The Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society (LUCAS) invites applications for a postdoctoral Researcher (0.8 fte for 3 years) in the ERC Starting Grant project ‘Pages of Prayer: The Ecosystem of Vernacular Prayer Books in the Late Medieval Low Countries, c. 1380-1550’ (PRAYER). Candidates are…

This interdisciplinary conference, to be held on 26-27 June 2017, will bring together lawyers interested in EU law and criminal law, criminologists, political scientists, and philosophers to jointly reflect on the development of the EU's criminal policy.

Ghazwan Yaghi was a leading archaeologist and researcher in Damascus but had to flee in 2014 because of the war. An NWO 'Refugees in Science' grant has enabled him to pick up where he left off in his academic career. 'I've found myself again in this project.'

In 1933, Leiden held a large international student conference. It was supposed to be a celebration of unity that would bring together the French, British and Germans. But when the Nazis showed their true colours, Rector Magnificus decided to intervene...

Leiden Law Cast is a podcast made by Leiden Law School, Leiden University, for everyone who wants to learn more about current legal issues.

Can a computer give just as good a judgment as a judge? Professor emeritus Law and IT believes it can and talks about using computers in the courtroom in a podcast of the Universiteit van Vlaanderen.

Emeritus professor Liesbeth Eurelings-Bontekoe received the royal award from the Deputy Mayor of Amsterdam for her great contribution to the quality of care, especially to clinical and health care psychology.

Throughout the year, the organisation 'Voedsel Anders' organizes an events series that showcase various local food initiatives in Dutch cities.

On 25 October 2017, Ledi Bianku, judge at the European Court of Human Rights, gave a guest lecture entitled “The ECHR and asylum”. Ledi Bianku is Judge at the European Court of Human Rights since 1 February 2008. He has held the position of Vice-President of Section I of the Court from January 2016…

On 15 June 2022 Professor Anthropology of Sustainability and Livelihood Marja Spierenburg was one of the invited speakers at the round table in the House of Representatives of The Netherlands.

What has European integration meant for the role and powers of Heads of State? And what should it mean, both at the EU and at the national level?

The article deals with an issue that will be at the heart of the World Health Assembly to be held in May, namely the concept of ‘deep prevention’ and the importance of its integration in the Global Pandemic Treaty - which has been recently proposed by the European Council and currently endorsed by more…

Christa Tobler writes an extensive article on voting rights for different groups for the annual congress of the

According to a study conducted by multiple research institutes, governments and law enforcements should widen the scope of their focus to right-winged terrorists such as Andres Breivik. The Guardian issued an in-depth analysis of their work last week.

On Tuesday 27 September, Jorrit Rijpma and Julien Jeandesboz (ULB) presented the preliminary findings of their study on the Commission’s smart borders proposal in the LIBE Committee of the European Parliament.

It has already been a huge success in The Hague, and now the Lipsius building has one, too: an Acts of Kindness pillar. The official opening took place on Tuesday 20 September.

University lecturer Andrew Gawthorpe argues in The Guardian that the Republican's new agenda for a second Trump term is more radical than the first. He says that they seek to take control of federal agencies by replacing civil servants with ‘American First footsoldiers’.

Every year, the Netherlands Red Cross and Belgian Red Cross-Flanders organise the Frits Kalshoven IHL Competition. This competition aims to provide students with an opportunity to practically engage with IHL, the rules that govern the conduct of war, by attending expert lectures and workshops, engaging…

International peacebuilding organisation International Alert has moved to The Hague. Professor by special appointment Public Affairs Arco Timmermans understands very well why the organisation has chosen this city. Dutch radio show ‘De Ochtendspits’ hosted by BNR news radio asked him to elaborate.

The KNMI issues weather warnings in various codes depending on the weather's risk to people's safety. Below, you can read what the university and faculty follow for these codes.

The UK has recently been facing racist violence outbreaks. Tahir Abbas, Professor of Radicalisation Studies, discusses this in an article on Hyphen.

Within the Comparative Religion Network staff and graduate students from LIAS-LUCSoR (and beyond) discuss ongoing work and cooperate on key issues in the comparative and systematic study of religion.

Researchers from the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) have successfully used stem cell gene therapy to treat a baby with the severe congenital immune disorder SCID. An important milestone: it is the first time stem cell gene therapy of Dutch origin has been administered to a patient, and also…

Hunter-gatherers acquire their food through complex gender-specific foraging techniques for a relatively stable and diverse supply of energy. New research indicates that this specialisation by boys and girls starts at a very young age. Most likely, this enabled the human species to evolve much larger…

During the Faculty of Archaeology’s 2018 Field School excavation, in Leiden, two Early Medieval burials were encountered, as well as some house plans. One of the burials was found by Beatriz, an international student from Mexico. “When I found the pelvis bone it was clear that I had found a human sk…

Environmental researcher Martina Vijver is over the moon with her ERC Consolidator Grant. This prestigious grant is recognition, she says, of the study of the behaviour and possible toxicity of new nanomaterials in ecosystems.

'Academics who share their knowledge with the outside world on social media are often insulted or even threatened. Especially female academics and academics of colour seem to regularly be the victim of sexist and racist comments.' This is what Ineke Sluiter, Professor of Greek Language and Literature…

Honduras recently severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan after 82 years. In doing so, the country is following the trend of other Central American countries that have turned their backs on the Asian island in recent years. Why are these countries making this choice now and what does it mean for Taiwan's…

Can students help make our cities more sustainable and resilient? The Resilient Cities Hub thinks so: during its knowledge café on 16 January, passionate students talked to municipal officials and pitched their master’s research. ‘In this way, the students learn to step out of the academic world and…

From ransomware to Citrix traffic jams: over the past few months Dutch organisations were regularly brought to a standstill by serious cyber attacks. We can only face these threats by standing as one, and universities and government should take the lead. These are the words of Leiden professors Bibi…

Between 6 and 9 June, you’ll be able to vote in the European elections. But what can you expect from these elections? What are the most important topics on the European agenda? And why should you even vote? Students from the European Law master’s specialisation explain.

Not one but two openings: the minister who defended her plans and many who emphasised the importance of standing together with the arts and social sciences: the opening of academic year 2019-2020 in Leiden was not without event.

As part of the lecture series 'Religion Matters', Sven Gins (RUG) will speak about moving statues and other ingenuous devices in late medieval France. The lecture will take place on Wednesday, March 13, 17:00-18:00.

On Wednesday 11 December 2019, Marieke Liem, Associate Professor, appeared as a guest on the NPO Radio 1 podcast. The central topic of the podcast was risk perception among the Dutch population.

Elina Zorina presented her work-in-progress on “Distinctiveness in the Parliamentary Arena: Consequences for Vote Choice” during the GTGC lunch seminar on the 1st of May. Please find the abstract below:

‘Criminal law is still an inequality machine’, argues Folkert Jensma in his fortnightly column for Dutch newspaper NRC. After attending the conference ‘Ongelijkheid en de Strafrechtpleging’ ('Inequality and the criminal justice system'), he concludes that ‘nothing has changed’ since his time as a st…

Emergency services and governments were caught by surprise on Monday 24 June by the nationwide breakdown of the emergency phone number 112. The breakdown raises the following question: ‘Could this not have been prevented’?

An international consortium of research institutes, universities and non-academic partners in six European countries has been awarded with a research grant from the Department for Research and Innovation of the European Commission in June 2018. MIDA is coordinated by the ‘Centre National de la Recherche…

Leiden University's Pre-University College is celebrating its 20th anniversary. The programme introduced hundreds of secondary school pupils to science and the university. We asked those involved how PRE became so popular: ‘The students are the reason it still exists today.’

Adolescents with autism or hearing loss report fewer feelings of guilt and shame than their peers. However, guilt does still serve a ‘corrective function’ in this group. This is what Evelien Broekhof’s dissertation reveals. PhD defence on 4 June.

The story of the iconic Silk Road is often told from the Chinese perspective. An exhibition at Oude UB focuses on the inhabitants and monuments of historical cities in Central Asia, a neglected part of the Silk Road. From 5 September to 17 October.

How are you doing in these strange and unprecedented times? That’s the question we are asking our colleagues in this series. Jasmijn Mioch, for instance, HRM Learning & Development Adviser.

On 1 March 2023, the Dutch Safety Board (Onderzoeksraad Voor De Veiligheid, OVV) published its report on the protection provided by the Dutch security services and lessons learned from three cases. The OVV was highly critical of the use of key witnesses and the protection offered to them. Jan Crijns,…

The Dutch Research Council (NWO) has, within the framework of Research along Routes by Consortia (NWA-ORC), awarded the research project Next Generation Immuno-Dermatology (NGID) with a prestigious grant of 11.7 MEuro. NGID is a nationwide, large-scale project to unravel novel biomarkers for six different…

Bacteria temporarily live without their cell wall if dangerous viruses are near. A remarkable feature, as the cell wall is a sturdy barrier against threats. Still, the discovery has a logical explanation ánd might be of a consequence for fighting pathogenic bacteria, according to Véronique Ongenae,…

On Thursday 14 March, the third ILS Lunch Seminar of this year took place. In this well visited seminar, Nienke van Heek and Esther van Ginneken gave two very insightful presentations on their respective research topics.

What do you do with a museum collection full of individual white Nobel laureates at a time when diversity, inclusion and teamwork reign supreme? Ad Maas, professor by special appointment, and researcher Hilbrand Wouters have been awarded an NWO Museum grant to answer that question.

The Economist published an article about a working paper about the effects of democratic elections on satisfaction with democracy. The paper was written by Dimiter Koshkov, Associate Professor at the Institute of Public Administration and Honorata Mazepus, Assistant Professor at the Institute of Security…

With an off-the-charts number of downloads, outstanding media coverage, and more than 300 tweets, a small team behind the Scientific Reports article led by a Leiden PhD Igor Djakovic is living every researcher’s dream.

Linguist Wataru Uegaki received an NWO Grant of 58400 Euro for his research project 'In search of semantic universals in the modal domain'. With this money Wataru can compile a database and organise workshops. An interview with Wataru: