For the first time, scientists have traced back a high-energy neutrino to its source in space. It was produced by a so-called blazar—a supermassive black hole. Researchers from neutrino detector IceCube report this in Science. ‘This is a milestone for neutrino science,’ says physicist Dorothea Samtleben…

In Belgium Radio 1, Marieke Liem (professor of Violence and Interventions) gives a scientific perspective on serial killers and explains the typical Hollywood image of serial killers is not in line with reality.

Physicist Daniël Geelen has developed a new microscope that uses low-energy electrons. Those are less harmful to biological and organic materials. Geelen defends his PhD thesis on May 31st.

A diverse team of Leiden archaeologists applied for, and was awarded, the KNAW ‘Appreciated!’ grant, meant to further their science communication endeavours. We speak with Dr Maikel Kuijpers, who is the main contact person of the application.

The author of this dissertation proposes a new theory of explanation that combines ideas about interventions, deduction, and contrastive explanation.

Three projects with Leiden researchers are to receive a subsidy from NWO for the construction or renovation of large-scale research facilities. They will be working on electron microscopy, an X-omics initiative and an X-ray telescope. The projects are part of the National Roadmap for Large-Scale Scientific…

Over a seven year period an international team of scientists has mapped more than a quarter of the northern sky using the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR), a pan-European radio telescope. From Leiden, Astronomer Timothy Shimwell and Huub Röttgering, among others, are involved. It reveals an astonishingly…

A high-ranking delegation from China visited Leiden on 6 November. The party of some 25 officials from the CPPCC – a Chinese advisory body comparable with the Dutch Senate - visited the Leiden Observatory, the Hortus Botanicus and the Asian Library.

Researchers of the National University of Singapore and Leiden University have discovered that chimpanzees and bonobos share the contrasting colour pattern seen in human eyes, which makes it easy for them to detect the direction of someone’s gaze from a distance.

In this thesis, the researcher developed a nanosystem based on the metallophilic Interaction between cyclometalated complexes.

Inaugural lecture

An international team led by Leiden astronomers has taken the first-ever image of a young, Sun-like star accompanied by two giant exoplanets. The researchers used The European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope for this, known as ESO’s VLT. Images of systems with multiple exoplanets are extremely…

Martin Richardson, who graduated in 1997 from what was then the Leiden LLM Programme in European Community Law (now: Leiden Adv LLM European and International Business Law, EIBL), has recently been appointed as a Senator of the College of Justice in Scotland, meaning that he is now a judge of the highest…

This thesis explores the theoretical and observational properties of distant massive galaxies that harbour active black holes in their centres and shine brightly at radio wavelengths.

In this dissertation, electrophysiological (EEG) and behavioural measures are used to investigate how allophonic tonal variants and sub-phonemic features are processed during Mandarin and Dutch speech production, visual processing of written words and reading aloud.

This thesis aims at contributing to our understanding of the semantic and prosodic properties of object foci in Greek, employing theoretical and experimental tools.

On the 4th of June, Menghui Shi successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated. The Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Menghui Shi on this achievement!

Students from the Coornhert Lyceum from Haarlem visited the Babylab Leiden together with their teacher Roos Bannenberg. The 5-VWO students follow modules of 10 weeks for science orientation and they had difficulty imagining what research with babies looks like. The Babylab Leiden gave a solution.

The High Troughput Microscopy Dutch Flagship Node that includes the Leiden Cell Observatory Screening platform is now officially ratified as a Euro-BioImaging (EuBI) Node Candidate

Lecture, Com(parative) Syn(tax) Series

The World Food Programme, Philips, the European Space Agency. An overwhelming list of organisations that Sarita Koendjbiharie, as founder of the PRINS consultancy programme of International Studies, has managed to recruit. ‘We keep reaching new highs and insights together with our students and organ…

What if you could watch a CT scan live, instead of analysing the images afterwards? If it is up to the Leiden mathematician Jan-Willem Buurlage, that will soon be a reality. He is developing methods to make the algorithms behind 3D scans faster. Quite a challenge: ‘Just like mathematicians, computers…

Controversial environmental organisation Sea Shepherd fights illegal fishing all around the world and is not afraid to take direct action. Alumnus Geert Vons is director of Sea Shepherd Netherlands. How does he look back on his degree in Chinese Studies, and what motivates him in his work? ‘If we don’t…

Starting January 18, the online exhibition Images of the Indonesian War of Independence, 1945-1949 can be viewed via the UBL website. The exhibition is the result of a collaboration between the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV) and Leiden University Libraries…

As an interdisciplinary institute in the field of Security Studies, the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) covers various topics in its research, one of which is the United Nations and the impact of this global organization in the world.

A Dutch-led team of astronomers has discovered that high-mass stars are formed differently from their smaller siblings. Whereas small stars are often surrounded by an orderly disk of dust and matter, the supply of matter to large stars is a chaotic mess. The researchers used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter…

We don’t understand how some materials become superconducting at relatively high temperatures. Leiden physicists have now found a surprising connection with auxiliary black holes. It enables us to use our knowledge of black holes on the mystery of high-temperature superconductivity. Publication in Nature…

For the first time since the establishment of Leiden University, the Open Days took place online. On Friday 30 and Saturday 31 October high school students visited 'our Faculty' on the newly designed online platform of the University. Through study programme presentations, an information market, video…

The Leiden University psychologist Carolien Rieffe will investigate how to create an social climate at high schools, to make young people with autism feel more comfortable and able to engage with their social surroundings and thus develop essential social and emotional skills. Rieffe and collaborators…

Promotor: Prof.dr. T. Hankemeier, Co-promotor: T.H. Reijmers

Master studies History, Classics, Russian Studies and Dutch Studies have received the label ‘top programme’ in the Keuzegids Masters of March 2018. The study guide bases its results on the opinion of students (through the National Student Survey) and experts (NVAO).

A contrastive English grammar with the focus on the differences with Dutch.

In the first part of this thesis we study the geometry of folding patterns.

This paper written by Alexandre Afonso, Assistant Professor and Researcher at Leiden University, argues that gender norms and the political strength of the left were important structuring factors regarding why European countries choose migrant labour to expand their labour force in the decades that…

This is a yearly event where we move in one week from the physics of light through the composition of the microscope, fluorescence microscopy and end up with some image analysis All the lectures are backed by practicals to really put your obtained knowledge into practice

If the Netherlands wants to change its reputation as a tax haven, it must do more according to Professor of Tax Law Jan van de Streek on American news site Bloomberg.

A difficulty of studies on chemical kinetics are the reaction time scales and detection of their intermediates.

Next generation immunodermatology (NGID) is a nationwide, large-scale project, funded by a large grant of the Dutch NWO to unravel novel biomarkers for six different skin diseases. These biomarkers will drive a high-tech, patient-centric approach in clinical practice. Health psychologist Sylvia van…

The decolonisation war in Indonesia was violent partly because the Dutch military operated on the conviction that ‘an uprising had to be forcibly suppressed.’ This what historian Christiaan Harinck from the KITLV discovered in his PhD research.

How do Nepalese exiles in England celebrate their festivals? What are North Korean monuments doing in Zimbabwe? The ‘Heritage on the Move’ exhibition shows what happens to cultures under the influence of migration. From 3 December to 7 January in Leiden University's Oude UB.

The Faculty of Science has presented an infographic with tips and tricks for work stress. The reason for this was the Personnel Monitor 2018, which showed that work pressure is a problem for many employees at the Faculty. ‘It is important to start the discussion about work pressure, and to break the…

Awareness of the functioning of a regional integration process and the benefits it can offer is crucial for its success, as the European Union experience has proven.

Promotor: Prof. dr. A.G.G.M. Tielens