As of 1 September, Tim van Surksum will take on the role of assessor for our faculty. The 22-year-old second-year Mathematics student is excited about his appointment.

The Conflictoplossende Instituties (COI) research group at Leiden Law School has launched an exciting new monthly seminar series in 2022 for researchers interested in institutions for conflict resolution.

Guest staff and contractors can park at the university’s parking locations. Different rules and rates often apply.

There’s been a lot of commotion about the ‘Apartheid in Israel’ panel discussion being cancelled. The organisers, Students for Palestine, wanted to hold this at Leiden University’s Wijnhaven building in The Hague on 21 March. The Executive Board would only allow the event to go ahead if guarantees…

On Tuesday a few dozen students and staff from Leiden University protested on the square in front of the Lipsius building against the classroom scanners that have been installed in buildings and lecture halls. They are demanding that the scanners be removed.

Dr Mamadou Hébié, Associate Professor of International Law at the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies, served last week as legal counsel in the world’s first advisory proceedings concerning climate change before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), on the one hand, and…

As of 1 November 2025, Professor Luc Sels will assume the role of President of Leiden University’s Executive Board.

During a meeting at the University on 10 November, staff spontaneously removed a painting by artist Rein Dool from the wall in one of the meeting rooms in the Academy Building, reversed it and placed it on the floor. A tongue-in-cheek action with a serious undertone. This has led to a lot of commotion…

During a recent event, the Leiden Institute of Environmental Sciences presented the breadth of its research on biodiversity.

The seminars of Centre for the History of European Integration (CHEI) bring together scholars working on European integration, broadly conceived, from a historical perspective.

The Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities (KHMW) has appointed five new members from Leiden. Annetje Ottow, Carsten de Dreu, Pancras Hoogendoorn, Ton Schumacher and Maartje van der Woude will be joining the oldest ‘learned society’ in the Netherlands.

On Tuesday 14 June, the Europa Institute welcomed Martijn Stronks, Assistant Professor at the Amsterdam Centre of Migration and Refugee Law of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, for its third ‘Meet the Author’ event.

The final stage of the asbestos removal operation in wing B will commence at the same time as the building work on the library. Neither of these operations will affect the operational management of the Faculty.

Annetje Ottow, president of the Executive Board of Leiden University, has been the new chair of the Leiden-Delft-Erasmus (LDE) strategic alliance for just two months. What does she want to achieve during her two-year chairmanship?

The Executive Board of the University is shocked by the unannounced demonstration that took place Thursday afternoon at the Wijnhaven location in The Hague relating to the situation in the Middle East. Without first requesting permission, a large group of students and staff held a gathering there. Moreover,…

More European countries are introducing border controls, clashing with the ideal of free movement within Europe. Daniel Schade, Assistant Professor of EU Studies at Leiden University, analyses this development in The Washington Post.

Jos Schaeken is vice dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Professor of Slavic and Baltic Languages and Cultural History; his area of specific interest is Russia. He also chairs the bachelor’s programme in Russian Studies and the master’s programme in Russian and Eurasian Studies. The department has…

Israel was ordered to take steps to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza. Giulia Pinzauti, an expert on state conflicts and humanitarian law, explains the significance of the case, the specific details of the ruling and what we can expect to happen next.

On Wednesday 27 September we will be holding a debate for students and staff on our links with the fossil fuel industry in relation to the topic of sustainability. All students and staff of the university are cordially invited. If you’re still not sure about whether to attend, these four questions and…

Prof.dr. N.M. Blokker Prof.dr. S.V. Vasiliev Summary Many institutional design decisions made for one of the first international courts in the 1920s continue to be applied a century later, including some that are often disapproved. International courts and tribunals (ICTs) face similar challenges in…

Assistant Professor of European Studies and International Relations Daniel Schade was a guest on Deutschland Heute on Deutschlandfunk and spoke about the recent Schengen evaluation report by the European Commission.

Anthony Brown has a Master of Science degree in Astronomy from the University of Leiden and obtained his PhD there as well. He held positions as PostDoc at the Leiden Observatory, Instituto de Astronomía in Ensenada and at the European Southern Observatory. Currently he is working at the Leiden Observatory…

Caspar van den Berg is Guest Professor at the Institute of Public Administration. For further information, including his research fields and activities, please see www.casparvandenberg.com.

Tijmen Pronk is Assistant Professor and Director of Education at the Leiden University Centre for Linguistics.

Lasse van den Dikkenberg is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Archaeology.

Mark Rutgers has been reappointed as Dean of the Faculty of Humanities. After a first term where the focus was mainly internal, it’s time to look outwards.

Leiden University has set up two committees to consider issues that are the focus of much attention within our community and society at large. They are the Knowledge Security Committee and the Fossil Fuel Industry Collaboration Committee. Former dean Joanne van der Leun will chair both.

Annetje Ottow is stepping down as President of Leiden University’s Executive Board on 1 September 2025 after almost five years in the role. She looks back at the highs and lows – and ahead to what’s next.

Until September 2024 Marie-Leen Ryckaert was Senior Lecturer Design History & Theory and Research Fellow at ArtEZ University of the Arts (Department of Interior Architecture) for fifteen years. She is currently conducting research on Film and Architecture (Faculty of Humanities).

Not experiments and lab coats, but computers and artificial intelligence: this year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry went to the inventors of the groundbreaking AI model, AlphaFold. This programme accurately predicts protein structures based on their genetic code—a crucial step in understanding biological…

International prosecutors, for instance at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, investigate particularly serious crimes such as genocide. They decide, among other things, whether or not to prosecute. PhD candidate Cale Davis investigated how prosecutors come to such decisions and will defend…

Leiden University will set up further activities with the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Het zal niemand ontgaan zijn dat de digitale dreigingen blijven toenemen. Uit monitoring door onze cybersecurity-experts blijkt dat er continu wordt geprobeerd om ook onze systemen binnen te dringen. Wat doen wij daartegen en hoe kan jij als medewerker bijdragen aan onze cyberveiligheid?

We take it for granted that water comes out of the tap and electricity out of the socket. But that isn’t always the case. Last Tuesday began like any other day, with our board meeting in the morning. But things were soon to change.

In het onderzoek van docent Martijn Nouwen wordt voor het eerst aan het grote publiek blootgelegd hoe de ‘geheime’ Europese Gedragscodegroep er niet in is geslaagd om verschillende vormen van schadelijke belastingconcurrentie uit te bannen.

Speaking for the Executive Board, Timo Kos reflects on the university’s security policy and what lies ahead. ‘We want to keep our buildings open, but we also need to be able to guarantee the safety of everyone there. It’s a real balancing act.’

The Comenius innovation programme for higher education and universities of applied science gives teachers the resources to implement their vision for education. Every year, the programme creates the conditions for a wide range of teaching innovations to flourish. The government’s aim with this programme…

Leiden University offers a broad range of support for finding, writing, and applying for research funding. The first point of contact is your local grant adviser at your faculty/institute, who can guide you through the application process and answer any questions you may have. If your faculty/institute…

The Board of Leiden University has appointed Armin Cuyvers as a full professor of European Law, specifically EU Constitutional Law and Comparative Regional Integration, effective per 1 September 2021.

European Union is entering 2025 in a turbulent international environment. The chosen slogan of the Polish Presidency - Security, Europe! - spells out clearly where its priorities lie. Yet how to deliver security for European citizens in the face of rapidly rising geopolitical tensions, erosion of the…