Societal significance

Science Café The Hague offers passionate academics the opportunity to give inspiring talks that make their subject accessible to a wider audience. Each of the evenings focuses on one specific theme. The Science Café on Cyber Security took place on the Spanish Steps in our Wijnhaven Building.

Year 7 primary school students in The Hague were taught by a real professor during a ‘Meet the Professor’ event. Professor of Public Management, Sandra Groeneveld, gave a class at Leidschenveen Montessori School.

Most of our societal impact comes from our graduates and from the results of our research: teaching and research are obviously our primary tasks. Yet we also want to make a difference in society in other ways.

This starts close to seek for opportunities to make a valuable contribution to the city and region of The Hague. We see it as an important goal to develop the talents of all population groups in The Hague and to further raise the city’s standard of education. We therefore work on promoting equal opportunities, inclusion and a stronger sense of community in the city, for example by organising seminars (both online and facetoface) and interactive theme evenings, such as debates on a wide range of topics in our Science Café. These events are open to the public and help to make knowledge and learning accessible.

Leiden University also offers support to the children in The Hague and surrounding area. They have always been welcome in Leiden but now they can find us nearer home, in The Hague. We are investing here in making university education attractive and accessible to school students who would not see it as an automatic choice, including first generation students, perhaps with a migration background. Over the next few years, we aim to assist in the educational emancipation of these groups, and hence indirectly in reducing segregation in the city. One of the initiatives in this context is the Community Project, where students of Leiden University College The Hague combine theoretical knowledge about education in a multicultural society with practical experience by working with local secondary school students.

LUMC Campus The Hague has a special research programme in The Hague to study population health management. The researchers on this programme are working together with the GP training programme in The Hague and the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences on ways that scientific insights can help improve health and healthcare in The Hague.

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