An international and multi-disciplinary research consortium spent two days at Leiden University for the launch of their ‘GOLD MATTERS’ project, funded jointly by NORFACE and Belmont Forum. The project 'Sustainability Transformations in Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining: A Multi-Actor and Trans-Regional…

History can be found in utensils and in interviews with ordinary citizens. ‘With the reconstruction of everyday life, an anthropological approach works better,’ thinks historian Jan-Bart Gewald. Inaugural lecture on 6 June.

George Floyd's death still leads to fierce protests against police violence and racism on a daily basis in the United States and abroad. We asked Paul Wouters how he experiences these developments and what this will mean for our faculty.

Disk formation around stars is an important factor in determining whether one or multiple stars evolve. But the big picture of star formation is still far from complete, says PhD researcher Nadia Murillo.

A delegation from Leiden University is visiting Brazil from 14 to 18 March. The first day of the visit was spent with scientists in São Paolo.

Arts and Culture, Symposium

Conference

It must be there. We just cannot see it: mysterious dark matter and dark energy in the universe. Henk Hoekstra is one of the many cosmologists who would love to know what exactly these substances consist of. He has received a European research grant of 1.3 euro million to find out.

To be eligible for Physics and Science Communication and Society at Leiden University, you must meet the following admission requirements.

To be eligible for Research in Physics, pre-PhD ('Casimir') at Leiden University, you must meet the following admission requirements.

To be eligible for Research in Physics, theoretical at Leiden University, you must meet the following admission requirements.

To be eligible for Research in Physics, Cosmology at Leiden University, you must meet the following admission requirements.

To be eligible for Research in Physics, Biological and Soft Matter Physics at Leiden University, you must meet the following admission requirements.

To be eligible for Physics and Business Studies at Leiden University, you must meet the following admission requirements.

To be eligible for Physics and Education at Leiden University, you must meet the following admission requirements.

To be eligible for Physics at Leiden University, you must meet the following admission requirements.

PhD Defence

PhD Defence

Are you interested in ancient Egypt, the rich cultural heritage of Mesopotamia or bliblical Hebrew and Aramaic? Students of all faculties can follow electives of Ancient Near Eastern Studies without prior knowledge or special entry requirements. Archaeology student Annely Arends talks about her expe…

Inaugural Lecture, Cleveringa-oratie

As an alternative to the diving board shaped force sensor, we are now developing a magnetically levitated small superconducting particle – or ‘Lead Zeppelin'' – as our mechanical resonator. We explore routes towards detection of gravity between small objects.

The research of the Algebra, Geometry and Number Theory cluster tries to bridge the gap between abstract theory and the world of algorithms and applications.

Promotor: E.R. Eliel, Co-Promotor: M.J.A. de Dood

An accurate description of reactive scattering of molecules on metal surfaces often requires the modeling of energy transfer between the molecule and the surface phonons. Although ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) can describe this energy transfer, AIMD is at present untractable for reactions with…

In this thesis, we describe the latest advances in SQUID-detected Magnetic Resonance Force Microscopy (MRFM).

Leiden University offers you several services related to career orientation and job application skills.

Promotor: M.A.G.J. Orrit

The dissociative chemisorption of methane on metal surfaces is of fundamental and practical interest, being a rate-limiting step in the steam reforming process. The reaction is best modeled with quantum dynamics calculations, but these are currently not guaranteed to produce accurate results because…

Joanna Krenz defended her thesis on 15 May 2018.

Promotor: Prof.dr. A. Achucarro, Co-Promotor: J.W. van Holten

The Algorithms and Software Technology (AST) research programme performs fundamental research in the areas of algorithm design and analysis.

Multicopper oxidase, laccase, can efficiently reduce oxygen to water and are mostly used in the enzymatic biofuel cells.

Promotor: T. H. Oosterkamp

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are the most abundant class of organic compounds in space. The PAH field evolves from the constant interaction between experimentalists, theorists, modellers and observers. While laboratory research and quantum chemical calculations together set up the molecular…

This thesis aims to improve the detection from ultra-weak single emitter by enhancing their emission properties with plasmonic nanostructures. We exploit the wet-chemically synthesized single crystalline gold nanorods (GNRs) as our basic frameworks in the whole studies, simply because of their unique…

The dissociative chemisorption of a molecule on a transition metal surface represents a rate-limiting step in many heterogeneously catalyzed processes, whereby most chemicals are made. In spite of the importance of this reaction, an accurate first principles approach to modeling it does not yet exist.…

An overview of awards and prizes granted to our staff and students in 2017, as well as special appointments and royal distinctions.

Science, Leiden Institute of Physics (LION)

Conference

Conference

In the hunt for new particles, physicists look at ever higher energy particle collisions, moving the energy frontier. Some particles however are elusive not due to their high energy, but because they rarely interact. This raises a new barrier: the intensity frontier.

Inaugural Lecture

From a new generation of antibiotics and more-effective vaccines to a map of dark matter and new light on Hindu traditions. Four researchers from Leiden University have received a prestigious €2.5m ERC Advanced Grant to develop their research.

PhD Defence

The long-held desire - to link structure directly to function and to explain molecular mechanisms based on basic chemical or physical principles - is finally coming closer, satisfying not only our scientific curiosity but also offering new solutions to the many challenges in the field of health, energy…

A lot of our research is performed at temperatures close to absolute zero, among other reasons because this increases the sensitivity of the measurements. 

Information for prospective, current and international students

A network combining 9 academic research groups and 4 collaborating industrial companies will train the next generation of PhD students and post-doctoral researchers, in developing and applying novel experimental and theoretical methods in the NMR spectroscopy of systems containing paramagnetic metals.…