On 12 September 2024, the official ceremony opening the academic year 24-25 for students of the European Law master’s programme took place at Leiden Law School, organised by the Europa Institute.

In his last week as interim cabinet minister, alumnus and outgoing Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Geoffrey van Leeuwen set time aside to give a guest lecture at his alma mater, Leiden Law School. It was the perfect opportunity for a flash interview.

Using mathematics to help children with bone cancer. It sounds a little strange, but for statistician Marta Fiocco, it's just her job. She gets a substantial grant from KiKa for it. With that money, she is going to study the effect of chemotherapy adjustments.

At the Faculty of Archaeology, three new professors are appointed with effect from February 1, 2018. They are Ann Brysbaert, Marie Soressi, and Joanita Vroom. How do they react to their appointments, and what will be their foci in the following years?

The section Air & Space Law of the institute of Public Law of the Leiden Law School is looking for a

Some governments and companies are pursuing a more circular economy, but what is the best way to get there? An international group of industrial ecology researchers wrote a report that stresses the importance of including the scientific side into policies and practices. ‘We feel an obligation to support…

Zsuzsika Sjoerds seems to be busy with her research, her teaching, and open science advocacy. She will also take over the Twitter account for Dutch scientists. Folllow our cognitive neuroscientist at @NL_Wetenschap from 30 September till 6 October 2019.

Almost all the members of the Dutch House of Representatives, ministers and government officials are university educated. At the same time, the large majority of the electorate have a lower level of education, or even no education. How much of a problem is that? Two new books warn about this gap in…

The University of St Andrews and Leiden University, with the support of a network grant from the Royal Society of Edinburgh, will be hosting a workshop series in 2022 about Ocean Governance. Academics, policy makers, and practitioners are invited to contribute via working papers. Deadline abstract:…

Last November, it was announced that the European Commission has awarded a Jean Monnet Chair to Professor of Tax Law Irma Mosquera Valderrama. She will use the grant to shape the EUTAXGOV project over the next three years.

How do you maintain diplomatic relations in a world of rising tensions? This was the theme of a guest lecture by Minister Sigrid Kaag at Campus The Hague. ‘Policy proposals won’t go through if they don’t foster women’s development.’

This message is to remember his inspiring contributions to the global development of air and space law, the formation of innovative aviation policy and his dynamic commitment to the International Institute of Air and Space Law at Leiden University.

Behind the relatively stable income inequality in the Netherlands, big changes have been happening. Income inequality has increased over the past 40 years, but less sharply because women in lower income groups have begun working more. In contrast, men’s income has increased very little over the past…

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.'

Alumnus Ben Smulders has worked for the European Commission for the past 33 years. ‘The discipline and depth that I experienced during my student days has helped me through various stages of my professional career.’

Will British universities become isolated after Brexit? The University of Oxford has set up a new programme for excellent young researchers to try to prevent that happening. Two Leiden PhD candidates are taking part. 'We have lost a lot of the citizens of Europe.'

Over the last 5-6 years Burkina Faso has become seriously implicated in the rapid and dramatic changes in the geopolitical situation in the Sahel. The country, once reputed for its stability and safety, has come under the spotlight for the number of violent attacks and of internally displaced people.…

The whole world gets raw materials from Latin America, but at the expense of nature. Håvar Solheim researches the role of organised crime in this environmental crime and Soledad Valdivia researches sustainable urban initiatives in Latin America. What do these university lecturers think the future of…

Rewarding good behaviour, instead of punishing it – a proven pedagogical method. Would it also work in tackling tax avoidance? This question sparked the interest of PhD candidate Josephine van der Have. Her research investigates the potential of a trademark for fair taxation.

The Mapping Slavery project will place markers that tell the story of Leiden’s slavery past. Why is this important and what does it mean for today’s society? Before the markers are placed, a panel came together on 24 March to discuss the slavery past of not only the city but the University too.

On Sustainable Tuesday, two weeks before Dutch Budget Day, the Dutch cabinet receives a suitcase full of sustainable ideas and initiatives. The initiators' aim: to make the government plans for the upcoming year a little more sustainable. At the Leiden Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML), assistant…

Recently Professor Joanita Vroom’s book Feeding the Byzantine City was published by the prominent academic publishing house Brepols. This volume is the fifth in a series called Medieval and Post-Medieval Mediterranean Archaeology, of which she is the editor. ‘This series aims to offer new perspectives…

De onderzoeksteams zijn opgezet, samenwerkingen zijn gestart, projecten afgetrapt, de eerste startsubsidies zijn binnen en de websites zijn in de lucht. Het stimuleringsprogramma Citizenship, Migration and Global Transformations, dat bestaat uit de twee pijlers Social Citizenship and Migration en Global…

Eva is in her third year at Leiden University College The Hague, but she is also very active outside her studies. Besides Youth Ambassador of The Hague she worked for Plan Nederland and UNICEF, where she cooperated in exciting projects on a national as well as on an international level. In order to…

Each year, CML gives out three Stans Awards. The Institute's staff could nominate students and colleagues for the prices of best student thesis, best PhD paper and best outreach from the past year. Jury members Jan Willem Erisman and Nicole de Voogd made the final decision.

The United States used threats to influence the nuclear programs of Iran, Libya and South Africa. How effective was this diplomatic coercion?

Due to gaps in working conditions regulations, airline pilots and crew are suffering from fatigue and inadequate protection in general. Leiden PhD student Yuran Shi investigated how international law can help improve working conditions and safety in the aviation sector.

The earlier you introduce children to a language, the sooner they can be captivated by it and see that there is more than just Dutch and English. That is the basis for the language lessons for primary education that Alisa van de Haar, university lecturer of French, collaborated on. ‘Deans from different…

UNESCO has recognized an international set of fifteen manuscripts about Ferdinand Magellan's first circumnavigation of the globe and the three Hikayat Aceh manuscripts as World Heritage. The manuscripts are inscribed in the global UNESCO Memory of the World Register. This list contains documentary heritage…

Should we be deeply concerned about the America of Donald Trump? Or will he bring about positive change? This was the main topic of discussion between researchers and students at the Big Leiden Presidential Breakfast on 9 November.

An international team of researchers, including Federico Calle-Vallejo of Leiden University’s Institute of Chemistry, have taken the atomic-scale design of catalysts to the next level. Their research contributes to the quest for a method to generate or store energy more efficiently. The report is published…

Over a thousand researchers and students protested in Leiden on 2 September against the plans to transfer money to science and technology at the expense of other disciplines. Just metres away, Minister of Education, Culture and Science, Ingrid van Engelshoven, was giving a speech at the opening of the…

No full-time job, but full-time voluntary work instead. That’s what Aniek Moonen decided on graduating from Leiden University College The Hague, when she started work as a committee member of the Young Climate Movement (Jonge Klimaatbeweging). As its Chair, she joins CEOs and government ministers in…

Ruurd Halbertsma combines his work as a curator and professor by special appointment with writing thrillers. 'I'd rather respond to the discussion on looted art this way than by joining talk shows.'

A more efficient solar panel sounds great. But what if these new panels consume more toxic materials, or their production consumes a lot of energy? Leiden environmental scientists, together with colleagues from the Fraunhofer ISE, address this multifaceted question in a new publication in the prestigious…

To what extent does human intervention influence the world’s biodiversity? And can we predict how biodiversity and ecosystems will change in the coming years? Inaugural lecture by Peter van Bodegom, Professor of Conservation Biology, on 8 May.

It was long thought that the early development of Japanese children's books served mainly as a propaganda tool of the state: the literature was supposed to have been written to shape children into perfect citizens. PhD student Aafke van Ewijk nuances this image. Children's book writers wanted to have…

In the summer of 2015 the former Finnish foreign minister Erkki Tuomioja, together with a group of Finnish historians, took an important initiative and established the organization Historians Without Borders (HWB).

Every year diplomatic representatives of Latin American countries, researchers and students come together during a conference of the GRULAC region group. This year different researchers talked about their work during a visit to the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs in The Hague.

On the 13th of December 2017 Ana Lucia Araujo came to Leiden to discuss the long history of the demand for reparations for slavery. In the basement of the Van Stockum bookstore she presented her recent book on this issue and discussed the research project with Karwan Fatah-Black.

It’s impossible to avoid, even in the Netherlands: the US will soon be going to the polls. Where does it come from, this fascination with US elections? PhD candidate Bram Eenink explains.

How do you make niche subjects interesting and accessible? Benjamin Suchard, historical linguist and researcher, seems to have created the perfect recipe, which consists of his various projects alongside his regular research, including a Twitter account and a major international film.

Hordes of photographers, students trying to catch a glimpse and take selfies, and cheering people at the entrance to Wijnhaven. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Prime Minister Mark Rutte were received like true pop stars, in the late afternoon at Leiden University’s Campus The Hague.

Nationalism is so prevalent in our society that we hardly realise it once didn’t exist. In his new book, senior university lecturer Eric Storm reveals the global history of the phenomenon. ‘Nationalist movements have always influenced each other.’

You’re about to start your minor at Leiden University. Make sure you are well prepared and get your studies off to a good start.

A team of researchers from Young Academy and the Huygens ING/NL Lab has brought a three-century-old fragrance to life based on a recipe by Constantijn Huygens. The fragrance makes the past more tangible and can help people experience history differently.

Students and PhD candidates come to Leiden and The Hague from all corners of the world. On 16 November, the municipality of Leiden presented current international students with a certificate as a token of appreciation for their presence in the city. ‘This makes me feel even more part of the local co…

After the death of the Prophet Muhammad, the Islamic Empire expanded at a tremendous pace. Within a hundred years, it stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian subcontinent. How did such a rapidly conquered territory become one empire? Professor Petra Sijpesteijn has been awarded a Vici grant…

For a long time it was thought that there were few or no female spies in history. However, nothing could be further from the truth. In her book Invisible Agents, Nadine Akkerman reconstructs the stories of the many British women spies in the 17th century.

The advent of script has never managed to eliminate the use of symbols. This is the finding of research carried out by Kyra van der Moezel on Ancient Egyptian identity marks. PhD defence 7 September.