This thesis presents the results of a study on the interfaces of insulating oxides with and without the insertion of a magnetic layer.

Promotor: Prof.dr. D. Bouwmeester, Co-Promotor: M.J.A. de Dood

1) Assess the trends in supply and production status of these critical minerals and mineral products worldwide and Europe’s dependence including on intermediate products such as permanent magnets, RE based super alloys, batteries, polishing compounds, phosphors, catalysts etc. 2) Trace the entire value…

Promotor: G.J. Kramer Co-Promotor: E.G.M. Kleijn

Are there other planets like the earth, and will there also be life? Astronomers study planets around stars other than the sun, with the aim to find out what kind of gasses their atmospheres are made up with.

Today, humanity produces sufficient calories, in theory, to feed the 7.7 billion people on the planet: the amount of food produced per person on the planet has gone up more than 40% since the 1960s. Yet, ironically, the prevalence of undernourishment – which had been declining for decades – has started…

Latest since Rutger Bregman’s “Utopia for Realists”, Universal Basic Income (UBI) has caught public attention again as a possible solution for many societal issues. Watch the event back via the video below.

References to nature and the environment in the Caribbean literary and the contemporary age of globalization.

Leiden University has participated in an international study carried out by the CARMENES consortium, which has discovered two small, terrestrial planets around Teegarden’s Star. The planets have masses similar to Earth and their temperatures could be mild enough to sustain liquid water on their surf…

Wiskunde en Natuurwetenschappen, Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS)

Governance and Global Affairs

Governance and Global Affairs, Leiden University College The Hague

What are the behaviours of plant traits throughout various points in the growing season in a radiative transfer model framework and how well can this knowledge be integrated through data assimilation to provide priors for robust local and global vegetation products and analysis?

Every year, at 8:30 pm on the last Saturday of March, millions of people across the world join in raising awareness of the issues facing our planet.

On May 20th, Joost de Moor took part in a panel that examined what is (not) unique about the recent waves of climate mobilization, as well as the question of engagement with or opposition to formal global sustainability governance institutions.

On Monday 9 May Mercury will pass between the Earth and the Sun. This rare event can be followed in the Leiden Observatory. The Observatory's new solar telescope produces a very clear image and offers a unique opportunity to observe Mercury at the highest magnification possible in the Netherlands.

Last week we organized an event together with the Green Office from the Bucerius Law School. We wondered: how realistic is UBI as an option to create a more sustainable society? More than 100 people signed-up to join us to find an answer to this question.

A new online platform makes it possible to estimate the state of agricultural crops and nature area’s around the world. This enables scientists and other users to consistently combine observations of different satellites for the first time.

Last February, Leiden University Libraries (UBL) acquired a rare Chinese manuscript dating back to the Ming Dynasty. Three Chinese Studies students got the opportunity to decipher the edict (dated 1582) during their internships. In this UBLpodcast they share their findings.

Leiden University Libraries (UBL) has been able to acquire an exceptional two-volume Miao album. The acquisition was made possible by the Rombouts Fund for Chinese collections. The extraordinarily well-preserved work contains 70 full-page paintings on silk, depicting non-Chinese peoples in the area…

Leiden biotech startup Azafaros has successfully completed a funding round, raising 25 million euros of investments for developing treatments of rare metabolic disorders. The company holds exclusive license to a library of novel patented compounds discovered by experts from Leiden University.

Global warming, deforestation, nature conservation. All major environmental challenges that call for major measures. To see what the effects of these measures are, observation data from the Earth is used. Researchers at LIACS receive €90,000 from the European Space Agency (ESA). With this they are investigating…

The discovery that eleven asteroids might collide with our Earth has become world news. The research of three Leiden astronomers has appeared on more than 190 news sites worldwide, from America to China. They developed and trained an artificial neural network for this discovery.

We have to do all we can to stop climate change. But: the Earth is more resilient than we thought. That is the surprising conclusion of an international team of ecologists and mathematicians, which included Leiden mathematician Arjen Doelman. The team discovered that ecosystems can still avoid tipping…

Three Leiden astronomers have shown that some asteroids that are considered harmless for now, can collide with Earth in the future. They did their research with the help of an artificial neural network. The results have been accepted for publication in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Astronomer Frans Snik searches for extraterrestrial life. He doesn’t so much look at stars as at the ‘exoplanets’ alongside them.

A rare medieval bookmark emerged in Leiden University Library. Book historian Erik Kwakkel found the disk in an archive of manuscript descriptions called the Bibliotheca Neerlandica Manuscripta. It was likely put their in the early twentieth century by Willem de Vreese, who made the descriptions. The…

The jade vine (Strongylodon macrobotrys) is flowering at the Hortus botanicus in Leiden. The plant started producing multiple flower clusters three weeks ago and the first ones are now in full bloom.

A new plant species was named after Paul Kessler, prefect of the Leiden Hortus botanicus. Kessler discovered the small tree, which is related to the kiwifruit, himself.

Promotie

Lezing

The research project ‘Adaptive Semi-Strong Ecosystem Dynamics’ of Prof.Dr. Arjen Doelman is selected for funding as one of the 7 research projects within the program Mathematics of Planet Earth (MPE) of NWO.

Astronomers have discovered seven Earth-like planets around a dwarf star in our galaxy. Three of these planets are located in the habitable zone of this star, and may contain liquid water. ‘The next step is to study the atmospheres for signs of life. In Leiden we are experts in that area,‘ says planetary…

A circular economy in which all resources are reused is a prerequisite for a sustainable world. As EU president, the Netherlands can give a firm impetus to this economic shift. This is the message of Leiden Professor of Industrial Ecology, Arnold Tukker, in his inaugural lecture on 26 February.

Promotor: R.D. Gill, F. Taroni

Which plant species grow where - and why? In a new study in Nature Ecology & Evolution, an international research team presents the world's first global vegetation database which contains over 1.1 million complete lists of plant species for all terrestrial ecosystems. Leiden professor of Environmental…

Alumnus Dennis Jansen was recently elected as Youth Delegate at the United Nations. For the next two years, he is committed to the area of Sustainable Development and will discuss this topic with young people.

The Institute of Environmental Sciences of the Leiden University has, together with its European partners, presented the new MULTIPLY platform, during a workshop at the European Space Agency (ESA). This platform makes it for the first time possible to combine different data stream’s of ESA’s newest…

Promotie

Comparing Mycenaean tomb building with labour and memory

On 19 February 2020, Richard Jiang defended his thesis '‘Greening’ the WTO Ban on China’s Export Duties'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. M.C.E.J. Bronckers.

Researchers from the University of Oxford’s Bodleian Libraries and from universities in the Netherlands have used high-tech imaging to uncover the details of a rare Mexican codex dating from before the colonisation of America.

A new report reveals five actions that leaders can take to contribute to economic development, advance global security and sustainability, and make space a safe and globally accessible domain.

A packaging-free shop, small mobile homes, solar panels on all Leiden's roofs… Jeroen Schrama, alumnus of Public Administration, is a creative world improver. ‘If we really want to save the world, we have to make much more radical choices.’

This thesis is about the study of hydrocarbons via infrared spectroscopy.

Promotor: Prof.dr. S. Portegies Zwart