The airspace had almost closed last year as Leiden students and staff rushed to leave the Netherlands Institute Morocco (NIMAR). How is this Leiden institute in Rabat doing over a year later? ‘Luckily we’d done a crisis exercise a few months before. Everyone managed leave the country in time.’

Overview of databases, reference works and websites for research in International Studies

How should we address our colonial heritage? And how digital and accessible are our collections? Outgoing State Secretary Fleur Gräper spoke with researchers and heritage specialists about this on 25 January.

Gathering and distributing patient data can make an important contribution to containing the coronavirus. But if we want to be successful, we need better data. With this objective in mind, Leiden data stewards have joined the Virus Outbreak Data Network (VODAN).

Researchers of Leiden University (excl. LUMC) are collectively using the Leiden Repository to make their publications Open Access available. They have, thereby, shown 75% Open Access publication of peer-reviewed articles to be an attainable goal for the 2017 and 2018 years. This has greatly increased…

'Don’t Let the sunny weather fool you' a film made by Visual Ethnography alumna Guusje Meeuwissen has been selected for the RAI film festival in London this year. It's a short film about the everyday lives of a farmer and a fisherman in the Philippines, and their capacity to adapt to a changing natural…

Try to resolve the nitrogen problem, go on a regeneration journey or take part in psychological research: discover this and more at the new and improved 3 October University, ‘WetenschapsWarenMarkt’.

Leiden University teachers that have requested course reserves for students at Leiden University Libraries (UBL), or have made books non-lendable for educational purposes, now have four ways to offer these materials to students at home.

Leiden University Libraries (UBL) in partnership with Elsevier hosted a series of online seminars on the challenges involved in achieving reproducibility in research. The seminars aimed to identify best practices that can help to overcome central challenges around reproducibility, and to convey several…

Over 600 manuscripts and early prints have been made digitally available by Leiden University Libraries (UBL) via the Europeana platform. In the project 'The Art of Reading in the Middle Ages’ (ARMA), seven European heritage institutions added 30,000 digitised medieval items to Europeana’s database…

Almost 4400 anatomical drawings from the collections of Leiden University Libraries (UBL) are now available through Europeana. The collection shows medical art on paper from the early eighteenth century to the present day. Most of the drawings were created in or around the Leiden University Medical…

The year 2023 saw the earthquake in Turkey and Syria, the Wagner Group rebellion and wildfires and floods as all the weather records were smashed. Our most-read stories were about the climate crisis and the elections: here’s the list.

Writers are not just storytellers: with their novels, tales and critiques they broaden the social imagination, reflect on societal developments and sometimes put new themes on the map. This can easily lead to a conflict because writers and literati often think very differently about issues such as…

The democratic legal order can only function optimally if there is sufficient trust between citizens and government. Citizens must be able to trust that rules and procedures are observed and that legal protection is guaranteed for everyone at all times and everywhere. This trust has been seriously damaged…

From rapidly rising global temperatures to the increasing frequency of catastrophic weather events, every year the effects of the climate crisis become more apparent. Can literature help us envision a life after climate change?

Overview of databases, reference works and websites for research in Chinese Studies

Overview of databases, reference works and websites for research in Philosophy

Leiden University Libraries (UBL) recently participated in the Pagode-Europeana-China project as an associated partner. As a result, almost two hundred items related to China from the UBL Special Collections are now available via the Europeana website. The UBL was the only library to participate in…

Former President Kgalema Motlanthe of South Africa gave a public lecture on Campus The Hague on 7 July. His story was about the economic transformation of Africa.

Life cycle assessment (LCA) reveals the total environmental impact of products or production processes, and EU rules are going to make this even more important.

The storming of the United States Capitol in January 2021 showed people disrupting democratic procedure in the name of ‘real democracy’. Both elected politicians and the Capitol stormers claimed to act in name of ‘the people’. The incident illustrated the disruptive potential of populist politics, and…

The 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to Tanzanian author Abdulrazak Gurnah. The Swedish Academy praises Gurnah's "uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents". The works in the reading…

The Pilgrims to America exhibition at Museum De Lakenhal inspires reflection. How far do you go in the quest for freedom? It focuses on the Pilgrims’ relationship with the University and which knowledge they took with them from Leiden.

3 October University has become something of a tradition: a bit of science among the Leidens Ontzet celebrations. During the new and improved edition, the WetenschapsWarenMarkt (Science Market), visitors spoke to researchers about the nitrogen problem, making organs and the city’s connections with A…

This Subject Guide is designed to support students of Japan studies at Leiden University in their research process. For every step of the research process, this guide introduces a number of tips and recommended resources. You can find several sub-guides and contacts in the 'quick links' in the tab on…

‘Praesidium Libertatis is a daily responsibility.’ These were the words of Rector Magnificus Carel Stolker on 8 February during the 443rd Dies Natalis of Leiden University. The University needs to pay continuous attention to open debate if it wants to remain a bastion of freedom.

The Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo (NVIC) is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Thousands of students and researchers from eight partner universities in the Netherlands and Flanders have been able to gain valuable experience in Egypt through the institute. Good reason for a celebrat…

A flamboyant politician, a divisive figure in the Dutch political landscape and a 'man of the people' who presented himself as an unconventional minister. Exactly twenty years ago today, the Netherlands was shocked to its core by the political murder of Pim Fortuyn. Who was Pim Fortuyn? What were his…

The people behind the Leiden University Libraries aim to maintain the level of their services to clients as much as possible. They are making thankful use of internet, but not everything can be put online.

Are we going vegetarian this year? Shall we keep the dessert the same? Where do I find inspiration for a festive meal during the holidays? For readers who like to postpone these questions, for those who like to tell a good story with their culinary contribution, or for those who simply want to know…

The COVID-19 pandemic forced many staff of Leiden institutes abroad to leave their posts in a hurry. How is the KITLV Jakarta team doing now? Director Marrik Bellen talks about the turbulent times for this Leiden institute and its staff. And can we learn anything from the Indonesian approach?

The climate crisis, the return of TB and the digitisation of cultural heritage. The Netherlands and Indonesia face many of the same challenges. A visit by a delegation from Leiden University to Indonesia at the end of June highlighted the benefits of cooperation.

Overview of the Scaliger, Brill, Elsevier, Van de Sande, Juynboll, Drewes, Isaac Alfred Ailion, Arminius and Lingling Wiyadharma Fellows who have conducted research in the Special Collections of the University Library.