The image of the European Union (EU) as a remote law-making machine is widespread. Quite often journalists and politicians deliberately depict ‘Brussels’ as bureaucratic, even undemocratic, bypassing its citizens. And many of us buy into that image. Nikoleta Yordanova, Anastasia Ershova and Aleksandra…

Nidesh Lawtoo is Professor of Modern and Contemporary European Literature and Culture at Leiden University.

Nira Wickramasinghe is Professor of Modern South Asian Studies at the Leiden University Institute for Area Studies.

Pepita Hesselberth is Assistant Professor Film, Literary and Media Studies at Leiden University, and research fellow at the Department of Arts and Cultural Studies at the University of Copenhagen.

Assistant Professor Daan Weggemans researches contemporary and digital security, cybercrime, extremism and conceptual thinking at Leiden University’s Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA).

Corey L. Williams (PhD, Edinburgh) is a University Lecturer in Anthropology and Global Christianity at Leiden University. He is also the Chair of Religious Studies Programmes and Director of the Leiden University Centre for the Study of Religion (LUCSoR). Corey is a cultural anthropologist and African…

Felicia Rosu is Assistant Professor at the Institute for History.

Dr. Mariana Françozo is Associate Professor of Museum Studies at the Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University.

Léon Buskens is an anthropologist studying law and culture in Muslim societies. One of his main research interests is how Muslims shape Islam in everyday life, in relation to other practices and to religious teachings. He has a longstanding interest in Morocco, and has more recently also started to…

Nadia Bouras is a historian with a specialization in the history of Moroccan migration. Holding a PhD in history from Leiden University, she serves as an assistent professor in social and migration history at the same institution. Bouras is closely affiliated with NIMAR, the Netherlands Institute in…

Rick Honings is a scaliger professor at the Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society.

I specialize in the field of modern Middle East studies, concentrating on the region's politics and international relations (history and theory), foreign policy analysis, and diplomatic history. As a historian of international relations I have developed special research interests in the Arab-Israeli…

Kim Beerden is university lecturer at the Institute for History.

Bleda Düring is a Professor at the Faculty of Archaeology.

Mark Driessen is an Assistant professor at the Faculty of Archaeology.

What should we do about litter in the countryside? Can you tell from camera images if someone is guilty? And what does your heart rate really look like? Get answers to these questions and more at the free ‘Wijsneus Festival’ on Friday 16 September at Leidse Hout Park.

Master’s students in the Honours Class ‘Leiden, City of Refugees?’ were asked to contemplate the concept of ‘the other’ from both an academic and an artistic perspective. The result was the exhibition ‘The Invitation’ which was presented at Stadsbauhaus on 4 June.

Hundreds of students and staff from Leiden University gave a ‘whistle concert’ on 11 December against the planned cuts to higher education. Similar protests were held in other student cities on the same day.

Within the scope of the National Student Survey (NSE) a cheque for €3.087,75 was presented to the Leiden University Fund (LUF) on Monday. The money is for the Leiden Empowerment Fund.

Hans de Vries is an external PhD candidate at the Graduate School of the Institute of Security and Global Affairs at Leiden University. The working title 'De paradoxale relatie tussen politie en burgers'.

Frans Willem Korsten is a Professor Literature, Culture and Law at the Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society.

Olaf van Vliet is Professor of Economics at the Department of Economics and at the Institute of Public Administration, Leiden University. He is also Head of the Department of Economics.

Joanita Vroom is Professor in Archaeology of Medieval and Early Modern Eurasia, specializing in the material culture of the 7th to 19th centuries.

Paul van Trigt is university lecturer social history. His research and teaching are concerned with histories of in- and exclusion of people in multiple contexts in the modern period and the role of concepts such as human rights, the welfare state, religion, disability, ethnicity in these histories.

Thijs Porck teaches Old English, Middle English, Tolkien and Medieval Studies at the Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society. He is a cultural historian of early medieval England, with a background in medieval history as well as English language and literature. The common strand in his research…

Anne-Isabelle Richard is a university lecturer at the Institute for History.

Alisa van de Haar is Assistant Professor in historical French Literature. Her research focuses on historical multilingualism, the history of the language sector, and the intersection between language and migration. From 2022 to 2026, she conducted a Dutch Research Council Veni project titled ‘Languages…

As of 1 April 2025, Lodewijk Govaerts will be standing down from the Board of Governors due to other commitments that will demand a significant part of his time and attention within the foreseeable future. Govaerts does not want this to affect his ability to fulfil his role on the Board of Governors…

From global warming to the decolonisation of knowledge. At the EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF) in Leiden over 500 speakers from 60 countries have come together to discuss the big themes of our times. Why have the delegates come?

Historic and iconic yet expensive and cold. It’s with mixed feelings that the university is leaving the Gravensteen building, which dates back to the 12th century. How was it to work and study in this former Leiden prison?