In a packed Grotius Hall, family and friends came together to pay tribute to young talent at Leiden University. The celebration was part of the annual Dies Natalis Festival for Alumni and gave dozens of visitors the chance to get to know a new generation of academics.

Disruptions to the gut flora can affect our mental health. How could this connection be used to prevent stress-related disorders? This is what psychologist Laura Steenbergen will investigate with the aid of a project grant from the LUF and, on the basis of a partnership between the two funds, the Gratama Foundation.

The winner of the Leiden University Thesis Prize has made an original and substantial contribution to argumentation theory. This is what Annetje Ottow, President of the Executive Board and member of the LUF board, said at the online ceremony for the University’s thesis prizes. The winner of the first prize is Charlotte van der Voort. She received her Master’s degree in Dutch Discourse Studies with the summa cum laude distinction.

Persecution, conflicts and crises are threatening academic institutions and researchers worldwide. This has major implications for science. Leiden University's Scholars for Scholars programme is helping scholars at risk through crowdfunding.

Having lectures on sustainability when you're a first-year student of Law, or a course on climate change when you're studying Public Administration may sound odd, but that is just what Associate Professor in Environmental Sciences Thijs Bosker wants to see happening. Together with his colleague Paul Behrens, he has been awarded a subsidy by the Leiden University Fund (LUF) to develop lesson plans that introduce environmental and climate issues into other disciplines. Thijs Bosker answers five questions.

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.

The LUF International Study Fund (LISF) will make changes to its allocation process following an investigation into diversity in its grants policy. This investigation, which was carried out for the LISF by, among others, former committee member Mariska Kret and master’s student Marjolijn Wijnen, has shown that female students who submit an application are slightly less likely to be awarded an LISF grant than men.

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’.

Giacomo Boffi, PhD candidate on Economics and Governance of Migration, is one of the many young talented researchers of Leiden University. We spoke to him about his research and the importance of giving scientists the opportunity to devise sustainable solutions for the challenges we face as a globalised society.

The first Leiden Empowerment Fund (LEF) grants were awarded on 25 June. With the LEF, the Leiden University Fund (LUF) is helping first-generation researchers take the next step in their academic career.