Leiden University Centre for Digital Humanities (LUCDH) has had a new director since 1 February. Associate Professor Angus Mol wants to connect people and knowledge in his new role.

Kirsten Sandberg appointed as Rotating Honorary Chair in Enforcement of Children’s Rights 2025/2026

James Webb life’s building blocks

In the 2020 presidential elections, voters in several, mostly southern, electoral districts of the United States saw ‘their’ polling stations closed by the local authorities. In order to cast their vote, they had to travel further or use the mail ballot. Media reports and civil rights activitsts often…

Expert in Classics Renske Janssen has been awarded a Rubicon grant. She will use the grant to conduct research at the University of Edinburgh into how Roman law was perceived by society at the time.

How wonderful would it be to use art, technology and science in Ukraine's recovery? Young Ukrainians currently residing in Poland get guidance to develop creative programmes and activities that can later be implemented. Leiden astronomers Pedro Russo and Kateryna Frantseva cooperate in the project.

Graduation Ceremony of the LL.M. Advanced Studies in International Children’s Rights 2023-2024

Gert Oostindie, Emeritus Professor of Colonial and Postcolonial History, is this year’s Cleveringa Professor at Leiden University. He was appointed by the University on 4 October. In his inaugural lecture on 24 November, entitled Courage and Disregard, he will talk about (academic) freedom in relation…

At the symposium ‘Diversity and Inclusion in the Police: from Aspiration to Reality’, the central question was how organisations can truly embody diversity and inclusion. The high level of interest (it was fully booked in no time) demonstrates that the topic is pressing—both in academia and in pract…

It is with deep sadness that we share the passing of Lucas Ressang, a valued member of our Asian Studies community. Lucas was a dedicated and thoughtful student whose intellectual curiosity and passion for learning left a lasting impact on those who had the privilege of working with him.

Professor Nira Wickramasinghe has won the American Historical Association John F. Richards Prize in South Asian History for her book Slave in a Palanquin. Colonial Servitude and Resistance in Sri Lanka' (Columbia University Press: New York 2020).

The nominees for the IRO thesis prize 2023 and the Prof. Dr. J.Th.J. van den Berg-prijs 2023. Who wrote the best bachelor theses in Political Science?

A new student-curated exhibition in the F1-corridor of the Van Steenis building brings history to life through remarkable finds from the Amsterdam, a merchant vessel of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) that met an untimely end in 1749. 'The story of the Amsterdam is truly unique, especially considering…

Leiden University's International Honours College, Leiden University College The Hague (LUC) experienced empty halls and empty classrooms this past year on the residential campus on the Anna van Buerenplein in The Hague due to the global pandemic. Dr Paul Hudson designed a Covid-proof course that enabled…

Today, Leiden University announces who the new Cluster Zuid on the Witte Singel will be named after. Summer 2023, a ballot determined the name of the complex on the former Van Wijkplaats/Van Eyckhof, which is expected to be completed in March. It was already established that the complex would be named…

For the eleventh time in a row, Leiden University’s unique liberal arts and sciences programme has been awarded the ‘Top Rated Programme’ quality seal by Keuzegids universiteiten 2024.

Michaël Peyrot has been appointed professor of Comparative Indo-European Linguistics at the Leiden University Centre for Linguistics with retroactive effect from 1 January. He is looking forward to passing on his love for the subject to a new generation of students.

How do galaxies form? That is what astronomer Mariska Kriek will be researching in the coming years. She received an NWO Vici grant of 1.5 million euros to study galaxies in the early universe. ‘This research uses new and unprecedented observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). These allow…

On 10 May 1940, the Netherlands was taken completely by surprise by the attack of the German army. Wasn’t it? In his dissertation, Wouter Linmans debunks the idea that the Second World War took the Netherlands by surprise. ‘From 1935 onwards, all major political parties wanted to invest in the military.’…

Portraits that gaze at you and have moving stories to tell: HEAR ME NOW says what usually remains unsaid.

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…

With an off-the-charts number of downloads, outstanding media coverage, and more than 300 tweets, a small team behind the Scientific Reports article led by a Leiden PhD Igor Djakovic is living every researcher’s dream.

You’re about to start your minor at Leiden University. Make sure you are well prepared and get your studies off to a good start.

‘The care of an au pair' is chosen as the best Fieldwork NL report and 'The unruly reality of a new government' as the best master's thesis. Lila van Grieken, Annika Kruger, Benjamín Maldonado Fernández and Holly Zijderveld and Mony Klaus receive the Speckmann Award 2024.

The nominees for the Prof. Dr. J.Th.J. van den Berg-prijs 2022 and the IRO Thesis Prize 2022. Who wrote the best bachelor thesis in Political Science?

Professor of Dutch History prof.dr. H. (Henk) te Velde will become interim Dean of the Faculty of Humanities at Leiden University for a two-year term with effect from 1 March 2025. He will succeed prof.dr. M.R. (Mark) Rutgers. Mark Rutgers’ second term of office expires on 1 March 2025; he will be professor…

Leiden is proud to announce that the city has been selected to host the 33rd Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists (EAA), scheduled for 25-28 August 2027.

They never cross our minds until, that is, they become damaged and then they’re a huge problem: our sewers. Their maintenance could be much faster and more accurate, PhD candidate Dirk Meijer has discovered. Algorithms are also proving to be a godsend deep underground.

Can you prove whether a large quantum system truly behaves according to the weird and wonderful rules of quantum mechanics — or if it just looks like it does? In a groundbreaking study, physicists from Leiden, Beijing en Hangzhou found the answer to this question.

PhD candidate Wouter Verschoof-van der Vaart has received the Stichting Elise Mathilde Fonds grant from the Leids Universiteits Fonds (LUF) to work on a research project focusing on the landscapes of the Second World War. ‘We will combine citizen science with deep learning to uncover traces of the c…

Today marks the start of RoRI’s Phase 2. With our international consortium of partners, we’re excited to launch another five years of generating, synthesising and translating ideas and evidence into practical solutions to improve research.

From lectures by Robbert Dijkgraaf to a telescope on the ocean floor: during his double bachelor’s in Physics and Astronomy, Jelle Oonk discovered that the path to big cosmic answers sometimes runs through the smallest, hardest-to-catch particles—neutrinos.

The Israel-Palestine conflict regularly sparked intense debates in university lecturer Noa Schonmann's classes. She decided to start a podcast with journalist Rajaa Natour to teach her students to have deep and difficult conversations in a nuanced way.

Historian Dario Fazzi is the new professor by special appointment at the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies (RIAS), a strategic partner of the Faculty of Humanities. He starts on 1 September and will combine his new position with his current teaching duties at the Institute for History.

A mega-dam around Europe is a possible solution as protection against rising sea levels. Whether that is really a good idea, was debated on by young professionals during the debate on the future of European coastal protection. 'A big dam may seem safe, but actually isn't,' argued debate winner Haye…

Your student days are the best time of your life, full of parties and friendships for life. Right? Well, not always. Especially at the beginning of your studies, chances are you will feel alone from time to time, but even after that, it is normal to have to get used to this big change and feel lonely…

Workshop Series

Workshop Series

Workshop Series

Workshop Series

Workshop Series

Lecture, Seminar

Leiden University Proudly Announces Dr. Mikiko Otani as the Rotating Honorary Chair Enforcement of Children's Rights 2023/2024

According to Law student Jasmijn van Lochem, you can learn a lot in seven months. For the ‘Onderzoeksassistent’ (Research Assistant) course, part of the Honours College Law, she conducted research on the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights in collaboration with Misha Plagis, Assistant Professor…

The Surinamese-Dutch language, Parbo Beer and, of course, football. The ‘Dear Aunt Olga’ (‘Lieve tante Olga’) exhibition focuses on the shared Surinamese-Dutch culture. Full of cheer and with life experience to spare, ‘icon’ Aunt Olga (95) leads visitors through a shared history and does not shy away…

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…

With the retirement of Wil Roebroeks, Gerrit Dusseldorp will take his place as the archaeological representative in the Liveable Planet Interdisciplinary Programme as an Associate Professor. An expert on the behaviour of early human hunter-gatherers, he will look at the interaction between humans and…

Associate Professor Lettie Dorst has received a Vidi grant to research how machine translation programmes such as Google Translate and ChatGPT translate words and expressions used metaphorically. This still regularly goes wrong, resulting in far too literal, incorrect and sometimes incomprehensible…

More severe droughts that will also last longer: this will primarily be a problem for irrigated croplands, as discovered by environmental scientist Qi Chen. Mixed forests with a variety of plant species will be the least vulnerable. Chen compared the effects of drought on different ecosystems across…

Eight scientists from Leiden University have been awarded a grant by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). With this Vidi funding, the researchers can set up an innovative line of research and further expand their own research group over the next five years.