While the world is on fire, with war and regional tensions, power outages and infrastructure breakdowns, political conflicts and violent attacks near and far, and the continued consequences of climate change all around us, there seems little need to explain why  security and safety are important topics to study. How can governments respond effectively and legitimately at national, supranational (such as in the EU) and international levels? How can we best protect public values, institutional integrity and  individual and collective safety in public, private and cyber spaces to these threats?

Leiden University is an expert across the security spectrum, including cybersecurity, violence prevention, humanitarian interventions, counterterrorism, military strategy, disinformation, democratic resilience, legal frameworks for police and intelligence services, and the protection of vital interests and critical infrastructure.

Our research, teaching and policy addresses legal, political, societal, technological and administrative dimensions of societal, physical and digital safety, including safeguarding people, organizations, institutions, systems, networks and data. This knowledge is crucial to protecting public values and interests, and critical utilities such as the power grid, the internet and air traffic control.

We bring together governance experts, political scientists, legal scholars, economists, historians, criminologists, computer scientists and physicists. Through our interdisciplinary research and teaching, we generate new insights and practical solutions for building safer societies. We also train the next generation of experts, support policymakers and help society protect itself against current and future threats.