Haar hele leven wilde de geadopteerde Cindy Huijgen terug naar haar geboorteland China. Inmiddels is de alumnus Chinastudies en Journalistiek en Nieuwe Media er correspondent.

Zār jewellery from Egypt can be found in many museums and private collections in the West, but for a long time very little was known about it, except that it was used in rituals to protect against spirit possession. PhD candidate Sigrid van Roode has explored its history and discovered that the jewellery…

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…

Koos Biesmeijer, Professor of Natural Capital, and Claire van Megen, an Educational and Child Studies student, are in with a chance of winning Leiden’s Person of the Year title.

Leiden University has set up two committees to consider issues that are the focus of much attention within our community and society at large. They are the Knowledge Security Committee and the Fossil Fuel Industry Collaboration Committee. Former dean Joanne van der Leun will chair both.

Bird, butterfly, fish: when you look through a children’s book, you usually don’t think about the fact that humans divided these animals, depicted in bright colours, into categories. Yet, this division has been discussed for centuries. In her PhD dissertation, Didi van Trijp shows how natural scientists…

Bob de Brabandere discovered his deep passion for cinema through a minor in Film and Theatre Studies. He currently serves as Assistant Manager at Bioscopen Leiden and as a programmer for the Leiden International Film Festival, which commences on 9 October.

Lawyer, economist, politician and women’s rights activist Lizzy van Dorp is the 100th entry in our Top 450. Who or what is your favourite?

After 14 years of chairing the Faculty Council, Associate Professor Jan Sleutels is handing over the baton. Student Susan van Grol takes over the chairmanship. Time for an introduction to Susan.

In addition to his Film and Literature Studies, Bob van Oosterhout is a bassoonist with several orchestras. He is going to Milan with the student choir and orchestra ‘Collegium Musicum’.

Career and apply for jobs

On Tuesday 6 May our university was the scene of an unscheduled demonstration and occupation at Campus The Hague. We understand that this incident and its consequences have shaken both the university and the wider community. We look back at the events and their effects.

Debate, College Tour de podcast

Debate, College Tour de podcast

Ten Leiden museums and heritage institutions have curated the online exhibition ‘Carel’s Universe’. They selected objects from their collections that symbolise retiring Rector Magnificus Carel Stolker and the research in Leiden. With direct references, playful associations and the odd nod and wink.

Career Services of the Faculties Governance and Global Affairs, Social Sciences, and Humanities joined forces to organise the ‘Meet the Employer’ Week held from 6 – 10 December 2021!

Two Leiden University science communication projects have been awarded a WECOM grant through the Dutch Research Agenda (NWA). One project is a study of the history of the deaf community in the Netherlands and the other is of a condition that causes people to lose their way.

Conference

Want to build a strong set of skills for your future? As a Science student, you have free access to plenty of support and resources.

Lecture, China Seminar

Three years ago, Associate Professor Alicia Schrikker published 'De vlinders van Boven-Digoel', in which she chronicled several stories about colonial life in present-day Indonesia. Now there is a translation, by Rianti Manullang, who is also an assistant professor at Universitas Indonesia and doing…

The start of the renovation of Cluster Zuid was a long time coming, but the moment has finally arrived. On Wednesday 8 June, Dean Mark Rutgers, accompanied by the contractor Constructif, symbolically marked the start of the demolition and reconstruction works by demolishing part of the roof.

Rik van Gijn was appointed professor of Ethnolinguistic Vitality and Diversity in the World from 1 December 2024. He is keen to use the position to set up research on language vitality. ‘People almost never give up their mother tongue entirely voluntarily.’

How can we best tell the current generations about some of the darkest parts of our past? To answer this question, researchers from Leiden are working with the Gedeeld Verleden, Gezamenlijke Toekomst foundation on public programmes about the Dutch history of slavery.

Leiden University is working hard to make its buildings more sustainable, also on the Humanities Campus. An important step in this context is the construction of a Thermal Energy Storage (TES) system. Following the successful completion of the first phase, in which the Herta Mohr building was connected…

Every year, Leiden University hosts the Annie Romein-Verschoor Lecture to mark International Women’s Day. This year, historian Nadia Bouras will speak about academic freedom, class and being a woman in academia. And that is just as relevant to men, says lecturer and organiser Looi van Kessel.

Conference

In the coming years, Hilde De Weerdt gets to spend over three million euros. She received grants from both the European Research Council (ERC) and the Dutch Research Council (NWO) for research on Chinese infrastructure. ‘It is great that it is also possible to develop large projects in the social sciences…

Pop-up art studio

Sustainability, health and wellbeing are key factors during the coming renovation of the iconic South Cluster of the Humanities Campus. The conversion of the original seven ‘houses’ to create a single spacious, light and attractive environment under a glass roof will earn an Excellent Level qualification…

In the past months of the coronavirus crisis, work continued steadily on constructing the Humanities Campus. The Arsenaal has been completed. Colleagues have moved to the Reuvens and Huizinga buildings, and the South Cluster is ready for the renovation to start. And now we have suddenly had to stop.

Now that the Herta Mohr building is fully operational, construction work is moving to the other side of the University Library. Over the coming years, the former Matthias de Vrieshof will be transformed into the Aleida Nijland building. Architect Bart van Kampen tells us more about the plans.

The decolonisation war in Indonesia was violent partly because the Dutch military operated on the conviction that ‘an uprising had to be forcibly suppressed.’ This what historian Christiaan Harinck from the KITLV discovered in his PhD research.

Master

Master

In a 45-minute meeting with a writing coach, you will discuss one-to-one how to improve your writing skills, usually (but not necessarily) on the basis of a text you are currently working on.

Alumni event, Arts and Culture

Personal development, Working effectively

Career and apply for jobs, Study support

Exhibition

The development of the Humanities Campus is entering a new phase. On 13 June, the Municipal Council approved both the zoning plan and the visual quality plan. This means that the university can now go forward with developing the new construction and the central green square on the Doelen side of the…