Young Academy Leiden
Newsletter - October 2026 |
In September, we celebrated the inauguration of our new members and a changing of the guard in our leadership. We're excited for this academic year's theme: Community!
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Popping the Academic Bubble: Expertise Meets Experience
Date: Oct 8 2026, 15.00-16.30 hrs
Location: FSW Cafe (Agora)
TOMORROW! On Oct 8, YAL organises a Community. Conversation. Connection. event to explore the relationship between academic expertise and lived experience. Is there a gap between academic knowledge and practical experience? Who experiences this gap, and why? And most importantly, what can we do, individually and as a university community, to bridge this gap in a more inclusive and meaningful way?
We have a great line up of speakers: Quin Blokzijl (garbageman and activist), Prof. Anchrit Wille (author of the Diploma Democracy), Dr. Quita Muis (Sociologist) and Prof. Marieke Adriaanse (Academia in Motion). After their talks, there will be a panel session and a Q&A with the audience. Sarah de Rijke will open the event.
More information and the registration link can be found here. Registration is still possible!
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YAL X Studium Generale: Communities
Date: November 4, 17:00-18:30
Location: Universiteitscampus Spui, 3B.38, Spui 5
How do scholars in linguistics, ethnography and quantum physics study different communities? What communities do you belong to? And what skills are needed to engage with other communities – or to research them? Academic work is increasingly seen as team work. Scholars work together, not only within their own community but also across disciplines and beyond university walls. There, they find communities as diverse as spoken word artists and policy makers dealing with quantum technology.
Researching other communities raises questions regarding the position of the researcher: what type of relationship are you engaging in? Is it one-sided or a mutual collaboration? What are potential challenges of research methods like interviews and participatory research? Some scholars study communities they belong to themselves, which also prompts reflection on their position.
Such questions play a role in every academic discipline, from quantum physics to the humanities. Early career researchers Sanne Rotmeijer (anthropology and cultural studies), Unggul Karami (physics) and Naomi Truan (linguistics) from Leiden University will give short talks on the role of communities in their research in sociolinguistics, ethnography and science communication. The event will conclude with a panel discussion.
This event is part of YAL’s Season of Interdisciplinarity: Autumn of Community
Free entry, for more information about the speakers and to sign up click here
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Improv Workshop: YAL x Flock Theatre
Date: Nov 19 2026, 13.30 - 17.00 hrs
Location: Academy building
Improv is surprisingly relevant to many aspects of our work. It helps us communicate research in a more adaptive way, tailoring messages to different audiences such as funders, general audiences, children, or patients. It is also extremely useful in teaching: improv skills help you navigate those wonderfully unpredictable classroom moments—whether that’s an unexpected (and oddly specific) student question, or a lecture continuing without your carefully prepared slides due to technical issues.
In short: thinking on your feet, staying flexible, and maybe even learning to enjoy unpredictability a little more.
Participation is free, but limited spots are available. Sign up here |
Welcome new members and new leadership team!
We are very happy to welcome six new YAL members: Elena, Benjamin, Neeltje, Naomi, Joeri and Kathleen. Keep an eye out to our LinkedIn page and website where each member will be introduced.
In this interview, our outgoing chair Ahmed Mahfouz and incoming chair Anne Urai look back at past year's highlights and discuss YAL’s plans for the future. Eduard Schmidt will be this year's vice-chair of YAL.
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Deep time walk 
On Friday Sept 18, students, lecturers and staff from Leiden University walked through 'deep time'. To notice the seasons again, and to wonder what we might lose when our own rhythms become disconnected from them. Walking through geological time opened up other questions, too. Photosynthesis and the rise of oxygen led us to talk about what fuels us – and what happens when that fuel runs low. Moving continents and tectonic plates became an invitation to consider what helps us keep our balance when things shift underneath us. And Earth's tipping points brought us rather naturally to the tipping points we encounter in our own work and lives. Not quite the standard geology field trip! |
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In this podcast, we discuss topics, trends and movements that occupy young academics today. We hope this sparks and inspires ongoing conversations on how to make academia a better version of itself. Happy listening! |
New blogpost: Go fast to go slow – reflections on a year of slow science
 YAL's theme for last academic year was slow science. In a blogpost, Anne Urai and Ahmed Mahfouz reflect on their experiences trying to slow down. The post also includes a curation of artworks that YAL members submitted as representations of their ideas arond slow science. These were displayed during the 2025 inaugural exhibition focused on slow science.
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| Things that might interest you: |
De Jonge Academie Slow Science Hike
The next DJA Slow Science Hike is on Friday, October 16th in Leiden! The 10 km walk takes us past the Leiden Medical Center, a few country estates outside the city, the Haarlemmertrekvaart (canal), the historic city center, and the Hortus Botanicus! The Young Academy Leiden (YAL) is joining the walk — will you?
📅 Friday, October 16
🕰️ 11:00 (we depart sharply at 11:15)
🗺️ Starting point: Leiden Centraal train station
🗺️ Ending point: Leiden Centraal
🚶 10 km
The DJA Slow Science Hikes offer academics the opportunity to meet colleagues in a relaxed setting, people from different career stages and a wide range of disciplines. Everyone who works at a Dutch knowledge institution is welcome to join. Want to come along? Sign up here.
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De Jonge Academie Education (Evaluation) Survey Through this 5-10 minutes survey DJA seeks: a) to gain an understanding of current evaluation practices and their role in educational settings.
b) to gather insights on academics' ideas about the relationship between university teaching and secondary education.
It takes about 5-10 minutes to fill out the survey. The more academics take part, the stronger the picture we can paint. Questions about the survey or either project? Email dja@knaw.nl. |
Fellowprogramma Nationaal Expertisecentrum Wetenschap & Samenleving NEWS is op zoek naar mensen die vanuit hun eigen expertise, praktijk en netwerk kunnen bijdragen aan een sterkere relatie tussen wetenschap en samenleving. Geselecteerde fellows krijgen 12 maanden financiele ondersteuning om hun project uit te voeren om deze relatie te versterken. Lees hier meer over het fellowprogramma. |
 "Waarom iedereen wel wat middeleeuwse mentale flexibiliteit kan gebruiken"
The recurring start of the academic year is an event that offers stability in the ever continuing passage of time. In her column (in Dutch) Lieke Smits reflects on how this fits in with a medieval experience of time, and how medieval people conceptulised both cyclical and linear time.
"Ik hoop op een gezond ecosysteem van kennis, niet op ineenstorting" Because budget cuts threaten valuable collaborations between academia and society, Lieke wrote about her hopes for a healthy knowledge ecosystem. |
Caspar Jacobs won the Grand Slam
We'd like to congratulate Caspar Jacobs, who has been awarded an ERC Starting Grant and Veni to study the mathematical equations of physics theories. Caspar's work sits in the philosophy of physics, a field that tries to interpret the mathemati cal equations used to describe physical theories. What do they tell us about the realworld? His project, REALDIMENSIONS (Realism about Dimensions, Units, Constants and their Interrelations), focuses on three connected concepts physicists rely on: dimensions, constants, and units. Caspar's hypothesis is that there is a particular relation between physical quantities that can help explain why some laws of nature are possible in principle while others are not. universiteitleiden
We look forward to following Caspar's research over the coming years, and we also would like to congratulate Fiamma Salerno on her ERC Starting Grant as well as the other 18 Leiden Veni awardees! |
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