Aya Ezawa bade farewell as Diversity Officer of Leiden University at a celebration in the Academy Building on 11 June. Since her appointment in 2019, she has been a tireless advocate for culture change and a champion for diversity, inclusion and equal opportunities for all.

For a long time, bird song was considered as a typical male trait. But over the last twenty years, research has shown that a lot of female songbirds sing as well. Female scientists turned out to be the key factor in these findings, amongst others from the Institute of Biology Leiden.

Paul van der Heijden, professor emeritus International Labour Law, was recently appointed by the British Minister for Trade as an independent arbitrator under the dispute settlement provisions of the United Kingdom’s Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Japan.

USMCA (North American Free Trade Agreement) is the successor to NAFTA – a free trade zone covering Canada, the United States and Mexico. This Agreement includes a new procedure to ensure compliance with fundamental labour rights.

Professor Paul van der Heijden (International Labour Law) has been awarded a grant of 50,000 euros by the city council of The Hague to start building a Business & Human Rights database.

Aske Plaat is the scientific director of LIACS, the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Systems. He is also an ambassador for Leiden University's LGBT+ Network. His enthusiasm shines through when he explains why.

Starting as an MP during the Covid-19 pandemic and after the recent ‘role elsewhere’ debacle during the coalition talks for a new Dutch government, alumna Mariëlle is looking forward to making a real contribution in society.

Two statues of gorillas abducting women: they were what led PhD candidate Dick van Broekhuizen to write a new type of history of nineteenth-century sculpture. ‘If you view nineteenth-century art history from a less narrow perspective, the narrative changes completely.’ PhD ceremony on 21 June.

Associate Professor of Physical Geography Paul Hudson at Leiden University College was interviewed by TIME Magazine on the Mississippi floods that have been harassing the United States this year.

Professor Paul van der Heijden (international labour law Leiden University) has been appointed the honorary Marcel Storme chair at the University of Ghent. The Marcel Storme chair is a rotating professorship at the law faculty of the University of Ghent which according to the regulations is solely…

Sociologist Aya Ezawa is the new Diversity Officer at Leiden University. What is the University doing well and what could it do better? ‘It’s taken much more for granted that universities should be a reflection of society. But this is also an area where we can still make progress.’

Over the past few hundreds of years, the world has changed radically. However, cultural stereotypes from the 17th century are still alive and well today, and even academic researchers sometimes use terms coined centuries ago. Why do they do that? Herman Paul, Professor of the History of the Humanities,…

Paul Christiaan Flu, originally from Surinam, was a brilliant tropical doctor, who in 1938 rose to the position of Rector Magnificus of Leiden University. The war years brought his lightning career to an abrupt end: his son was murdered and he himself was imprisoned in a concentration camp. A sad family…

The Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology conducts extensive research on imprisonment. Sending a person to prison is the most severe form of punishment that can be applied in the criminal justice systems of European countries. In most countries, the number of prisoners has risen in recent decades.…

The project ‘Founding an Inclusive Space’ investigates the histories of various LGBT+ archives in the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom.

(1) What are the institutional factors that influence AI adoption and implementation? and (2) How does AI reshape the exercise of administrative discretion within public organisations, and how do adoption and implementation choices moderate these effects?

Decent work involves opportunities for work that delivers a fair income, care for occupational health and safety, freedom for people to organize and equality of opportunity and treatment for all women and men. The Labour Law department at Leiden University conducts research and provides education on…

The modern-day Caribbean is a stunningly diverse but also intricately interconnected geo-cultural region, resulting partly from the islands’ shared colonial histories and an increasingly globalizing economy.

How has progress been made on diversity and inclusion at Leiden University over the past decade? Attendees reflected on this at the D&I Symposium 2024: Untold Stories. And in the workshops, students and staff discussed the next steps toward a more inclusive community.

African oral literatures, new media and technologies: challenges for research and documentation

The Tatiana Afanassjewa-lecture series is a series of public talks in Dutch by Leiden physicists on wednesday evenings, intended for everyone with an interest in physics.

What is written in law and what equality, inclusion and diversity mean in practice is not always the same. This was the focus of this year’s D&I symposium on 13 January. The plenary sessions were watched by hundreds of participants and there was a wide range of workshops covering different aspects of…

The United Nations (UN) made history in October 2000 when Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) was unanimously adopted.

Overview of the CML reports

This book underscores the interplay between religion and politics (local and global) in the production, escalation, management, mitigation, and resolution of conflict.

In recent decades, women in Japan and South Korea have been catching up in terms of educational achievements and economic activity. Yet the number of women in leadership positions is still lagging behind. PhD candidate Yorum Beekman investigated why this is.

The Dutch police force is struggling with diversity. Women, officers who are gay or come from a non-western background often feel unsafe within the police force. That was the message of this week’s startling distress call by police coach Carel Boers, who has been a consultant for the police management…

Why do international companies around The Hague have only 6% ethnic minorities as employees, even when the business case proves that diversity adds value? On Tuesday 13 March in The Hague, Wijnhaven, the University’s Diversity Office and the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs organised the first…

Earlier this year, the public voted environmental scientist Paul Behrens Discoverer of the Year 2018. Behrens is an interdisciplinary scientist who wants to understand our impact on the planet. ‘Unfortunately, we are not doing enough. Huge changes are underway and we’re running out of time to avoid…

Alumna Tiziana Lippiello became the first female rector magnificus of Ca’ Foscari University of Venice last year. In this way, she hopes to contribute to emancipation in the academic world: 'We need more women here.'

Students of the Bachelor Honours Class 'Strategies of Resilience' are exposed to a unique educational experience. Through philosophical insights and creative exercises, participants explore what it means to be resilient. ‘I really feel like it helps you develop as a person.’

There is greater variety in the size of men’s brains than of women’s. This could help explain why some psychiatric disorders such as ADHD and autism are more prevalent in boys. Leiden brain researcher Lara Wierenga has published an article about this in the international journal Cerebral Cortex.

On Saturday 9 February 2019 we celebrated the International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2019 in Leiden! View the photos of this festive day, with contributions from Robbert Dijkgraaf and Ewine van Dishoeck, and numerous fascinating workshops and exciting experiments.

Schools of secondary education are assigned to (further) develop a curriculum vision regarding three functions of education (Sectorakkoord VO, 2014; 2018).: qualification, socialization, and subjectification (Biesta, 2015). This research project is aimed at developing instruments that help schools identify,…

Hoogleraar Internationaal Belastingrecht Tanja Bender heeft een vermelding gekregen in het boek Recognising 100 Years of Women in Tax.

Behind the relatively stable income inequality in the Netherlands, big changes have been happening. Income inequality has increased over the past 40 years, but less sharply because women in lower income groups have begun working more. In contrast, men’s income has increased very little over the past…

Dario Fazzi

Diversity and inclusion are two of Leiden University’s core values, and Leiden Law School has previously announced its ambition to improve both within its education and teaching. Not only does our faculty have a website dedicated to this subject – we also have our very own Diversity and Inclusion Co…

Research master student Linda Bomm found in her thesis that men, compared to women, believe female sexual assault survivors less, blame women more, and judge them more negatively – especially if they identify strongly with their male gender.

Leiden University has the highest percentage of female professors of all the Dutch Universities. At 24 per cent, Leiden is well ahead of the other universities in the Netherlands.