Leiden's AI for Health: A Ten-Year National Push
Gerard van Westen is a co-applicant of a national programme aiming to integrate AI into Dutch healthcare.
The ten-year programme involves NWO, health charities, care providers, research institutes, government, and industry. It aims to speed up healthcare innovation, tailor care to individual patients, and reduce pressure on the system.
Funding for Sustainability and Climate Transitions
Three Leiden researchers received funding for projects in national calls on sustainability and climate transitions.
ECO-COMPASS
Ben van Werkhoven, Tristan van Leeuwen, and Alexander Skorikov (CWI/NWO) received funding from the Sustainable Research Practices Fund to develop smarter algorithms to reduce energy use of large-scale simulations and data analysis.
Climate Adaptive Futures NL
Maarten Schrama leads this project in collaboration with partners in Rotterdam, funded under the KIN call. It explores how Dutch cities can become more resilient to climate change while safeguarding public health.
REPAIR
Franco Donati collaborates with TU Delft and the Fair Resource Foundation on a project focused on making everyday products easier to repair.
New Scientific Directors
Dennis Claessen becomes Scientific Director of the Institute of Biology Leiden from 1 September 2025, succeeding Hubertus Irth.
Henk Hoekstra becomes Scientific Director of Leiden Observatory from 1 January 2027, succeeding Ignas Snellen.
Violeta Gamez Rosas wins Chesneau Prize 2025
Violeta Gamez Rosas, who completed her PhD at Leiden Observatory, won the Chesneau Prize 2025 for best doctoral thesis in high-angular-resolution astrophysics.
She studied the active galactic core NGC 1068 using instruments such as VLTI/MATISSE, VLTI/GRAVITY, and ALMA.
Collaboration with Ukraine in Electrochemistry
Marc Koper collaborates with Professor Yurij Kalyuzhnyi of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine on an NWO project. They are developing a theory to account for water behaviour at the molecular level in electrochemical processes.
Grégory Schneider Appointed Professor of Chemical Nanotechnology
Grégory Schneider was appointed Professor of Chemical Nanotechnology at the Leiden Institute of Chemistry as of 1 May 2025. His research includes sensors based on single molecules and selective membranes.
Tadé Whenu Wins Rachel Carson Graduation Prize 2026
Tadé Whenu won the Rachel Carson Graduation Prize 2026 for his Master's thesis in Industrial Ecology, which studied the Grondstoffenstation (GSS) in Rotterdam as a circular initiative. The jury noted clarity of research design and engagement with the local community.
Computing with Light and Quantum AI Funding
Joost Batenburg and Qinyu Chen, together with Yuya Shoji of the Institute of Science Tokyo, received NWO/JST funding for the OPERA project exploring computing with light for medical imaging.
Vedran Dunjko (LIACS/LION) and Jordi Tura received €1.1 million for a quantum project to enhance AI using quantum features.