Faculty of Science
Research
Combining different disciplines, researchers work together to formulate innovative solutions to societal problems.
Scientists of the Faculty of Science work on two science areas:
Fundamentals of Science
Our astronomers, computer scientists, mathematicians, chemists and physicists study the largest numbers, the smallest particles, the youngest planets and the oldest galaxies. They do this out of a fundamental fascination with the unknown. But at the same time their fundamental and sometimes extremely technical work lays the foundation which underlies research into complex macro-systems, be it datasets or biological pathways.
Examples of research within 'Fundamentals of Science' are:
Life Sciences
Recent developments in life sciences have created exciting possibilities for fundamental research as well as clinical applications. Knowledge about the genome of humans and model organisms, and techniques to manipulate genes and their expression allow for an unprecedented degree of control over biological processes, yielding new insights into the working mechanisms of cells, organs and organisms.
Example of research within this area are:
Institutes
The Faculty consists of 8 Research Institutes and offers a multidisciplinairy research environment with an advanced research infrastructure. Research Institutes are Leiden Observatory, Leiden Institute of Physics (LION), Mathematical Institute (MI), Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS), Leiden Institute of Chemistry (LIC), Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research (LACDR), Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL), Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML).
​Facilities
Teams with scientists from different disciplines work together at the 'key-facilities' with state-of-the-art analytical instrumentation and related expertise. Partners form the Leiden University Medical Centre, the Technical University Delft, industry and companies are welcome. Key-facilities are:
- Hortus Botanicus
- Lorentz Center
- Cell Observatory
- Metabolomics Facility
- Netherlands Centre of Electron Microscopy (NeCEN)
- NMR Facility
- Laboratory for Astrophysics
Research programmes
The research within the faculty is divided into a number of research programmes per institute. A complete list can be found here.
Graduate School
Inspired by the fundamental fascination with the unknown, the smallest particle, the youngest planet and the oldest galaxy, the Graduate School of Science provides meaningful, rigorous and high-quality PhD Programmes.