faculty of Humanities will start a pilot for the new Performance and Development Interviews (PDI). HR adviser Marion Sluijs tells us more about it.

Since September 2021, Noelle Richardson and Susana Munch Miranda are working as a postdoctoral researcher within Cátia Antunes VICI project "Exploiting the Empire of Others: Dutch Investment in Foreign Colonial Resources, 1570-1800". Below, they introduce themselves.

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…

In December 2023, Louise van der Vlugt was announced as Co-Winner of the 'Best Thesis in Jewish Studies' Award. She sat down to answer some questions about her prize-winning BA Thesis.

Professor Pieter ter Keurs has spent his entire career studying collecting. Now, he is retiring. ‘I hope the focus on collections will carry on.’

From chilling on the beach to a speech by the mayor. HOPweek is a speedy way for hundreds of ‘Leiden’ students who are going to be studying in The Hague to get to know each other. Many of them come from abroad. ‘I actually dare to cycle here.’

In the new video series 'The World of Linguistics', alumni and researchers talk about their passion for their field. University lecturer Maria Del Carmen Parafita Couto speaks about bilingualism.

Conference

On the occasion of the conferral of an honorary doctorate to children’s rights activist Graça Machel, a fund has been established that will enable two female students from South Africa to come and study in Leiden.

So much has happened this year! 2023 was an eventful year in which several wars raged about which our experts could offer interpretation. It was also the year in which the government made apologies for the slavery past. Leiden humanities scholars were at the forefront of this with their research on…

On Thursday 10 November, the Night of the Lobbyist was held. During this public event, organised by Leiden University and the Public Affairs Academy, many insights were shared regarding the different aspects of lobbying and the diversity of the world of the lobby.

Education

It’s become somewhat of a tradition at Leiden University: the strategic conference at the end of June each year. About a hundred staff including the faculty boards, academic directors, directors of the expertise centres and Administration and Central Services, the representative councils and student…

The rising energy prices cannot have escaped anyone’s notice. They have dominated the news in recent months. As a university, we too face a big challenge as the prices continue to rise. We will all have to do our bit in the coming months, also in view of the climate crisis that we want to help resol…

The Effective Protection of Fundamental Rights Research Programme at Leiden Law School had the honor to organise the Netherlands Network for Human Rights Research Annual Conference.

Mark Rutgers has been reappointed as Dean of the Faculty of Humanities. After a first term where the focus was mainly internal, it’s time to look outwards.

The guardian of our genome, the protein MutS, scans the DNA for spelling errors and makes sure they are corrected. An essential process for our health. Researchers at Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC) have discovered precisely how this protein works by making MutS visible with cryo-electron microscopy.…

Psychologist Bernou Melisse was shocked at the long waiting lists in the Netherlands for people with binge-eating disorders. The problem was not yet on the map in Saudi Arabia. She therefore decided to study how people suffering from binge eating can be helped better in their own region of the world.…

The results of the Personnel Monitor 2022 are out. Now the ball is in all of our courts. What does the Monitor tell us and how can we act on it? I hope that as an organisation we can get a good dialogue going as the first step towards improvement.

Since a few months, Executive Director Niels Laurens no longer has to divide his attention between two faculties but has been able to fully focus on FGGA. A conversation about the dynamics within our Faculty, his management style, and the steps we will all have to take together to improve issues such…

A splendid milestone after seven years of collaborative research on the sustainable development of the Indonesian economy. Professor of Industrial Ecology Arnold Tukker has been appointed as a guest professor at the Faculty of Economics and Business of Universitas Padjadjaran (UNPAD) in the Indonesian…

He had been back from Australia for less than 48 hours, but there was no sign of that. Michel Mandjes of MI had the honor of kicking off the very first Tuesday Talks: Science Insights on Tuesday. He did so with a presentation on complex networks.

Zou jij wel eens willen zien hoe het belangrijkste gebouw van onze Science Campus op het Leiden Bio Science Park tot stand komt? Op de Dag van de Bouw, op zaterdag 17 juni, kan dat!

Social media is a good way to meet others or to hear about the latest news and developments. It is an excellent way to tell people about what you are doing and to hear what they are up to too. But social media also has its downsides: disinformation, trolling, disrespectful comments and even the misuse…

Henk Hoekstra and Alessandra Silvestri work on the astronomy and theoretical physics in the Euclid mission. These Dutch researchers are part of the mission.

If you have a question about the University website, or if you wish to post an announcement or report content-related changes, please contact the web editors of your faculty or unit.

The touring exhibition 'Presenting with the city' has touched down in the Lipsius Building. In the presentation, students and researchers show how their research has contributed to the city.

Julie Külsen is the student member on the Faculty Board, called the assessor, this academic year at Leiden Law School. Who is Julie and what does the assessor actually do? How can she help students? Let’s meet our new assessor!

The Faculty of Humanities is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive community for both students and staff. With the establishment of the Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Group, the faculty is a welcome step closer to creating a workplace where everyone feels at home and represented. We spoke…

Are you looking for a free and transparent way to submit your scientific articles for peer review? Then look no further than Peer Community In (PCI). This platform, which is supported by Leiden University, is a good alternative to publication in traditional peer-reviewed journals.