YAL raises its voice on policy matters.

How we think about and act on the usefulness of scientific research has epistemological and political implications: what knowledge consists of, how it comes about and to what ends. In this dissertation, I situate the usefulness of scientific research in concrete places for knowledge exchange. The exchange…

How does the government know whether science policy has the desired effect? According to Professor Barend van der Meulen, a variety of evidence about the effectiveness of science policy and proper gathering of this evidence are more important than a strict scientific method. Inaugural lecture 27 Ma…

This project aims to situate the current policy concept of ‘valorization of scientific knowledge’ in historical and epistemological perspectives. Conceptual understanding of the utility of scientific practices is developed in dialogue with historical analyses of the politics of knowledge in European…

Sarah Giest, Assistant Professor at Leiden University, and Ishani Mukherjee researched the topic of 'Behavioural Insights Teams (BITs) and Policy Change: An Exploration of Impact, Location, and Temporality of Policy Advice'.

Jet Bussemaker, former Minister of Education, Culture and Science, has been appointed Professor at Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) and Leiden University with effect from 1 July 2018. She will be the holder of the new chair in ‘Science, Policy and Societal Impact, focusing on Healthcare'.

Ideology and Actions

Inaugural Lecture

How is Indian foreign policy made? This special issue of the journal India Review, edited by political scientists Nicolas Blarel (Leiden University) and Avinash Paliwal (SOAS University of London) features a number of interesting case studies that bridge the gap between Foreign Policy Analysis and India’s…

Since its inception, the Honours Academy has been a ‘testing ground’ for innovative education. An important and related policy focus is sharing the acquired knowledge, so that the benefits gained from this testing ground can also be applied in other places. A third focus area is inclusiveness, given…

Various departments of the university have worked on developing the institution’s environmental policy plan: het Milieubeleidsplan Universiteit Leiden 2016-2020.

On Wednesday, 5 September 2018, the second group of employees of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management (IenW) started the managerial track of the Data Science course given by Leiden University (LCDS).

Prof. dr. Frank den Hollander, professor at the Mathematical Intitute, has expressed his concerns about the departure abroad of Dutch academic talents in an interview with the Dutch newspaper Volkskrant.

Academic freedom is essential for good scientific practice, but there are limits: scientists and scholars from all domains must always seek a proper balance between academic freedom and independence on the one hand, and social responsibility on the other hand.

What does it mean to do public policy ethics today? How should philosophers engage with ethical issues in policy-making when policy decisions are circumscribed by political and pragmatic concerns? How do ethical issues in public policy differ between areas such as foreign policy, criminal justice, or…

In this article Fisher, Klein & Codjo introduce the FOCUSdate Project and they show how the sentiment data provide unique abilities to analyze Russia's and Iran's reactions to US policies and events and NGO human rights campaigns.

In this paper, Kantorowicz aims to track the persistent effect of former partitioning borders on property tax rates in Poland.

How do crises produce changes in specific European Union foreign policy areas, and how should we conceptualise these policy changes?

Public policy is often the subject-matter of pervasive and deep moral disagreement. Moral disagreement, understood as the difference and opposition between principled moral arguments, can and does occur between policy professionals, different political parties and individuals or groups that compose…

European policy affects our lives: from air quality to the frequency of a bus service. Leiden researchers analyse how the European Union functions, how countries apply European policy and whether this policy actually provides solutions and delivers.

A thorough description of the relationships among languages and their social environment in a given context, reflecting an ecological perspective, involves attention to the agency of local actors, and the policies, discourse, and ideologies that surround them.

Valérie Pattyn, Assistant Professor at Leiden University, researched

This paper develops a novel theoretical framework for the conduct of postmortems after major foreign policy surprises for the European Union and its member states.

Leiden experts research ways in which European legislation is converted into national legislation. Knowing how this process works can inspire policy-makers trying to achieve their aims while abiding to Europan legislation.

After an initial suggestion of a move toward Israel, India’s Prime Minister Modi has signaled a significant recalibration of his government’s engagement with the Middle East region. Now, India seems to be prioritising strong ties with the Gulf states.

From the smallest level of interaction among families and close friends, over the meso-level of schools, shops, churches, religious communities and companies, to the highest level of nation-states and international organisations: Language Policy and Planning (LPP) is everywhere!

Read-Urban was a first project to investigate whether policy recommendations can be made with the aid of linked data collections and data science and to gain experience with the success factors for such a process.

Criminology and Security Policy is a challenging Dutch-taught master's programme at the renowned Leiden Law School of Leiden University. This programme – with its multidisciplinary perspective - focuses on the security issues in society and the development of effective and legitimate policy in order…

Development of scenarios for 2050 detailed in an IO framework

Great apes and the right to health

Development of indicators to assess decoupling of economic development and environmental pressure in the EU-25 and AC-3 countries.

What is and should be the role of universities in supporting business? How can business benefit more of relationships with science? And what is the role of policy makers in supporting a productive relationship between science and business? Professor Simcha Jong Kon Chin examines the interactions between…

An international comparative study of the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Think tanks have proliferated in most Western democracies over the past three decades and are often considered to be increasingly important actors in public policy. Still, their precise contribution to public policy remains contested.

European countries struggling how to deal with the issue of returning foreign fighters, women and children from the Caliphate.

Yuxi Nie defended her thesis on 15 October 2019.

Principles of Environmental Sciences provides a comprehensive picture of the principles, concepts and methods that are applicable to problems originating from the interaction between the living and non-living environment and mankind. Both the analysis of such problems and the way solutions to environmental…

The Master’s specialisation in Sociology of Policy in Practice teaches you to think along with organisations to help them respond to the challenges they are facing in our global and quickly changing societies.

‘It became very clear that Brazilian legislative policy was frail, obsolete and unreliable,’ says Felipe de Paula. He defended his dissertation on the limits and possibilities of legislative policy in Brazil on Tuesday 27 March 2018.