Leiden Science Young Talent Award

The Leiden Science Young Talent Award celebrates a student who completed their bachelor’s degree with an outstanding thesis.

Nataliia Bagan

Data Science & Artificial Intelligence

Data Science & AI student Nataliia Bagan combines a passion for mathematics, language, and artificial intelligence. Her exceptional bachelor’s thesis on improving reasoning in large language models earned her a nomination for the Leiden Science Young Talent Award 2025.

‘A last-minute challenge became my biggest breakthrough’

Read the full interview with Nataliia.

Jelle Oonk

Physics & Astronomy

From lectures by Robbert Dijkgraaf to a telescope on the ocean floor: during his double bachelor’s in Physics and Astronomy, Jelle Oonk discovered that the path to big cosmic answers sometimes runs through the smallest, hardest-to-catch particles—neutrinos.

‘The method I developed is one of the few ways to reconstruct the origin of the most energetic neutrino once more data become available.’

Read the full interview with Jelle.           

Lance Bakker

Mathematics

With a good dose of logic and creativity, mathematics student Lance Bakker shows how computers can prove complex mathematical problems. With the dedication of an artist, he developed a method to tackle even the most complicated formulas without calculating every single step.

‘Mathematics closely connects to art and culture.’

Read the full interview with Lance.