The Institute of Political Science is a vibrant department with nearly 70 academic staff in Leiden and nearby The Hague.

Florian Schneider has earned the title of Leiden University Lecturer of the Year. Sinologist Schneider was nominated by his students and crowned winner of the LUS Teaching Prize at the opening of the academic year by the board of the Leiden University Student Platform (LUS).

Sjaak Neefjes, Professor of Chemical Immunology at Leiden University, will receive the NWO Spinoza Prize this year. The Spinoza Committee called Neefjes an ‘exceptional researcher whose intelligence is matched by his boldness’. He will use the 2.5 million euro prize to pursue his research into cancer…

Everyone has heard arguments like this before as a child: ‘Whether you like it or not, you have to go to school!’ It seems as though you are presented with two options, but there is only one real outcome. Charlotte van der Voort of the MA Dutch Studies won the Leiden University Thesis Prize on her research…

PhD candidate Lieuwe Vinkhuijzen received the VERSEN Master Thesis Award 3rd prize for his master’s thesis on quantum computing. ‘A forward-looking thesis that solves problems in software engineering; not in the next decade, but beyond’, according to the jury.

Ups and downs for students from year 12 and/or vwo 6 who are selected for the Academic Challenge and the Dutch version of this challenge, the ‘Wetenschapscongres voor vwo’.

Andrea Evers, Professor of Health Psychology at Leiden University, has won the Stevin Prize – alongside the Spinoza Prize, the highest scientific award in the Netherlands. She is the third social scientist from Leiden in a row to win one of these prizes. ‘Leiden attracts freethinkers.’

Andreas Bender, Assistant Professor for Medicinal Chemistry in the Medicinal Chemistry Division of the Leiden / Amsterdam Center for Drug Research, received the

Lecturer in Old and Middle English Thijs Porck was awarded the annual Leiden University Student Platform (LUS) Teaching Prize at the opening of the academic year. The jury praised his endless supply of innovative teaching ideas.

Three students of Leiden University’s “MSc. ICT in Business” programme, Erwin Marges, Stefan Zhelyazkov and Georgios Valouras, have been awarded with the prize of Galileo Master of the South-Holland region, for their business plan idea “SnowMate Alpine Assistant”.

We are extremely proud of our alumni Nandini Paliwal (LLM 2016) and Valentina Vecchio (LLM 2017) for winning first and second place, respectively, for their essays in the EALA Prize this year.

Annually KNVI (Koninklijke Nederlandse Vereniging van Informatieprofessionals) awards thesis prizes to master students in the field of Informatics and Information Science.

Joost Batenburg, full professor at the Mathematical Institute and group leader Computational Imaging at the Centrum voor Wiskunde en Informatica in Amsterdam, has been awarded the prestigiuous Netherlands Prize for ICT research 2018. Batenburg receives the prize for his research on new algorithms for…

Kim Beerden, lecturer in Ancient History, has won the 2016 LUS Teaching Prize.

Warja Tolstoj, alumna Art History, has been awarded the 2021 edition of the Ted Meijerprijs. Named after the former director of the KNIR (Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome), the prize is awarded yearly to the best MA/ReMa thesis or PhD in the Humanities.

On 9 September, in the presence of King Willem Alexander, Secretary of State Sander Dekker presented the Spinoza Prize to four researchers, including two researchers from Leiden: archaeologist Corinne Hofman and physicist Dirk Bouwmeester. In the Nieuwe Kerk in The Hague, they unveiled their plans for…

On 10 December Walter Burkard won the Jaap Doek Children’s Rights Thesis Award 2020 for his thesis on climate change and children’s rights.

In 2020, many of our staff and students have again won prestigious prizes and been awarded important research subsidies.

The Sustainability Prize of the Leiden University Green Office and the Local Chamber of Associations has been won this year by student association Catena. In the shadow of the corona pandemic, Catena worked exceptionally hard to improve sustainability.

Leiden Biology student Lukas Kiefer has won the Unilever Research Prize 2018 for his research into efficient production of a new antibiotic. Kiefer: ‘I want to make biological medicines available to people in need.'

On Thursday 10 January the annual Meijers prizes were awarded for the best published article, of each faculty research programme, written by Assistant Professors or other academic staff members. The winners received a certificate and a sum of money to spend on research.

Paul Gobée (LUMC), Kirsty Rolfe (Humanities) and Frank Takes (Science) have been nominated for the Leiden Teaching Prize 2023.

The Psychology Teaching Award goes to the entire team of teaching staff. PhD candidates Wouter van Loon and Hilmar Zech wrote the best scientific articles. The master's thesis awards go to Robert-Jan de Rooij and Florian Thomas-Odenthal. Marion Duijsman gets an award for administrative staff and Gert-Jan…

Every year, an outstanding lecturer receives the Faculty Teaching Prize from the teaching committee. The prize is awarded during the official opening of the academic year on 7 September. This year, students nominated eight candidates.

Valerie Sticher has been awarded the Cedric Smith Prize 2021 of the Conflict Research Society (CRS) for an article she wrote as a part of her dissertation at ISGA last May. The Cedric Smith Prize is awarded annually to the best article or thesis chapter in peace and conflict research by a PhD student.…

On 24 November 2016 dr. Stephanie Rap received the publication prize of the Society for Family and Child Law for her publication ‘A children’s rights perspective on the participation of juvenile defendants in the youth court’, published in The International Journal of Children’s Rights, vol. 24(1),…

Thomas Hansen is the recipient of the 2020 KNCV-Backer Prize for best organic chemistry thesis in the Netherlands.

‘Always focus on your students, and make sure that what you teach them will be relevant to them as alumni.’ In his speech of thanks, Harmen Jousma, lecturer in Science Based Business, shared what drives him: training students for the world outside the university.

Canal Watch (De Grachtwacht), which has been cleaning canals since 2018, has received the Dutch Research Council (NWO) Communication Initiative Award.

Traditionally, at the beginning of each new calendar year, Leiden Law School awards the Meijers Prizes for the best article in the previous year for each Faculty research programme.

Interview with Pieter Slaman who received the LUS Education Prize. What makes the award so special to him and does he already know how he will use his prize money?

The Jaap Doek Children’s rights thesis award is an annual award for the best thesis in the field of Children’s Rights granted by Defence for Children and the Department of Child Law of the Leiden Law School.

‘It is a fantastic sum of money,’ enthuses classicist Professor Ineke Sluiter. ‘It gives me not just an award, but a task as well. And in all honesty, I prefer it that way.’ She is already brimming with ideas about what she will do with her Spinoza Prize.

Alumnus Pim Spelier is one of the two winners of the ASML Graduation prizes for mathematics students. He used a new method to solve single polynomial equations. Bachelor student Jorre The wins one of the ORTEC Incentive prizes for the best study results during the first year. On 30 November, the Royal…

Marjolein Soethoudt was awarded the Unilever Research Prize 2013 for the University of Leiden. The prize was bestowed upon her because of her thesis about her 9-months Master’s internship that she performed in the department from September 2011 until July 2012, in combination with her other study re…

The KNIR has awarded Elisa Goudriaan the Ted Meijer Prize for her dissertation The Cultural Importance of Florentine Patricians. Cultural Exchange, Brokerage Networks, and Social Representation in Early Modern Florence and Rome (1600-1660).

The Jaap Doek Children’s rights thesis award is an annual award for the best thesis in the field of Children’s Rights granted by Defence for Children and the Department of Child Law of the Leiden Law School.

Dr. Bettina Reitz-Joosse, postdoctoral researcher in the Classics department has won Ted Meijer Prize of the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome (KNIR).

The Modderman Prize is awarded once every two years to advance research in the field of criminal law science.

On 10 December Sarah-Devorah Poot won the Jaap Doek Children’s Rights Thesis Award 2019 for her thesis on child-friendly judgments.

On December 4th, Flor Rhebergen received the 2015 Unilever Research prize for his study achievements at the IBL for his outstanding work in the field of Evolutionary Biology. Flor Rhebergen received the “Ovum” sculpture and was awarded €2.500.

Dr. Yannick van den Brink’s PhD thesis, titled ‘Pre-trial detention in the Dutch juvenile justice system’, has been awarded the FJR Prize 2018.

Christopher Berg Smiet, who defended his thesis at LION with Dirk Bouwmeester, won the Christiaan Huygens prize for his thesis '‘Knots in Plasma’. On 7 October, he received a certificate, a bronze statuette and ten thousand euros.

Tirza Cramwinckel, Assistant Professor in tax law, has won one of the 2023 Research Prizes awarded by the Praemium Erasmianum Foundation.

Two Leiden astronomers will receive the prestigious IAU PhD Prize. Both Jorryt Mathee and Niels Ligterink of the Leiden Observatory won a prize. Scientific director Huub Röttgering: We are proud that this year two of our PhD students receive an IAU prize for the best thesis in their field of researc…

Leiden psychologist Carsten de Dreu was presented with the Spinoza Prize by Education Minister Van Engelshoven on 12 September. The award of 2.5 million euros will allow him to continue with his pioneering research on group dynamics.

University lecturer Alex Reuneker has won the Frans van Eemeren Prize for his paper 'Assessing classification reliability of conditionals in discourse'.

The Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities (KHMW) has awarded Leiden Physics PhD student Anne Meeussen the Shell Graduation Prize in Physics, which comes with 5,000 euro in prize money.

Mathematics student in Leiden Michel Zoeteman received an Encouragement Prize of no less than 500 euro from the “Koninklijke Hollandse Maatschappij der Wetenschappen (KHMW)” Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities on Monday 30 November 2015.

Daniela Kraft will be awarded the NWO Athena Prize 2019 in a ceremony at the CHAINS Chemistry Conference on 10 December. The prize recognizes excellent female chemists who carry out outstanding scientific research and act as role models for their fellow researchers. Kraft will receive the Athena Prize…