How and why governments engage with civil society as well as how civil society organizes itself and exerts political influence constitute the key focus of the research programme Public Governance & Civil Society. As such, this research programme offers unique expertise within the field of public administration…

The Department of Civil Law is responsible for education and research in the field of civil law. We teach the master’s degree programme Civiel Recht (Civil Law LL.M.), attracting many students each year from Leiden and elsewhere.

Civil Law is a specialisation of the master’s programme Rechtsgeleerdheid (Law) at the renowned Leiden Law School of Leiden University.

What determines civic engagement in transboundary hydropolitics and why has it been muted in the Eastern Nile Basin?

The States, Markets, and Civil Society department of the Institute of Public Administration examines how politics and governance, businesses, citizens, and societal organisations collaborate to address major societal challenges. This includes issues such as inequality, migration, and sustainability.

The MA Classics and Ancient Civilizations at Leiden University covers the entire range of present-day research on the civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Syria and Palestine, Greece and the Roman Empire. In chronological terms, the program covers thousands of years, from the early origins…

'The Routledge Handbook of Civil and Uncivil Society in Southeast Asia' explores the nature and implications of civil society across the region, engaging systematically with both theoretical approaches and empirical nuance for a systematic, comparative, and informative approach.

This project aims to provide evidence-based knowledge on the conditions for successful anti-corruption activism in Ukraine.

Why do some civil wars experience quagmire, a situation in which belligerents are trapped in fighting? To explain this puzzle, Jonah Schulhofer-Wohl (Leiden University Institute of Political Science) analyses the overlapping strategic interactions between foreign powers and the warring parties. Studying…

At Leiden University College (LUC), engagement with society is a core part of our research and teaching.

The Classics and Ancient Civilizations (Research) master's at Leiden University covers the entire range of present-day research on the civilisations of Greece and Rome, Egypt and the Ancient Near East.

Are you thinking about studying the Advanced LL.M. Civil and Commercial Law? Learn more and watch the videos.

Why do communities form militias to defend themselves against violence during civil war? Using original interviews with former combatants and civilians and archival material from extensive fieldwork in Mozambique, Corinna Jentzsch (Leiden University Institute of Political Science) explains the timing,…

On 18 April, Alexandre Tavadian defended the thesis 'The International Civil Service: Redefining Its Independence'. The doctoral research was supervised by Niels Blokker and Brian McGarry.

The Focal Area Engagement & Inclusion at CWTS aims to create a more diverse, inclusive and engaging science ecosystem.

Members of the collective are actively involved in various forms of public engagement, including blog posts, podcasts, media interviews, documentaries, museum activities, collaborations with schools, and citizen science.

Leiden University’s Master of International Civil and Commercial Law (L.L.M.) examines the interrelated layers of hard law, soft law, and relevant case law.

On 17 December 2018, Dejian Kong defended his thesis 'Civil Liability for Damage caused by Global Navigation Satellite System'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. dr. P.M.J. Mendes de Leon.

Are you thinking about studying Classics and Ancient Civilizations? Learn more and watch the introduction video.

Our teaching responds to the questions and needs of society. During their studies, students can already have an impact on current social challenges, and gain knowledge and skills that will help them contribute to a better world once they graduate – as academic professionals and engaged citizens.

Stakeholder engagement practices are on the rise in regulatory governance. This raises an important question regarding implications for regulatory legitimacy. Engagement mechanisms are not by default legitimizing: Even when initiated to tap into an array of ‘benevolent’ desiderata, unless carefully…

In this book, Jan Melissen and other authors explore how governments engage domestic citizens in global affairs through the emerging practice of 'home engagement' in diplomacy, highlighting its growing importance in an interconnected and politically turbulent world.

Political scientist Corinna Jentzsch (Leiden University) about the organisation of rebel and government auxiliaries in the civil war in Mozambique (1976–1992).

The Hub for Impactful and Engaged Research (HIER) is a coordinating network connecting Leiden University, Technical University Delft, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Leiden University Medical Center and Erasmus Medical Center to strengthen civic engagement across the province of South Holland.

On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the magna carta of civil aviation, the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago Convention 1944), Professor Steven Truxal has written a leading piece for the European Civil Aviation Conference: The Chicago system: a steadfast legal blueprint for…

Miriam Cohen defended her PhD dissertation entitled “Reparations for International Crimes and the development of a Civil Dimension of International Criminal Justice” on 28 June 2017. She wrote her thesis under the supervision of Professor L.J. van den Herik and Professor C. Stahn.

This book brings together new research on the practices of newsmaking.

This project aims to explore, in general, what explains civil servants’ attitudes and behavior, and, in particular, why some civil servants are more committed to professional norms and public service values – such as impartiality, equity, efficiency, and innovation – than others.

Do citizens care for interest representation? A study on citizens’ perceptions and feelings towards the representative potential of civil society

Doctors are expected to apply recent insights from research to improve patient care. This is one of the reasons for integrating research into medical education.

In what way can teachers support and enlarge student engagement in a blended learning context?

Pupils and students learn best if they are actively doing something with the material. Professor Wilfried Admiraal is studying the best teaching methods and assignments to achieve this.

Launched at Leiden University Libraries in 2025, the Leiden Chinese Queer Collection aims to collect, preserve, and make accessible primary source material and scholarship on the Chinese queer experience. The LCQC steering committee is delighted to announce the annual LCQC Engagement Award (EUR 250).…

This book explores the reception of foreign news during the late sixteenth-century civil wars in France and the Netherlands.

To what extent does using 360 immersion to a speaking task change the elicited speech, compared to conditions with 2D presentations?

The idea of citizens and public professionals collaborating to provide public services has widely spread in several countries around the globe. Co-production is often presented as the go-to solution for challenges like a legitimacy crisis of both the government and the market, and financial concerns.…

What is students’ engagement in problem-based learning (PBL) and case-based learning (CBL) in teacher certification programs?

According to research conducted by regional Dutch newspaper ‘BN DeStem’, emigration to Russia certainly isn’t off the cards for some Dutch people. Information sessions are being held for anyone interested in emigrating to these countries. Is it acceptable for civil servants to get involved in these…

Under Dutch law, like German or English law, the violation of a statutory provision does not establish civil liability for damage caused to another person. Such liability requires that the statutory provision concerned aims to protect against the damage or, put differently, that the harmed interest…

This research aims to investigate how different social forces interact with hydropolitics in the Eastern Nile Basin and what are the constraints of engagement.

How do learners engage during project-based learning (PBL) and what is the impact of PBL on their learning outcomes?

A new publication on changes in the relationship between news and their public in Chile

How can archaeological datasets reveal the interplay between past indigenous understandings of the surrounding world and resilient and sustainable ways of life in the Isthmo-Colombian Area?