The annual commemoration of the nation’s war dead on Dam Square and at Waalsdorpervlakte, the Dutch apologies for historical slavery and the Cleveringa Lecture itself: our relationship with history is often ritualistic, Cleveringa Professor Frank van Vree will say in his inaugural lecture on 27 Nove…

Sara Polak is a University Lecturer in American Studies and Modern English Literature at the Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society. She is PI of the ERC Project Worlding America: How Play Shaped the United States from New Media to Politics, 1503-2028.

Sylvestre Bonnet studies the (photo)chemistry of metal-based molecules in biological and biomimetic environment. By combining bioinorganic chemistry and photochemistry his group makes new light-activatable prodrugs for use as targeted anticancer agents with minimal side effects. Another part of the…

Stijn Bussels is Academic Director of the Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society and Professor of Art history, especially before 1800.

Prof. Bernhard Hommel studied psychology and literature sciences at the University of Bielefeld, from which he received his MA degree (Diploma) and PhD (1990). Then he moved to the Max-Planck Institute for Psychological Research in Munich (Habilitation at University of Munich; 1997). He is co-founder…

Joris Larik is Associate Professor of Comparative, EU and International Law at Leiden University. Since July 2025, he is the Director of Education of Leiden University College The Hague. In addition, he teaches at the Europa Institute of Leiden Law School and the College of Europe. Dr. Larik is an expert…

Karwan Fatah-Black (1981) is assistant professor at the department of Social and Economic History of Leiden University. His project, titled ‘Paths through slavery’ runs from the spring of 2016 to the fall of 2019.

Education, Research

Herman Paul is Professor of the History of the Humanities. He currently serves a three-year term (2025–8) as academic director of the Leiden University Institute for History. In 2024, he was elected a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW).

From memorials to the armed forces to memory stones for individual victims. It was only later that the Holocaust took a central role in Western remembrance culture, Cleveringa Professor Frank van Vree notes. ‘Nationalists and human rights activists both invoke the experience of the Holocaust.’

Lecture, Peace Histories Seminar Series

On 5 May we celebrate freedom, a basic human right that should not be taken for granted. We asked international students and staff what it means to them.

Title research: The Evolving Privacy laws: How privacy laws adapt to high-paced social and technological change

Max Lenssen is a PhD Candidate at the Faculty of Archaeology.

Azra Say-Ötün is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Archaeology.

More information on the Dutch website.

More information on the Dutch website.

Simon van der Straten is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Archaeology.

Lucy Ataro Opoka is since 1st September 2021, connected to Meijers Research Institute and Graduate School as a PhD Research Candidate.

Title research: Trafficking-Terrorism and the Gendering of National Security

Title research: A critical examination of the influence of the GDPR on selective provisions of the Sri Lankan PDPA

Title research: Seeking the Good: Recognition and the Will in Plato's Metaphysics

Samatar (Sam) Ahmed Botan is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Archaeology.

Igor Djakovic is a PhD candidate in the Neanderthal Legacy research project.

Roeland Spruyt is affiliated to the departement of Jurisprudence since October 2022.

Eva Polman joined the Institute for the Interdisciplinary Study of the Law as a Uytenbogaert PhD candidate in September 2022.

Benthe van Delft has been a PhD candidate at Leiden University's Department of Child and Health Law (Institute of Private Law) since September 2023. She conducts research into how the Halt intervention programme functions and relates to compliance with child rights in practice.

Title research: A global framework to regulate non-state actors working with children.

Joris van de Riet is a researcher and lecturer at the Department of Jurisprudence, where he is preparing a doctoral thesis on the relevance of Immanuel Kant's political philosophy to international law and international relations.

Title research: Asylum and Refugee Law in Indonesia: A Socio-legal Perspective on Lawmaking and Discretionary Implementation of Law.

Faiz Rahman is a PhD candidate at Van Vollenhoven Institute (VVI). His PhD research focuses on the issues of public interest in data protection. The research will investigate how the public interest is designed and functions within the Indonesian data protection legal and institutional frameworks. His…

Li-Ru Hsu is an external PhD candidate at eLaw - Center for Law and Digital Technologies. She is connected to eLaw since September 2023. The title of her research is ‘Empowering Children with Disabilities in the Digital Era: Rights, Privacy, and Accessibility’. Her research is centered around protecting…

Asmaa Khadim is a postdoctoral researcher in Institutions for Conflict Resolution, a research project implemented as part of the Dutch national sector plan for law at Leiden Law School. Her research centres around environmental constitutionalism, with a primary focus on comparative constitutional law,…

Robbert Bruggeman is affiliated as a doctoral candidate (Meijers PhD candidate) with the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law at Leiden University. His research focuses on the intersection of digitalization within executive agencies and the pursuit of People-Centred administrative law.…

Heleen Andriessen is a PhD candidate at Leiden University's Department of Social Law. Additionally, she is involved in teaching for the second-year bachelor course on Labor Law.

Karel Kuipers is currently a PhD-candidate in the 'Neanderthals and us' research project.