Let’s start with a quiz; what do Johan Sebastian Bach, Vincent van Gogh and Jackie Chan have in common? Can you guess the answer?
On the 9th of February, students from many different programmes gathered in the Beehive to celebrate the coming new year according to the Chinese lunar calendar. The Faculty of Humanities, Study Advisers of Urban Studies and International Studies (BA), the Student Counsellor and the University China advisor and coordinator organized this event to commemorate the Chinese Lunar New Year and address the well-being of international students at Leiden University. This event was primarily intended to foster inclusivity and a sense of community among the international students while also celebrating Chinese culture.
It is always an exciting moment when we see the results of the area and language choices of our new cohort of first-year students. This year, there are some interesting developments.
When Sjoerd van Trigt, a student of International Studies, is not in the lecture hall, you can find him at Rowing Club Asopos de Vliet. He trains there seven times a week. Soon, he will be leaving for a six-month stay in Japan.
Where you study is as important as how you study. Having a quiet and comfortable corner to fully concentrate, makes all the difference when you have to read, analyse and write. Contrary to the popular life style guru Mary Kondo’s philosophy of minimalism, the new interior design trend of 2024 is focusing on aesthetically pleasing interiors, including presenting abundant book collections in what is called ‘Book Shelf Wealth’.* The idea is that you showcase your books (read or unread) by size, author or jacket cover colour. Many appealing images of nicely arranged book collections are circulating on social media.**
Finding solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the not-inconsiderable task of the new Peace Academy in The Hague. Professor Maurits Berger and twelve students from different conflict zones are starting a creative thinking process that aims to discover the basic conditions for peace in the Middle East.
From a queer art exhibition to a podcast about people with disabilities, the JEDI Fund this year again honored several projects that contribute to diversity and inclusion.
An online module (in English) is now available for students and staff that explains the possibilities and misuse of GenAI, LLMs and Machine Translation. It contains videos, quizzes and information about the use and abuse of ChatGPT, for example. This is a first basic module about what LLMs are and how they work.
It is time to get to know a new face at International Studies. Sarah Wolff has been professor of International Studies and Global Politics since 8 January. She just started teaching in our programme in a thesis seminar. What is her field of specialty and what are her academic interests? Where else will we encounter her at International Studies?
It is a terrible cliché, at the start of a new year, to come up with a statement about the uncertain times we live in. Every generation has a tendency to think that their time is marked by humanity’s largest challenges. It gives us pause for thought to realize that we are not the first, and will certainly not be the last, to think along these lines. Recently, two thought-provoking reflections appeared, which offer hope, especially when you feel troubled by bleak thoughts about conflicts and the future of humanity.
