Dr Anouk Goemans has been appointed professor by special appointment of Youth Services and Child Protection from an Educational and Legal Perspective as of 1 November 2024. This chair is funded by the 'Stichting Steunfonds Pro Juventute' support fund foundation and serves as a bridge between the Department of Child Law and Health Law and the Institute of Education and Child Studies.

What reduces the likelihood of children being taken into care? At present, child protection services don’t have the data to answer that question. In her inaugural lecture, Anouk Goemans calls for data-driven systems, alongside attention to the stories behind the numbers.

Leiden University and Unicef have already been working together for ten years to increase and share information on children’s rights. They are extending this cooperation. Professor of Children’s Rights Ton Liefaard explains what has already been achieved and what he wants to achieve in the next five years.

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.

Youth crime has plummeted in the Netherlands. Good news, you might think. Yet we need to look critically at existing sanctions, says Professor by Special Appointment André van der Laan in his inaugural lecture. ‘We should evaluate whether our response is just.’

The world is changing rapidly. Climate change, digitalisation, social inequality, health, and geopolitical tensions call for new solutions and insights. Leiden University plays a leading role in addressing these challenges. To continue fulfilling this role, support from committed trusts and foundations is essential.

More than eighty years ago, professor Cleveringa read aloud his now famous protest speech in the Great Auditorium. He denounced the measure taken by the German occupiers of removing all Jewish professors from their posts.