Over the past two years, the Physics department has been supporting high school physics education with a set of challenging quantum experiments. School classes can visit Leiden University to learn about quantum mechanics, in preparation for their final exams. As of early 2018, this lab has evolved into…

In otherwise energetic desserts at the bottom of the sea, researchers have found oases where microbes can harvest energy. Remarkably, the microbes first have to be buried under starving conditions for 80,000 years. An international group of researchers, amongst them José Mogollón from the Insitute of…

Physics professor Jan Aarts starts a collaboration with chip manufacturer Intel to perform fundamental research in low-power, cryogenic computing.

Bitcoin is the most popular virtual currency to date but it is starting to have some serious physical effects on the environment. A study shows that in an optimistic case the growth of demand on electricity is little, but in the pessimistic case this may lead to a total electricity demand similar to…

On 16 November 2018 Armin Cuyvers presented some legal strategies to soften the much criticized absolutist approach to autonomy by the European Court of Justice in Achmea. His main argument was that, as a general principle, autonomy can and should be weighed against other general principles.

Physicists propose the existence of sterile neutrinos that would explain three big mysteries in nature. To actually find them in particle accelerators, researchers need to know how they are produced and how they decay. PhD candidate Kyrylo Bondarenko has made predictions about this, which are currently…

What are the key issues in conducting LCA of bioenergy systems? What is the environmental sustainability status of second generation bioethanol? How much would the final results of biogenic carbon neutrality assumptions deviate from the true values based on a complete inventory? How to assess the impact…

Promotor: W.Th.F. den Hollander, Co-promotor: F.R. Nardi

During the development of the Humanities Campus, many aspects of sustainability are combined. For example:

Methods for accurately computing the interaction of molecules with metal surfaces are critical to understanding and thereby improving heterogeneous catalysis.

Promotor: M.T.M. Koper, Co-promotor: L. Juurlink

Promotors: Prof.dr. J. Zaanen, Prof.dr.ir. H. Hilgenkamp

Theorists have recently made substantial progress in simulating reactive molecule-metal surface scattering but still face major challenges. The grand challenge is to develop an approach that enables accurate predictive calculations of reactions involving electronically excited states with potential…

What performance criteria does a new technology have to fulfill in order to be added to the list of future energy options and what constraints exist in terms of broad market penetration?

CERN has approved the construction and operation of SND@LHC, a neutrino detector at the Large Hadron Collider. It's a precursor for SHiP, a detector meant to detect dark matter. Leiden physicist Alexey Boyarsky is one of the initiators of both SHiP and SND@LHC.

Can astronomers mitigate climate change? This is what Leiden astronomer Leonard Burtscher and his colleagues discussed at the annual meeting of the European Astronomical Society. For the second year in a row, the meeting was online. And according to Burtscher, it should stay that way. During a special…

The research presented in this thesis makes use of small molecules (as H2 , D2 and O2 ) on well-defined single crystal surfaces (flat Pt(111), flat Cu(211) and curved Pt(111)) to elucidate the role of surface structure and degrees of freedom in the reactant in specific surface reactions.

Promotor: Prof.dr. T.J. Aartsma, Co-promotor: R.N. Frese

Artificial photosynthesis aims to produce fuels from solar energy using chemical processes. In semi-artificial photosynthesis, a hybrid approach is taken using both chemical and biotechnology approaches. We aim to develop hybrid systems between light-harvesting nanoparticles and redox-enzymes (oxidoreductases)…

The emissions of the Chinese industrial sector alone comprise 24.1% of global emissions (7.8 GtCyr−1 in 2015). This makes Chinese industrial emissions of unique national and international relevance in climate policy. This study reports a literature survey that quantitatively describes the evolution…

The minor consists of three courses in each period, and a group project running the whole semester. The first period starts off with the three-week course Anthropocene: The Planet of Man, which serves as an introduction into the subject as well as for building a community of students. This course is…

Psychologists Emma ter Mors, Christine Boomsma and other research partners will share results from their work on the crucial issue of societal support for delivering carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) in Europe. You're welcome to watch the free webinar.

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.…

Lecture, Public Ethics Talk

An unexpected phenomenon in a merger of a cluster of galaxies. An international team of astronomers led by Francesco de Gasperin has witnessed a gas tail of a galaxy, that slowly extinguished, but then lightened up again

Over 170 SUNRISE’s stakeholders gathered on June 17-18 at the Academy Palace of Brussels, in connection with the EU Sustainable Energy Week, as one of the Energy Days. Renewable energy experts from Academia, Industry and Policy addressed the current state of the initiative and its priority research…

Mathematician Hester Bijl will be appointed Vice-Rector Magnificus and member of the Executive Board of Leiden University with effect from 1 November 2016. She succeeds Simone Buitendijk.

Lecture, Van Leeuwenhoek Lecture on BioScience

Lecture

Cora van Nieuwenhuizen (VVD) has resigned as Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management with immediate effect. She has decided to take up a position outside politics and will become chair of the lobby organisation for the energy sector, Energie Nederland.

The LUGO Press is a student publication forum, rooted in academia and journalistic practices and published by the Leiden University Green Office.

The key characteristic of active matter is the motion of an emergent collection (such as a flock of birds), which is driven by the consumption of energy by its active components (i.e. individual birds).

“JARAK: the commoditization of an alternative biofuel crop in Indonesia” was a research program from 2010-2014 in which researchers from Indonesia and the Netherlands collaborated.

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…

Sarah Giest, Assistant Professor at Leiden Univeristy, researched the topic of regulatory and market structures that affect nudge implementation by private actors, captured by the ‘budge’ idea.

Solar energy harnessed by plants and algae has great potential to be converted into biofuels for future generations.

This thesis describes a study from both a theoreticaL and an experimental point of view.

Sustainable energy from wind and solar is most readily available near the sea.

The "Fundamental Research in Energy and Sustainability Hour" is a bi-weekly lecture series at the Leiden Institute of Chemistry.

We explore the particle physics and quantum world at the time of the big bang.

Promotores: A.P. IJzerman, H.W.T. van Vlijmen

Promotor: K.E. Schalm, Co-promotor: S.S. Lee

Human civilization consumes a huge amount of fossil fuels, which has resulted in an atmospheric CO2 level which has not been higher in over 800 millennia.

Promotor: K. Kuijken, Co-Promotor: H. Hoekstra

Light-Harvesting Complex II (LHCII) is responsible for light absorption and excitation energy transfer in plants and photosynthetic algae, while in high light it undergoes conformational changes by which it quenches excitations to prevent photodamage.

We aim to form a student community for the duration of this minor. The Anthropocene course will consist of small groups to discuss the sustainability questions introduced by guest lecturers and the students will share their views in presentations and discussions. This is a prelude to the Group project…

This dissertation focused on computational methods based on first principles calculations using the Density Functional Theory (DFT) framework. Emphasis was laid on affordable methods that can provide a tradeoff between computational expense and accuracy.

The central theme of Rik Mom’s research group is to identify what the electrode-electrolyte interface looks like when electrocatalysis is taking place. Using specialized forms of Raman and X-ray spectroscopy, we study the chemical state and bonding environment of the electrode surface and near-surface…

Research at the MCBIM group is comprised of the following research themes:

In 2021, Leiden University will develop a new Sustainability Vision 2030. This vision for the future focuses on the primary tasks of the University: integration and visibility of sustainability in our education and research.