The procedures for admitting minor asylum seekers from Camp Moria on Lesbos to the Netherlands are in breach of children’s rights according to Ton Liefaard, Professor of Children’s Rights and Peter Rodrigues, Professor of Immigration Law.

There are plenty of reasons to look back on a very successful year. TRI Leiden has made great progress with its various projects and activities. This has been achieved with the much valued input of many experts involved in the projects and Leiden Law School students.

Deep-brain stimulation (DBS) is the most promising surgical treatment for movement and neuropsychiatric disorders, but is accompanied by unwanted side effects. Birte Forstmann, professor by special appointment, has been awarded a ERC Proof of Concept Grant to create an atlas of the human deep brain…

Math girls Jeanine Daems and Ionica Smeets have received the Mr. K.J. Cath prize during the opening of the academic year in Leiden.

There's a myth that people with autism avoid eye contact in conversations. This can come across as indifferent. Unjustified, stresses Jiayin Zhao, who is doing her PhD research on the socio-emotional development of children with autism. 'That people with autism don't care is anything but true.'

The legal relationship between Switzerland and the EU dates back to the 1950s and 1960s, when Switzerland concluded its first agreements with the then European Communities. Since then, numerous other agreements have been concluded. In view of this long history of development, it is not surprising that…

Research from Dutch news organisation NOS shows that gambling companies, including Holland Casino and the Dutch Lottery, have more influence on the creation of new rules on gambling adverts than addiction experts.

For a few years now, Leiden’s Hortus botanicus has been mounting a campaign to cherish wild plants in the city – for the biodiversity and beauty of this spontaneous vegetation. Botanical artists reveal this beauty in an exhibition at Oude UB in Leiden.

The master’s programme 'Jeugdrecht' (Child Law) at Leiden Law School has been awarded the gold medal by EW Beste Studies. It is the only degree programme at Leiden University to have earned this top award. Professor Mariëlle Bruning says, 'it’s the best compliment you could ever get in your career'.

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.

The American security services brought down American President Nixon, not the media as people generally believe. Andrew Gawthorpe, researcher on diplomacy and American foreign policy, hopes that the security services under Trump also make the right decision.

Lodewijk Govaerts has been appointed by Ingrid van Engelshoven, caretaker Minister of Education, Culture and Science (OCW), as a member of the Board of Governors of Leiden University.

For many teachers, they are a lifesaver: the people at the Science Teacher Support Desk. When a teacher has technical problems, they come to the rescue immediately. Veerle Warnders is one of them and she tells us what is so great about her job.

‘If you are studying to become a lawyer, but are not certain if the legal profession is the right place for you, then my advice is to just do it. Try it!’ This was one of the many recommendations from Leiden alumnus Mark Moolhuizen, a partner at law firm Van Doorne, given during a webinar held at Leiden…

Tommaso Ciarli and Ismael Rafols received the Atlas Award from Elsevier for their research on research priorities and societal demands.

The ‘New Way of Working’ has become a reality at Leiden Law School with light, transparent and flexible workspaces, Rector Carel Stolker said at the grand opening of the revamped third floor of the Kamerlingh Onnes Gebouw.

150 new Biology students have arrived in Leiden. This is more than ever and we seem to settle among the big three Universities for Biology in the Netherlands.

Assistant professor and dual PhD candidate, Pieter Slaman writes in Binnenlands Bestuur about the fact that the German occupier lengthened the period of mandatory education in The Netherlands.

Richard Barrett has launched a new digital music label on Bandcamp.

The decision by the court in preliminary relief proceedings to immediately lift the curfew in the Netherlands – following a case brought by pressure group Viruswaarheid (Virus Truth) – has been overturned until the appeal on the case is heard this Friday. The government is doing everything in its power…

A number of calls for proposals have been launched to finance innovative educational projects. An overview is given below.

By the time you read this message, it will already be February. But since this is our first newsletter of the year, I still feel compelled to wish all of you a very happy New Year!

Gert Oostindie, Professor of Colonial and Postcolonial History, has been made an Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau. He was awarded the royal honour by Leiden mayor Henri Lenferink after giving his valedictory lecture, ‘The future of the colonial past’, in the Academy Building of Leiden University…

The way genes are folded determines their activity in our body. Leiden biophysicists are now the first to unravel this structure molecule-by-molecule. Publication on December 1st in Nature’s Scientific Reports.

Ontwikkelingshulp- en migratiedeskundigen zien dat er lessen zijn geleerd in het nieuwe regeerakkoord op het gebied van asielbeleid. Maar aan veel toezeggingen kleven cynische voorwaarden.

Today’s protest at the University’s Academy Building and the Hortus botanicus ended at around 16.30. The dozens of demonstrators left the grounds voluntarily after the university summoned them to leave.

Ludo Waltman, professor of Quantitative Science Studies at Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS), has been awarded the Derek de Solla Price Medal.

On Thursday 23 May, a jointly organized Lunch Seminar between the Leiden Research Lunch and the research program Interaction Between Legal Systems takes place. In this special seminar we have the honour of receiving Maria Weimer from the University of Amsterdam, who will present her new book on

Eric De Brabandere, Professor of International Dispute Settlement, and Director of the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies has just published the 7th Edition of the handbook Merrill’s International Dispute Settlement. The previous editions of this seminal handbook were authored by the late…

Two AI research projects receive funding; one in the field of oncology and one in the field of cardiology.

The American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) has been pleased to announce Dr. Elizabeth de Lange as a recipient of the 2013 AAPS Fellows Award at the 2013 AAPS Annual Meeting and Exposition in San Antonio.

Ineke Sluiter, Professor of Greek Language and Literature, has been appointed Corresponding Fellow by the British Academy. Every year the Academy selects the best researchers from the humanities and social sciences in the UK as well as outside as Fellows.

How can cross-border internet purchases be accurately estimated? Researchers Quinten Meertens, Cees Diks, Jaap van den Herik and Frank Takes of the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS), Statistics Netherlands (CBS) and the University of Amsterdam (UvA) present their solution to this…

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Elena Bondarouk, Assistant Professor at the Faculty Governance and Global Affairs, obtained her PhD on 27 August for her thesis on the local implementation of EU air quality policy. Her research has been included into the 'Europa decentraal' database, a Dutch governmental knowledge centre for queries…

Media outlets Investico, de Groene Amsterdammer and Trouw reported on the wide-scale collection by the Dutch police of personal data of demonstrators and their family members. Bart Schermer, Professor of Privacy and Cybercrime, commented on the issue.

Nicholas Vrousalis, lecturer in Political Philosophy at the Institute of Political Science of Leiden University, has been elected to a fellowship at Princeton University. During the academic year 2015/16, Vrousalis will be based at Princeton University's Center for Human Values, where he will write…

An interesting Ottoman History podcast that deals with the slave trade and the African Diaspora in Ottoman Izmir.

New technological applications which the government wants to use need to be thoroughly examined to prevent them causing problems for citizens. Currently, things often go wrong – the childcare benefit affair being an extreme example – says Anne Meuwese, Professor of Public Law and Governance of AI, in…

Having a drink in a cafe and at the same time learning something about astronomy: this is Astronomy on Tap. The first edition in Leiden will take place on Monday 27 March.

The waiting lists in youth care are alarmingly long. This has been confirmed again by a study carried out by a Dutch foundation The Forgotten Child.

The worldwide protests following the police violence in the United States show how deep-rooted and wide-spread racism is across the world. As an academic institution doing research on law & society, the Van Vollenhoven Institute is very much aware of systemic racism and speaks out in support of these…

The first results of the “Policing European Metropolises project” (PEMP) that associate Professor Elke Devroe and Professor P. Ponsaers launched in April 2013 are now published. Having been the referent for The Netherlands and Belgium in the Urbis project (Leonardo programme), the project focuses on…

Caroline van Eck has been awarded the Descartes-Huygens Prize. She will receive the award in March 2014. The prize includes a period as a guest researcher in France. Van Eck has been awarded the prize for her excellent research and her contribution to French-Dutch collaboration.

Dr Yannick van den Brink, Assistant Professor at the Department of Child Law, has been awarded a grant from the Rubicon programme of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) to conduct research for a period of eighteen months at the University of Cambridge, Institute of Criminology,…

Maartje van der Woude, Professor of Law and Society at the Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance and Society, has been elected, after a vote among the members of the Law and Society Association (LSA), as one of the eight ‘elected trustees’ to join the ‘Board of Trustees’ of the LSA.

A discussion is currently being held about whether a demonstrating policy official employed by the Municipality of The Hague, who is also a local councillor in Rijswijk, can remain in office after she participated in Extinction Rebellion’s recent climate protest. The VVD party in The Hague claims this…

In recent years, much research has been conducted at the Department of Labour Law on the topic of sustainability and fundamental labour rights. Linked to this field is a journal: the International Labor Rights Case Law Journal (ILaRC).

Microplastics are small pieces of plastic found in the environment. At CML research have been conducted in the distribution of these plastics on beaches around the world using citizen science. In addition, CML is conducting in depth case-studies in the Caribbean and along the Dutch coast. Follow-up…

On 27 January 2022, fifteen dedicated lecturers at Leiden University received the Senior Teaching Qualification (SKO). They included Bart Krans, Professor of Private Law and Civil Procedure.