Fourteen women professors are to be given a place in the classic portrait gallery in Leiden University’s Senate Chamber. The portraits will be unveiled on 8 March – International Women’s Day – by former Minister of Education, Culture and Science Jet Bussemaker and Rector Magnificus Carel Stolker.

PhD candidate Agnes van Steen researched the history of the Leiden women’s rights movement (1860-1990) and found that the university produced many feminists.

The ‘Dilemmas of diversity’ research project is to receive a subsidy of 1.8 million euros from the National Research Agenda (NWA). Coordinator Marlou Schrover will be examining the diversity policy of Dutch cities in the present, past and future, together with 37 societal partners.

Women behind the front play an important role in a large proportion of Iranian novels, written on the Iran and Iraq-war (1980-1988). But their martyrdom is an uncommon theme. Saeedeh Shahnahpur will give a lecture on this subject on 16 February.

It often takes longer for women with heart problems to get the right diagnosis. In her Annie Romein-Verschoor Lecture, Professor Hester den Ruijter will talk about how hormones influence the heart and the importance of medical research that focuses specifically on women.

Today, 8 March, marks International Women's Day. Leiden University fosters her female, talented staff members, and continues to strive towards more women on leading scientific positions.

A group of 18 Leiden students and alumni are advising the University on diversity and inclusiveness. Portraits of 11 members of the Diversity Policy Feedback Group.

How can we make sure that everyone feels welcome at our university? Read the highlights from the conference on The Making of an Inclusive Leiden University: The Do’s and Don’ts.

The project examines the political conflict in the Red River Valley of Louisiana between the majority-black Republican Party and the overwhelmingly white Democratic Party by studying the composition and actions of each party.

Dr Nadine Akkerman, lecturer in Early Modern Literature and postdoctoral researcher in Leiden, has written a new book to accompany the exhibition on Elizabeth Stuart and Amalia von Solms at the Historical Museum of The Hague. ‘They were like goddesses, constantly trying to upstage one another,’ says…

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Leiden University, Erasmus University and the Vrije Universiteit are collaborating in the Taskforce The Future is Diversity, aiming to improve the study success of bicultural students.

Leiden University has a new network for female academics: Sophia. Sophia strives for equal opportunities and a better working environment for female academic staff.

On April 14 we will celebrate the launch of our Faculty action plan ‘diversity and inclusivity’ with a symposium. We will present the action plan and our colleague Professor Tomas Brage will be keynote speaker. He is the Director of Education at the Physics Institute of Lund University in Sweden and…

Because of the recently published essay: Integrity 2025, written by Zeger van der Wal, Professor by special appointment Ien Dales Chair at the Institute of Public Administration at Leiden University, he was interviewed on 21 February by the magazine Binnenlands Bestuur (National Board) about diversity…

Plants produce an astonishing variety of secondary metabolites (SMs) which are thought to play vital roles in the fitness of plants through ecological interactions.

Within the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences (FSW), D&I translates as the diversity of backgrounds, perspectives, and identities among both students and staff.

How did local lifeways and crafting practices persist and develop in the diverse environments of the increasingly interconnected Gulf of Fonseca (AD 400-1521)?

1: What is the relative importance of alfa and beta biodiversity in polar ecosystems, and how does intraspecific variation influence this? 2: How can we use remote sensing to determine functional biodiversity (within communities) in polar ecosystems? 3: Temporal and spatial scales of functional biodiversity:…

As of 1 September, the Netherlands has a national action plan to promote diversity and inclusion in teaching and research. The plan was launched at Leiden University’s Wijnhaven building on its Campus The Hague.

On 8 March, International Women’s Day, equal opportunities for women worldwide, empowerment, and gender equality take centre stage. This day has been celebrated in the Netherlands since 1912, usually centring around a specific theme. This year’s theme: solidarity, the power for change.

This ethnographic research is a joint project with the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology, Leiden University, and KITLV/Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies. It aims to understand the experiences of social inclusion and exclusion of female migrants…

In the present-day United States, to what degree(s) are far-right men and women similar and/or dissimilar in their motivating factors for engaging in far-right social movement activism?

On 7 February 2021, Christa Tobler appeared on the BBC Wales radio programme 'Sunday Supplement' (a political and current affairs programme), entitled 'Covid, homelessness and votes for women'. The 50th anniversary of Swiss women's suffrage at the federal level, is commemorated on 7 February 2021.

Promotor: P.G.L. Klinkhamer, Co-Promotores: K. Vrieling, P.P.J. Mulder

In this thesis, we aim to shed light on the diverse and often opposing roles of integrin α3β1 in cancer.

Leiden University took the initiative for a National Dialogue Network of Diversity Officers. The main goal is to create a platform of knowledge and experience related to the development and implementation of policies on diversity.

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

In a fiery Annie Romein-Verschoor lecture, Sylvana Simons opened up about her experiences as a woman in politics. The leader of the BIJ1 party is regularly the subject of belittling comments and threats. Writer Aafke Romeijn, who reflected on the Simons’ lecture, has also been threatened frequently…

Marine sponges are important members of reef ecosystems, as they play ecological roles that are essential for the health of the reef.

The Ecuadorian Pachakutik party is one of the oldest indigenous political movements in Latin America. Despite not being very successful at the polls and hardly having organisational resources at its disposal, Pachakutik is still part of Ecuador’s political landscape. In her dissertation, Political Scientist…

In discussions about today’s society and multiculturalism the word is constantly bandied back and forth: diversity. At Leiden University we aspire to ‘diversity and inclusiveness’, and claim that our diversity policies put these core values into practice. We have a Diversity and Inclusiveness Working…

The Arab women are coming! That was Kim Ghattas’s message on 6 March in the 25th Annie Romein-Verschoor Lecture. It won’t be easy and it could take a long time, but they can do it. The Arab Springs have inspired them, and they’re not letting go of that.

How do you achieve the structural change needed for a more inclusive university community? What challenges do female staff face in their careers and what does it take to be a woman in a leadership role? This is what over 40 female staff members from the university discussed on International Women’s…

How are links between macro-invertebrate diversity and ecosystem functioning influenced by anthropogenic pressures?

The master's programme in Governance of Migration and Diversity has expanded to include a Law track (LL.M.). Law students can now enrol in this master's programme, while students from other disciplines can gain exposure to the legal perspective.

International Women's Day (8 March) saw the announcement of the first Leiden Top 50: fifty Leiden women who have made a difference over the past year through their activities. Many of the women in the list are affiliated with our University.

Spying in the seventeenth century was a man’s job. That had been the prevailing impression, until the Veni research by Nadine Akkerman from Leiden University...

Since 2015 the United Nations have declared 11 February the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. Leiden University organized a public event for over a hundred visitors. In between a lecture on the building blocks of life and a talkshow on the impact of science on society, high school students…

Textbooks in the Netherlands contain significantly fewer female than male characters and relatively few characters from a non-Western background. They also contain implicit stereotyping. This is what Judi Mesman, Professor of the Interdisciplinary Study of Societal Challenges at Leiden University, has…

‘It was not always accepted, but I just wanted to be a researcher. Now, I am as happy as can be.’ It is one of the quotes from the International Women’s Day presentation for Biology students. Seven women, working as researchers and teachers at the CML, IBL, and Naturalis, shared their experiences with…

Physicist, former D66 party leader and author, mainly of children’s books, Jan Terlouw, gives three to four readings a week. Even at the age of 86 he is tireless in communicating his message: ‘We need to regain trust in one another, and we have to seek fraternity.’