Diversity and inclusion are core values of Leiden University. Leiden University is committed to becoming an inclusive community which enables all students and staff to feel valued and respected and to develop their full potential. Diversity in experiences and perspectives enriches our teaching and strengthens…

Are a refugee with an academic background and have you recently arrived in The Netherlands? Would you like to get to know Leiden University? You’re in the right place. The IncLUsion initiative makes it possible for refugees who are not (yet) able to register as students to follow courses at Leiden…

The Leiden Inclusion Blog is a forum to share experiences and discuss current issues related to diversity and inclusion at Leiden University. Members of Leiden University are welcome to share news, activities, and stories with the wider University community. Everyone can to contribute a blog, or suggest…

Diversity and inclusion are core values of Leiden University. Leiden University is committed to becoming an inclusive community which enables all students and staff to feel valued and respected and to develop their full potential.

How do inclusion and exclusion affect people?

The Faculty of Science adopted an action plan Diversity and Inclusiveness in 2015. In this action plan, the Faculty commits to a number of actions to further improve diversity and inclusiveness for staff and students, such as more female full professors at the faculty, and encourages initiatives that…

LIACS aims at being a diverse and inclusive research institute. To reach this goal, two instances are working on addressing diversity related issues.

Research on Inclusiveness and Diversity at the Faculty of Science at Leiden University

The Diversity and Inclusion Expertise Office advises the Executive Board and works in close collaboration with the faculties, expertise centres and policy administrations to promote diversity and inclusion

Africa is rising and increasingly seen as a potential market by economic actors from Africa and the rest of the world. What is the interrelationship between governance, entrepreneurship and inclusive development?

Didactics

The importance of diversity and inclusion within society and its institutions can never be understated. In an interdependent, globalised world, we are more connected than ever but we also face the risks of being more polarized than ever due to misunderstanding and misinformation. It is, therefore, incumbent…

The Diversity & Inclusion Expertise Office works in close collaboration with the faculties to promote diversity and inclusion at Leiden University. The activities focus on the promotion of awareness and expertise, and the implementation of the university diversity and inclusion policy in the learning…

Science and education can really flourish in an environment where everyone can be themselves and where there is room for different perspectives that bring people together from different ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, health, religion, age and socio-economic background.

Drawing on insights from past and contemporary scholars and world leaders, the report explores the concepts of a new social contract, a new global deal, and networked and inclusive multilateralism introduced recently by Secretary-General António Guterres to help the United Nations better grapple with…

Subproject of the NWO Smart Culture Grant research project 'The Critical Visitor'.

In educational settings such as museums, universities and schools, white, male, able-bodied and rational subjects still dominate. Although there has been a lot of theoretical work on processes of in- and exclusion through racialization, sexualization, and disabilization, we still know very little about…

Emily Wolff, PhD candidate at Leiden University, wrote a paper about the inclusion of imperial citizens in the Dutch post-war welfare state.

The project ‘Founding an Inclusive Space’ investigates the histories of various LGBT+ archives in the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom.

Inclusive teaching and research, a good reflection of society and a safe and accessible learning and working environment. The new Diversity and Inclusion Work Plan has set the direction of University policy and aims to create a university where everyone feels respected and at home. Diversity Officer…

What are the main drivers of far-right and Islamist radicalisation? What is the role of social exclusion within radicalisation processes? How can we design better policies to safeguard young people from radicalising? The DRIVE project, led by Leiden University in The Hague seeks to address these questions,…

Why should your sexuality or gender identity be relevant at work? This is the question that Jojanneke van der Toorn, Professor by special appointment of LGBT workplace inclusion at Leiden University, addressed in her keynote at the annual Workplace Pride Conference on Friday 23 June 2017 in Brussels…

An alumni masterclass on inclusive leadership was held on Tuesday 12 June. Alumni of Leiden University returned to the lecture hall to learn about managing diversity in organisations. Various speakers shared their knowledge of the topic. The evening ended with a panel discussion, which gave the alumni…

What factors play a role in determining inclusive leadership in public organisations? On Friday June 4, dr. Tanachia Ashikali answered this question as she shared the findings from her recent research on inclusive leadership with various academics and professionals.

On April 14 we will celebrate the launch of our Faculty action plan ‘diversity and inclusivity’ with a symposium. We will present the action plan and our colleague Professor Tomas Brage will be keynote speaker. He is the Director of Education at the Physics Institute of Lund University in Sweden and…

Jojanneke van der Toorn appears in several media trying to bridge science and society with the aim of contributing to effective and evidence-based diversity policy. Read more in English and Dutch media.

One of the ambitions of the Learning@LeidenUniversity vision on teaching and learning is to foster an international and inclusive educational community in which everyone feels welcome, regardless of religion, sex, sexual orientation or cultural background. One student service that promotes inclusion…

Bringing Dominican indigenous collections back to the community

In response to George Floyd’s violent death in Minneapolis and the worldwide mass protests against discrimination and institutional racism, the Leiden Leadership Centre endorses the call of Hester Bijl, Vice Rector Maginificus of Leiden University to recognize and address racism and inequality.

On 15 April Susanne Deen will start as Diversity & Inclusion Coordinator for Leiden Law School and the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs. The aim of this new position is to contribute to establishing an inclusive community where all students and staff feel valued and respected, and can achieve…

Leiden University actively promotes diversity and inclusion. In the online magazine Diversity and Inclusion you can read all about the symposium, the exhibition and what the University is doing to make sure that all students and staff feel welcome at our University.

Saniye Çelik, Programme Manager at the Centre for Professional Learning (CPL) for courses such as ‘Diversity and Inclusion’ was interviewed about the Dutch government’s diversity policy for the Dutch governmental journal ‘BinnenbeRijk’.

How can we make sure that everyone feels welcome at our university? Read the highlights from the conference on The Making of an Inclusive Leiden University: The Do’s and Don’ts.

Team leaders and other immediate supervisors play an important role in facilitating inclusiveness within public organisations. This is the finding of research by public administration expert Tanachia Ashikali. PhD defence 20 November.

‘Culture change takes time,’ said Vice-Rector Hester Bijl at the closing panel of the University’s Diversity Symposium on 26 January. She talked about the road to a diverse and inclusive university. The symposium provided plenty of concrete examples of small steps that can already be taken.

How can we make Sinterklaas inclusive as a national holiday? And what does this mean for our University community and Dutch society as a whole? These questions were the focus of the first edition of ‘Come Talk to Us’, a series of online dialogues organised by the Diversity & Inclusion Expertise Office…

Schools are essential to children’s development and provide numerous options for growth. They also facilitate learning beyond the classroom and give children tools that support their social and emotional development. But each child is different and some children have communication problems. How can…

Why do international companies around The Hague have only 6% ethnic minorities as employees, even when the business case proves that diversity adds value? On Tuesday 13 March in The Hague, Wijnhaven, the University’s Diversity Office and the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs organised the first…

Sociologist Aya Ezawa is the new Diversity Officer at Leiden University. What is the University doing well and what could it do better? ‘It’s taken much more for granted that universities should be a reflection of society. But this is also an area where we can still make progress.’

Inspiration from outside and best practices from inside the University. These were the most important ingredients of the symposium on inclusivity organised by the Diversity Office at Leiden University on 22 November.

How can we adapt the Dutch we use at the University so that everyone feels comfortable and included? This was the subject of debate during a panel discussion on 28 June at Leiden University.

If you want to talk about inclusion, you have to bring up the subject of race. This is what Kamna Patel said at Leiden University’s annual Diversity Symposium on 22 January. She is Vice-Dean for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at University College London. We spoke to her beforehand.

Saniye Çelik, senior programme manager at the Centre for Professional Learning (CPL), has been invited by the Parliamentary Standing Committee for Justice and Security to share her expertise with the Dutch House of Representatives (Tweede Kamer) in the field of discrimination and inclusiveness in the…

We talked to Hester Bijl about the worldwide protests sparked off by the death of George Floyd. A demonstration against racism will also be held in Leiden on 14 June. How does she, as Vice-Rector responsible for diversity and inclusion, view this issue? What steps is the University taking? And how can…

Morning yoga, having your resumé checked at the information market, or dancing for inclusiveness: just a small selection of the activities of the first Science PhD Day on Thursday 18 April. Around 120 PhD candidates from all eight institutes of our faculty attended the day. 'A great success', according…

As of 1 September, the Netherlands has a national action plan to promote diversity and inclusion in teaching and research. The plan was launched at Leiden University’s Wijnhaven building on its Campus The Hague.