Medical oncologist and researcher Judith Kroep conducts research into ovarian cancer. She received €70,000 for her research project from the Willemijn Charity Golf Day crowdfunding campaign on steunleiden.nl.

Have you considered including the Leiden University Fund in your will? This is a way to give future generations of scholars and students the opportunity to develop their talents and to make a valuable contribution to society, and ensures that your ideals live on in academic endeavour.

Behind each named fund is a special story, but it is not often that, having already set up two very personal funds, a donor chooses to make a third contribution to Leiden’s research. In the Faculty Club Dining Room, donor and alumnus Hans van der Valk signed the agreement establishing the ‘Lingling Wiyadharma Fund for the Practice of the Natural Sciences’.

The Austrian Studies Fund was established with a festive gathering in the Faculty Club on Friday afternoon, 23 June. This fund is the successor of the Austrian Studies Foundation and will continue and expand the program of activities of the Central European Studies chair at Leiden University, which was established in 1992.

With her exciting research into criminal truth finding in Europe, Linda Geven won this year’s Gratama Science Prize for young talented scientists. As the winner of the prize, Geven received the sum of €20,000 to use for her research. The jury believed that Geven belongs to ‘a new generation of legal psychologists, who are making a new indispensable contribution to enhancing criminal truth finding.’

Sustainable rose smell that can be produced on a large scale. Tobias Fecker made this into a possibility during his thesis, which was a collaboration between the Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL) and the TU Delft. He wins the fourth edition of the Krijn Rietveld Memorial Innovation Award.

The family of the famous diplomat, sinologist and writer Robert van Gulik has donated his personal archive and part of his collection to Leiden University Libraries (UBL). The collection and archive provide insight into the life and work of Robert van Gulik, who became known to the general public for his Judge Dee novels. In addition, the family has set up the 'Robert van Gulik Fund for the sinological collections of the Leiden University Libraries', placed with the Leiden University Fund, to stimulate research into the life and work of Robert van Gulik.

The Joskind Fund was signed in the Academy Building on Monday 22 May. The fund focuses on food production and biodiversity. Erna Barèl and Bas Reichert, the founders of the Base Clear biotech firm, are also the founders of the fund. Both studied biology at Leiden University and wanted to remain in the discipline, but as entrepreneurs rather than academics. Experience during internships had shown them that there was a demand for expertise in DNA analysis. This was how BaseClear began.

The Leiden University Fund (LUF) Committee for Academic Expenditure (CWB) has an annual project grant round in March for teaching and research projects up to € 35,000. The resources come from the named funds of the LUF, the project grants funds of Stichting Praesidium Libertatis I and from the collaboration of the LUF with the Gratama-Stichting, Stichting Elise Mathilde Fonds en Stichting Verpakking en Milieu.

Friends and family of Willemijn van Woensel are holding a golf tournament to raise money for ovarian cancer research. Willemijn died in 2021 at the age of 57 of ovarian cancer, a fatal disease that affects 1,400 women per year. Every year 1,000 women die from this silent killer.