Lecture

Staring into the clouds hoping for a glimpse of the sun, cheering in encouragement, video recordings: there was no shortage of things to do at the Leiden Observatory. More than 600 visitors witnessed the last, almost complete solar eclipse of the decade..

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,…

Broader and more-transparent metrics could help improve how academic quality is assessed. This is what Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) researchers Paul Wouters (also Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences), Sarah de Rijcke and Ludo Waltman write together with colleagues in a comment…

With thunderous applause, Elanor Boekholt-O'Sullivan is received at the Lorentz Hall of the Kamerlingh Omnes Building. She gazes into the hall with a smile on her face, even though the applause makes her feel slightly uncomfortable. She gets to enrich the students of the Leiden Leadership Programme…

‘We’ve only just begun,’ said Honorary Doctor Jennifer Chayes in her acceptance speech after receiving her Honorary Doctorate on 8 February. 'We are on the cusp of a data revolution, which will deeply impact both science and society.'

Prof.dr. Rozenberg, emeritus professor in Theoretical Computer Science at the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS), received a royal decoration from the deputy mayor of Leiden on December 15th 2017. He has been appointed Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion.

Sense Jan van der Molen is vanaf 1 maart de nieuwe wetenschappelijk directeur van het Leiden Instituut voor Onderzoek in de Natuurkunde.

Professor of Brain, Safety and Resilience Anne-Laura van Harmelen has been nominated for the Huibregtsen Prize. The winner of the prize will be announced on the Evening of Science & Society (4 October).

The seventh Leiden wall formula has been finished. Over the last few weeks, mural artists Ben Walenkamp and Jan Willem Bruins have painted Christiaan Huygens' pendulum formula on 'De Brandmeester' an old drill and hose tower in de Plaatsteeg, just behind the Breestraat in Leiden.

On Friday 20 September, the Dutch associations for Privacy Law (VPR) and for Privacy Law Attorneys (VPR-A) announced their annual thesis award winner in a ceremony held in the Lorentz Lecture Hall at Leiden Law School. We are very proud that Kimmy Shah and Hannah Appel, recent graduates of the Advanced…

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…

The recently opened ICPA (International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression Against Ukraine) in The Hague will be responsible for coordinating the prosecution of Russia for the crime of aggression and possibly also the prosecution of Vladimir Putin. The ICPA aims to close the gaps…

Financial support that wealthy countries provide to poorer countries in order to help them combat climate change and the associated emissions was the central topic of this year's UN Climate Change Conference in Baku. Annemarie Drahmann, Associate Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law, discussed…

Lecture, Comparative Indo-European Linguistics (CIEL) Seminars

More and more Dutch citizens are having to cope with debts at one time or other during their lives. Which is why the issue of debt counselling was selected as the central theme for the Leiden Leadership Lunch on Friday 27 September 2019.

The topic of conversation at The Great Continental Breakfast the morning after the EU elections in the Netherlands was the election campaign, the – lacking? – constitutional basis of the EU and the Timmermans effect. ‘These were the most normal EU elections ever!’

The Rutte-III coalition agreement has been presented and the commentary is flooding in. Public administration experts Arco Timmermans and Gerard Breeman examined the new agreement – as they have done for every coalition agreement since 1963 - and made a systematic analysis of it: it is very much about…

Lecture

What do people like Martin Luther King Jr. and Barack Obama have in common? They have mastered the art of public speaking. There are plenty of books on learning this skill, but one aspect of rhetoric remains underexposed in science: how do you make sure the audience remembers your message? Martijn Wackers…

The Kalshoven-Gieskes Forum on International Humanitarian Law and the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies hosted the second annual “International Humanitarian Law Clinic Exchange Conference”, from 8 to 14 December 2016, in The Hague. The idea to organize the conference stems from a collaboration…

Dr Letizia Lo Giacco is the recipient of the 2024 Rosalyn Higgins Prize for her article titled 'When a Dispute Exists: The Emerging Evidentiary Practice of the ICJ in Common Interests Proceedings'.

In a new series of articles, we explore how the humanities study topics related to sustainability. First up: waste. How and why study waste as a humanities scholar? We asked Elena Burgos Martinez, University Lecturer South and Southeast Asian Studies, and Katarzyna Cwiertka, Professor of Modern Japan…

Dutch politics has long been a paragon of stability. Think, for example, of our party system until, say, the last decade. At the same time, we also see occasional changes and significant shifts. Society has changed and this is reflected in, among other things, how we vote and how policy is made. About…

Course

The Jus Post Bellum Project is seeking submissions of academic research papers for presentation at the final project conference on ‘Jus Post Bellum and the Justice of Peace’ on 29-30 September 2016 in The Hague.

Jason Rudall, Assistant Professor of Public International Law at the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies, has published a monograph entitled 'Responsibility for Environmental Damage'.

Marokko zegt het contact met de Duitse regering op. Volgens Marokkaanse media is ministeries en andere overheidsinstanties per brief gevraagd direct de samenwerking op te schorten met de Duitse ambassade in Marokko.

Shell Nigeria is liable for damages from oil spills in Nigeria. The Hague Court of Appeals gave this ruling in a case that was brought by four Nigerian farmers.

Misha Plagis, assistant professor at the Grotius Centre of Public International Law wrote a paper together with Dr Nicole De Silva (Concordia University) entitled 'NGOs, international courts, and state backlash against human rights accountability: Evidence from NGO mobilization against Tanzania at the…

'The EU should not give way under pressure as the war continues,' writes Joris Larik, assistant professor of European law, in an opinion piece that was recently published in Dutch newspaper FD.

What should a confederal constitution for the EAC look like? What are the legal challenges for making the African Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) work? And what insights can be drawn in this context from the successes and failures in the EU?

A research team from the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) has received over 3 million euros in funding from the Knowledge Centre Surveillance and Protection, a partnership between the Dutch National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security, the Public Prosecution Office, the police,…

Dutch speedskaters have been winning the most medals in speed skating at the Winter Olympics for years. How? Based on their intuition. Scientist Jeroen van der Eb of the Data Mining & Sports group of the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS) wants speedskaters to adjust their irons based…

PhD defence

Conflicts are good! According to Eefje Cuppen, Professor Governance of Sustainability at Leiden University's Institute of Public Administration. But what is the status of the energy transition? That is happening at a very slow pace here the Netherlands.

How can the United Kingdom find coalitions for a Brexit? Alexandre Afonso, Assistant Professor at the Institute for Public Administration, analysed how the Members of Parliament voted up to now and presents a graph with possible coalitions on several withdrawal agreements. The article is published in…

Fear of repayment demands is causing people to forgo benefits and financial support, even when they are eligible. This was one of the finding of Olaf Simonse in his PhD research on financial stress and the non-use of social services. His proposal: 'Let the government take the initiative.'

What does it mean to innovate education? And what motivates professors to innovate? How does innovation work at the University?

Professor Geert de Snoo, Dean of the Faculty of Science at Leiden University, has been appointed Director of the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) with effect from 1 November 2019. He will stand down from his role as Dean of the Faculty of Science with effect from 1 September. De Snoo will…

On 8 March, Daniel Peat will speak at the 1st Annual Conference of the newly-established NATO Mission Appeals Tribunal (MAT), to be held in Naples.

Prof. Carsten Stahn, Professor of International Criminal Law and Global Justice and Programme Director of the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies in The Hague, explores some of the connections between just post bellum and peacebuilding, based on findings of the Jus Post Bellum project and…

With the childcare benefits scandal in the Netherlands, certain interests in society were hidden for long to politics and governance. With the farmers’ protests, on the other hand, the major economic and political interests at stake were hidden for long to society. In her inaugural lecture on 16 September,…

Lecture

Conference

Lecture, LIAS Lunch Talk Series

Are we going vegetarian this year? Shall we keep the dessert the same? Where do I find inspiration for a festive meal during the holidays? For readers who like to postpone these questions, for those who like to tell a good story with their culinary contribution, or for those who simply want to know…

Leiden scientists are the main applicants for five projects that have been awarded a Science Groot grant of up to 3 million euros in the Science Domain. In addition, several Leiden scientists are involved in other projects that have been awarded funding.

From the Spanish Flu during WWI to COVID-19: the role of the American government in these Pandemics. Professor Giles Scott-Smith, who together with Dario Fazzi and Gaetano Di Tommaso completed the book project Public Health and the American State, discusses a century of American responses to health…