Military veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder often have symptoms that are both chronic and complex. Professor by Special Appointment Eric Vermetten is looking for new ways to help them deal with these. One possible medicine: party drug MDMA.

Retired Major General Rob Nypels (88) has donated a sizeable sum to the Nypels-Tans PTSD Fund that he himself established – one of the ‘named funds’ at the Leiden University Fund – to promote interdisciplinary research into psychotraumatology. The main aim is to research the effect of new treatments and thus improve the care for veterans and members of the armed forces.

For his research master’s degree in linguistics, Renger van Dasselaar flew to the other side of the world to conduct research into Binumarien, a language spoken by about 1,200 people in the highlands of Papua New Guinea.

Through the Prof.dr. A.W. Byvanck Fund, Classical Mediterranean archaeologist dr. Tymon de Haas has received a grant of €6,350 for his research on the ecological impact of Roman expansion.

Your student days are about more than amassing credits alone. They are brimming with personal development opportunities. LUF gives students with big dreams and original ideas the chance to study or do research abroad.

The effects of encephalitis, inflammation of the brain, are varied but have a huge impact. With the aid of the LUF, Dr Jutte de Vries, a medical microbiologist at the LUMC, is working on a solution.

The University conducts a lot of research into foster care. How can we improve the support for foster children? Which interventions really are effective? It is important that this knowledge is shared not only in academic papers but also with those who work in the practice.

Worldwide, more than a billion disposable plastic bags are used each year. It is unclear where these bags end up. Only 1% of them are recycled in Europe, and there is increasing evidence that the large majority end up in the natural environment. Although this problem is receiving increased attention, data for the Netherlands and the rest of Europe is scarce.

The Leiden University Thesis Prize was awarded on Alumni Day on 16 February. On this sunny Saturday, the seven nominees, one from each faculty, came with their family and friends to the Kamerlingh Onnes Building for the award ceremony of this annual prize for the best thesis.

The Leiden University Fund (LUF) has announced a new annual Snouck Hurgronje grant and prize. The grant is for an interfaculty research or teaching project and the prize is for innovative initiatives from the student community.