Our organisation
Leiden University (ULEI) is one of Europe’s foremost research universities. It is the oldest university in the Netherlands, founded in February 1575, and currently ranks in the top 100 of most international rankings. The University has approximately 23,000 students and 4,000 staff members. The Faculty of Science is a world-class faculty where staff and students work together in a dynamic international environment. It is a faculty where personal and academic development are top priorities. Our people are driven by curiosity to expand fundamental knowledge and to look beyond the borders of their own discipline; their aim is to benefit science, and to contribute to addressing the major societal challenges of the future. The research carried out at the Faculty of Science is very diverse, ranging from mathematics, information science, astronomy, physics, chemistry and bio-pharmaceutical sciences to biology and environmental sciences. The research activities are organised in eight institutes. These institutes offer eight bachelor’s and twelve master’s programmes. The faculty has grown strongly in recent years and now has more than 2,300 staff and almost 5,000 students. We are located at the heart of Leiden’s Bio Science Park, one of Europe’s biggest science parks, where university and business life come together. The environmental science research in CML is organized around two major research areas: ‘Industrial Ecology’ and ‘Environmental Biology’. This makes CML one of the few institutes covering both the circular, sustainable economic use of natural resources and natural capital, as well as assessing the environmental impacts of economic activities on natural resources, biodiversity and natural capital. The various research topics carried out within these themes and in LDE-Centre for Sustainability are ideal for executing interdisciplinary research from a strong monodisciplinary basis.
Our role in the project
ULEI is mainly involved in Work Package 6 of the SSbD4Chem project, where ULEI is enhancing ex-ante Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) strategies for novel products. The task spans Goal & Scope, Impact Assessment, and Interpretation phases. ULEI is proposing strategies for “future-proof” definitions of functional units, incorporating evolving economic scenarios, reassessing characterization models, and addressing uncertainties using innovative approaches like Bayesian analysis. This task builds on WP2, incorporates machine learning, and provides input for Life Cycle Costing (LCC) and Social LCA (S-LCA).