How do you make lobbying and rhetoric both challenging and understandable for high school students? Professor Jaap de Jong found the answer in climate activist Greta Thunberg. Together with his colleague Arco Timmermans, he developed a digital guest lecture on how to present a convincing story.

Every year, an outstanding lecturer receives the Faculty Teaching Prize. Lecturers are nominated by students and a jury decides who will receive the prize. The prize is awarded during the official opening of the academic year on 8 September. This year, students nominated four candidates. We spoke to…

During the Bachelor Honours Class ‘The world is quantum’, students from various disciplines learned about the rules of nature on the smallest scale: quantum mechanics. What opportunities and dangers do they see for their field of study?

The new academic year has started and with it education as well. Associate professor Dennis Claessen and Director of Education Han de Winde from the Institute of Biology Leiden devised an environmentally friendly introduction to the Leiden Bio Science Park for their students, with the help of Plastic…

Science education project Space Awareness engaged 230,000 people in 68 countries with the excitement and challenges of space sciences and technologies. After three years, the project coordinated by Leiden Observatory came to an end in March and has now been evaluated.

Innovation in nest building: bird nests made from anti-bird spikes. Researchers from Naturalis Biodiversity Center and the Natural History Museum Rotterdam describe this behaviour in a publication.

Thomas Vorisek is a video coordinator. He picked up a new hobby in his student days, entirely by coincidence, and now he makes a living out of it. Thomas likes to spend his free time on the beach.

Researchers, civil servants and local residents met on 27 September to talk about partnering for sustainability. What were the results? In a green ‘city oasis’ in the centre of The Hague they spoke about the energy transition, bottom-up initiatives and citizen science.

On the 19th of May 2020, our dear colleague and friend Professor Dr. Huib Ovaa has passed away from prostate cancer. Last summer Huib became ill, and in first instance it appeared that he had attracted a relatively harmless infectious disease. Unfortunately, it became soon apparent that he suffered…

For several months now, in addition to her responsibilities as Institute Manager for the Academy of Creative and Performing Arts (ACPA), Rosalien van der Poel has been fulfilling a different role: that of confidential adviser to doctoral candidates. ‘It’s an honour to be able to do this work,’ Rosalien…

Graduation MIRD Class of 2024: 'The world is better off with students like this'

As a result of the current coronavirus outbreak, almost all of our teaching is done online. However, even before this, several teachers were involved with remote education. Madi Ditmars and Maurits Berger talk about their experiences.

Data about COVID-19 were everywhere during the pandemic, but how will all this data continue to be managed and kept open so that it is usable in the future? We spoke with Kathleen Gregory, researcher at the Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS), who will study this question in a new project…

It’s not something the police force wants to see, but it still occurs: racist and misogynist police conduct. Human rights specialist Dr Linda Louis has studied how technology could help police officers behave correctly and comply with the applicable legal norms.

We are pleased to invite paper proposals for the 1.5-day interdisciplinary workshop: “Who rules over migrants? Autocratic elements in migration policies”, that will take place at the University of Leiden on 14 and 15 November 2024.

Doing a PhD can be challenging. Moving to a foreign country can be challenging too. PhD candidate Ilya Kokorin, who was born in a small town in Siberia, faced both, while at the same time having to overcome a number of additional challenges and build a future post-PhD.

Broad universities that focus strongly on fundamental research have the best chance of contributing to economic innovations, for example in the life and data sciences. This is the message of Professor Simcha Jong in his inaugural lecture on 14 November.

Come to the Night of Discoveries art and science festival on 16 September. Various researchers from the university are speaking at the festival.

On 11 January 2022, the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences opened the new year during a livestreamed reception. Dean Paul Wouters and Executive Director of Studies Kristiaan van der Heijden were the hosts. After several faculty prizes were awarded, our Dean expressed a new year’s resolution…

Major developments worldwide are creating new challenges for society. The pandemic has hit us hard, for example, and we are already feeling the effects of global warming. How can society and politics deal with the urgent problems of our time? That is the theme of the Global Transformations and Governance…

Archaeologist Professor Jan Kolen has been appointed Director of the LDE Center for Global Heritage and Development (CGHD) with effect from 1 July 2013. This new inter-university heritage center is due to start in the autumn of 2013 within the framework of the strategic alliance between Leiden University,…

How can business strategies help us solve social problems? This was researched by students of the Master Honours Class 'Social Innovation in Action' over the past twenty weeks. During the final seminar of the class they presented their creative enterprises to tackle child poverty in Leiden. ‘It’s not…

Wat gebeurt er op het schoolplein? Sensoren op kleding openbaren pijnlijke patronen

Hans Slabbekoorn is specialised in animal sounds. On 1 July, he was appointed professor of Acoustic ecology and behaviour. A great honour, according to the new professor. ‘This job never gets boring, whether I am investigating the urban jungle or marine noise.’

For medical research, researchers often recreate tissue in the lab. Organ-on-a-chip technology emulates organs, right down to the blood that flows through them, thus creating a realistic test model for drugs or research into disease processes. Researchers from the LUMC are coordinating an NWO Gravitation…

What do you get when you combine traditional storytelling, new technology, and a whole lot of creative passion? Sumak Kichwa Wawa, an Andean children's storybook using augmented reality, that's what! Assistant professor, Martine Bruil and researcher Ximena Buller Machado tell us more about this special…

Can a robot perform a religious ritual just like a monk? And what exactly is a religious ritual? Robots and religion seem to be two different subjects, but according to university lecturer Elpine de Boer, both can make us think about what it means to be human and what we consider to be of value. Together…

Imparting students with a critical attitude and cross-curricular skills. That is what Rawi Ramautar wants to strive for as the new programme director (OD) of the bachelor of Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences. 'A programme director has to create a programme of which students say: I find it challenging and…

The rising energy prices cannot have escaped anyone’s notice. They have dominated the news in recent months. As a university, we too face a big challenge as the prices continue to rise. We will all have to do our bit in the coming months, also in view of the climate crisis that we want to help resol…

On 29 October, seven innovative lecturers from different faculties will join the existing ten fellows of the Leiden Teachers' Academy. The current fellows have been engaged for the past year in implementing their innovation projects. How are these progressing?

By means of a presentation, a panel discussion, and activities in the fresh air, the event themed ‘Environmental Humanities’, organised by the Honours College Humanities, managed to unite both people and disciplines. ‘There is a gap between humanities and sciences, but they are more alike than you might…

This academic year Martijn Manders taught the course of Maritime Archaeology and cultural heritage management for the 8th year. Manders tries to make his students understand how humans and water are related and most importantly: what part does heritage management play in the discipline? To try and make…

The Faculty of Humanities, Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society (LUCAS) is looking for a: PhD The Illustrated Aesopian Fable in Education in France 1500-2010 (1.0 fte) Vacancy number: 16-123

Since the credit crisis erupted, drastic cutbacks have been made in all kinds of public sector organisations, creating some very difficult choices for the top civil servants who had to implement them in their own organisation. This is the conclusion of Public Administration scholar Eduard Schmidt, whose…

The human dimension must be brought back to the fore, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said in response to the child benefits scandal. But how? A group of researchers – including Leiden psychologist Sandra van Dijk – have written a book offering practical suggestions. They presented the book to Rutte on 28…

A better balance between teaching and research duties, greater recognition of team performances and the elimination of simplistic assessment criteria. The ‘Academia in Motion’ paper published by the Leiden University Recognition and Rewards describes the main problems with recognition and rewards in…

The illicit trade in stolen cultural property is booming. Countless works of art and antiquities will be lost if we don’t do more to stop this. This is what experts warned at a Leiden Global congress at the National Museum of Antiquities.

At the conference of the Honours College Science & Society, students present TED Talks on a social issue of their interest. ‘It brings together everything they have learned in the past two and a half years.’

To underline the urgency: Our faculty faces a significant financial challenge. With a structural reduction of €5 to €6 million in annual income, dark clouds are gathering on the horizon. Added to this are the uncertain consequences of budget cuts from The Hague, including the Balanced Internationalisation…

Are Weyl particles the ideal conductors? Do cells without a cell wall play a role in chronic Tuberculosis infections? Carlo Beenakker and Dennis Claessen want to answer these questions. They both received a KLEIN grant from the NWO. With these grants, NWO wants to stimulate innovative, fundamental r…

They sprayed with corn starch and made detailed drawings of the genitalia of spiders. In different ways students studied spiders in the dense tropical rainforest of Borneo. With their work they solved a spider mystery and published about this in Biodiversity Data Journal in April.

How do you make niche subjects interesting and accessible? Benjamin Suchard, historical linguist and researcher, seems to have created the perfect recipe, which consists of his various projects alongside his regular research, including a Twitter account and a major international film.

A series of upcoming activities by PhDArts co-director Janneke Wesseling, docARTES researchers Bobby Mitchell, Giuliano Bracci, and Dick de Graaf, and PhDArts researchers Brigitte Kovacs, Danne Ojeda, Jack Segbars, Mikala Hyldig Dal, Ato Malinda, and Thalia Hoffman

On Thursday 11 January 2018, Xiang Li will defend her doctoral thesis: “Collective Labour Rights and Collective Labour Relations of China”. The defence will take place at 11:15 hrs at the Academy Building of Leiden University, Rapenburg 73. The supervisors are Professor Guus Heerma van Voss and Professor…

What does it mean for a citizen to be ‘literate’ in astronomy? Astronomers who participate in outreach to the general public experience various degrees of astronomical knowledge among people. But so far, there had not been a systematic evaluation and definition of what astronomical literacy actually…

Getting motivation, courage and tools to find a job that will help you tackle the climate crisis: it is at the heart of the course ‘Designing Your Career as a Climate Changemaker’. With their final presentations, the students conclude this climate-specific skills module within the Designing Your Life…

What with coronavirus, the American elections and the Brexit botheration, we had almost forgotten that something miraculous happened in 2020: the repressed people of Belarus rallied against dictator Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in power for 26 years. Months later, what remains of the protest?…

Your local city park may be improving your health, according to a new paper led by Leiden environmental scientist Roy Remme. In Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Remme and his colleagues describe how access to nature increases people’s physical activity—and therefore overall health—in…

A packaging-free shop, small mobile homes, solar panels on all Leiden's roofs… Jeroen Schrama, alumnus of Public Administration, is a creative world improver. ‘If we really want to save the world, we have to make much more radical choices.’

On 1 September, Menno Tuurenhout handed over the position of Director of Operational Management in the Faculty Board to Suzy Sirks-Bong. How does he look back on his time as Director? And how does Suzy see the future? A double interview.