Mozambican politician and child rights activist Graça Machel speaks October 27 at Leiden University about her work.

Leiden University celebrated its 444th anniversary with a historical procession on 8 February. It celebrated this year’s Dies Natalis in time-honoured fashion with a ceremony in the Pieterskerk, but broke with tradition by sending professors out to primary schools.

The International Institute of Air and Space Law is very proud to announce that Judge Peter Tomka has accepted the position of chairman of its International Advisory Board. During the Board meeting on 15 November 2017, Judge Tomka officially succeeded Professor Laurens Jan Brinkhorst as chairman of…

An extra-long cortège, three honorary doctorates, a quiz about 450 years of university history, a Dies Natalis rap and a call to defend academic freedom: these all featured in Leiden University’s 450th Dies Natalis celebration and the official start of its jubilee year.

‘Praesidium Libertatis is a daily responsibility.’ These were the words of Rector Magnificus Carel Stolker on 8 February during the 443rd Dies Natalis of Leiden University. The University needs to pay continuous attention to open debate if it wants to remain a bastion of freedom.

Hemin Hawezy, a political & international government adviser, has started as a dual PhD candidate at Leiden University. Bram Klievink and Toon Kerkhoff are supervising his research on the organisation of digitalisation in government; a good example of transdisciplinary collaboration.

On Friday 8 June 2018, Hugo Weiland’s long-standing service was celebrated with a festive lunch organized by board members Ida van Veldhuizen en Hans van Eenennaam.

Lawyer and human rights activist Lilian Gonçalves-Ho Kang You is the new Cleveringa professor.

No procession of professors, just a handful of people in the church and snowdrifts outside Leiden’s Pieterskerk: 8 February 2021 was no ordinary Dies Natalis. Carel Stolker transferred the rectorate to Hester Bijl, and Annetje Ottow became the new President of the Executive Board. With an honorary doctorate…

The celebration of Leiden's Dies Natalis on Monday 9 February in the Pieterskerk was extra special this year and was attended by many prominent guests. This was the kick-off of the special 88th Lustrum (five-year) celebrations in 2015.

‘We could share our knowledge more with others and apply it more widely,’ said Annetje Ottow, President of the Executive Board, while presenting the new Strategic Plan on the University’s 447th Dies Natalis. The new Strategic Plan therefore focuses on innovating and connecting, among disciplines and…

Museum Boerhaave commemorated the hundredth anniversary of Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity with the exhibition ‘Einstein & Friends’. The exhibition shined light on the famous physicist’s Dutch friends and his love for Leiden. A review featuring seven images can be found below.

Improving healthcare with our scientific discoveries: that is the goal of pharmaceutical research at Leiden University. And there’s a lot involved in that. Our research starts with the discovery of the effect achieved by a particular substance, and sometimes continues all the way through to the development…

Leiden has much to celebrate: first, 450 years of the Relief of Leiden and then 450 years of Leiden University. And that is no coincidence.

Bachelor, Master

An overview of awards and prizes granted to our staff and students in 2017, as well as special appointments and royal distinctions.

A fresh semester means a fresh faculty calendar. There is plenty to do at the faculty again in the coming months. Five interesting activities are listed below.

The composition Popular Archeology: Volca #1 (for percussion) by composer and ACPA PhD researcher Aart Strootman, has been awarded the Black Pencil in Schokland Prize.

Ben Wielstra studies hybrid zones, regions in which distinct populations of organisms meet, mate and produce genetically admixed offspring. In the journal Current Biology, he introduces hybrid zones in an accessible way.

Professor Ann Skelton, Rotating Honorary Chair of Enforcement of Children's Rights 2020/2021 at the Department of Child Law, has been re-elected as member of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child.

On the 442nd anniversary of the foundation of Leiden University, and at the start of the Leiden Asia Year, lawyer Jan Michiel Otto, an expert in the field of law in developing countries, delivered the first Dies lecture. He compared demagogues in Asia who call upon Muslims to turn against their governments…

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.

Leiden University is 444 years old this year! And we have big plans to celebrate this special birthday in 2019 - together with the people of Leiden and The Hague.

Every year around 8 February, Leiden University, the oldest university in the Netherlands, is celebrating its birthday. Why does the King still receive a telegram on the day of the Dies Natalis? 4 questions on the origins of Leiden University and its traditions for celebrating its foundation day.

PhD-student Maia has received multiple awards regarding her research on the impact of tobacco on the respiratory health of past Dutch populations.

Prof. Dr Isabella Diederiks-Verschoor passed away on 17 October 2017 at the age of 102. She was a pioneer of air and space law, both in the Netherlands and all over the world.

This fall, LUCIS will have the pleasure of welcoming Professor Wadad Kadi, of the University of Chicago, to Leiden. She is the first Abdulaziz Saud Al-Babtain Cultural Foundation Visiting Professor in Arabic Culture at Leiden University.

This new rotating professorship has been established to offer renowned academics the opportunity to teach and conduct research on international children's rights, while at the same time unlocking knowledge that has been acquired worldwide on children's rights.

The new cabinet has finally taken office. Six of its members studied in Leiden, once again making the University a key supplier to the cabinet. Who are these alumni?

Three novelists have won the first Leiden University Peter van Straaten Psychology Prizes: Esther Gerritsen, Yvonne Keuls, and Marieke Lucas Rijneveld. This is a prize for Dutch writers whose novels shed light on psychological problems and disorders. The prizes will be awarded on January 16.

'The way we consume information has changed dramatically over the past fifteen years. You're no longer just a receiver; you participate, create, and spread information. So why not use that to improve society?'

Jorrit Rijpma, Associate Professor of EU law at the Europa Institute of Leiden Law School, has been named Jean Monnet Chair by the European Commission.

Her Royal Highness Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands will attend the Dies Natalis ceremony at Leiden's Pieterskerk on Friday 7 February to celebrate our 450th anniversary.

In November 2010, the LEAD Programme organised a public lecture by Dr. Jane Goodall on Leiden University Revisited: Celebration Fifty Years of Gombe Field Research in Tanzania at the Gorlaeus Laboratory of the Faculty of Science, attracting more than 1.100 students and staff.

Since 1992, Professor Thijs van Kolfschoten, has been excavating at Schöningen.

‘Broad Implications of Climate Change in East Africa in terms of Human and Animal Futures’

Professor Pieter (‘Piet’) Sevenster passed away on January 19th, at the age of 89.

On 6 January 2025, Leiden Law School celebrated a special milestone: our 450th birthday! Our special anniversary year got underway with a panel discussion with Bonnie Honig, as well as a celebratory toast.

Over the past year, many of our staff and students have won prizes, been awarded a substantial grant or been appointed to an academic association or a position in public life. All of these are good reasons to include them in our 2018 Hall of Fame. We are proud of them all.

JUSTREMIT is an ERC-funded project that brings together political theory, ethnography, and security studies in an interdisciplinary study of remittances and global justice.

Many of our staff and students have won prizes over the past year. Others have been awarded a subsidy, or, because of their eminence in their field, they have been appointed member of an academic society or have taken on a position in the community. Reasons enough to be proud of them and to include…

Almost three years after receiving her honorary doctorate, Dr Graça Machel returned to Leiden University. Over the course of two days she spoke with students, researchers, and other interested persons, about human rights – particularly those of women and children – in a world in which these are continually…

The Faculty of Archaeology was honored by a visit by the Ambassador of the Sultanate of Oman. Ambassador Sheikh Dr. Abdullah Salim Hamed Al Harthi had heard of the Faculty's research projects that currently take place in Oman and wanted to learn more about the archaeological activities.

Vera Meester has won the annual Physics Image Award 2016, with her photo of 'smiling' colloids. The Volkskrant published the picture as Image of the Week.

Professor Simone Buitendijk, Vice-Rector Magnificus and member of the Executive Board of Leiden University, will be taking up a new position as Vice-Provost (Education) at Imperial College London on 1 August 2016.

Pharmacologist Liesbeth de Lange has won the Lewis B. Sheiner Lecturer Award from the International Society of Pharmacometrics (ISoP). As Professor of Predictive Pharmacology she is working, among other things, on a mathematical model that can predict drug concentrations in the brain. On the occasion…

In the summer of 2019, South African student Tarryn Abrahams was awarded a scholarship from the Mandela Scholarship Fund. She is now spending a semester in Leiden, and following four courses at Leiden Law School. ‘I’m learning to engage more in lectures.’

'Consider languages in their shared context.' That is the message of Professor and Arabist Beatrice Gründler, who will receive an honorary doctorate from Leiden University on 8 February. ‘I would like people to learn that Arabic history has a close connection with Europe.’

It may well be the best tradition in Leiden: immortalising your name in the ‘Sweat Room’ after receiving your diploma. But is it really immortalised? The names were at risk due to crumbling plaster. Fortunately, a crowdfunding project was able to save this beloved ritual.