In her book Between Smiles and Grimaces, Mariska Kret shows us what differences there are between humans and animals, and more importantly, what similarities.

BSc degrees: ‘Political Science’, ‘International Relations and Organisations’. MSc degree: Political Science, with specialisations ‘International Organisation’; ‘Dutch Politics; ‘Nationalism, Ethnic Conflict, and Development’; ‘International Politics’; ‘Political Legitimacy and Justice’; ‘Democracy…

In order to deepen your knowledge of psychology, Leiden University encourages you to continue your studies with a master programme.

At Leiden University’s Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences we keep in touch with our alumni in various ways.

This guide will give you the necessary help and guidance in submitting your application for the master’s specialisation Clinical Psychology at Leiden University.

This guide will give you the necessary help and guidance in submitting your application for the master’s specialisation School Psychology at Leiden University.

In Democratie en totalitarisme zijn de invloedrijkste opstellen van de Franse denker Claude Lefort samengebracht. Lefort laat overtuigend zien dat de kwetsbaarheid van de democratie juist ook haar kracht is. Voor democratie is essentieel dat de macht als ‘lege plaats’ verschijnt. Zij mag slechts tijdelijk…

The Executive Committee consists of the following members:

This guide will give you the necessary help and guidance in submitting your application for the master’s specialisation Health and Medical Psychology at Leiden University.

This guide will give you the necessary help and guidance in submitting your application for the master’s specialisation Child and Adolescent Psychology at Leiden University.

This guide will give you the necessary help and guidance in submitting your application for the master’s specialisation Clinical Neuropsychology at Leiden University.

As a student in the programme Politicologie: Nationale en Internationale Politiek, you will examine societies and power relations with the analytical eye of a scientist. You will deal with interesting, important topics such as elections, civil wars and international cooperation. In doing so, you will…

The Leiden University Political Science bachelor’s specialisation International Relations and Organisations enjoys a high popularity. To assure the quality of education, the number of students it admits is limited. This is known as a 'numerus fixus'. If there are more applications than this ‘numerus…

Political Science: National and International Politics is a broad study with a lot of depth. You will study political issues at the local, national and international levels, from a variety of perspectives. You will be taught by renowned, committed professors. In Leiden you will find a real student city…

he master’s programme in Psychology focuses both on in-depth study of theory and on the acquisition of professional and research skills. The distinctive feature of the Leiden master’s programme is that the teaching is not restricted to only the functioning of psychological processes; these processes…

Leiden psychologist Wilco van Dijk and communication scientist Jaap Ouwerkerk of VU University Amsterdam published a book about the emotion Schadenfreude. The authors describe what the emotion Schadenfreude really is, when people experience the emotion, and what role it plays in social relations.

As our society becomes increasingly complex, it is critical that we better understand how we can deal with fundamental issues such as societal and personal security, and resilience against threats to our security.

Lecture

Study information

Study information

On 27 September 2017 a new book by Prof. Luuk van Middelaar appeared, entitled The new politics of Europe. The book is at the same time a front line account of Europe’s recent crisis years – from monetary turmoil to tensions around Ukraine, from refugee crisis to Brexit – and an analysis of the Union’s…

Acta Politica is the official journal of the Dutch Political Science Association.

The essay For progress has been published to mark the 450th Dies Natalis of Leiden University. In 2025, we are celebrating our 450th anniversary, and the theme of this special year is Ahead of the Times.

The aim of our research program is to better understand the etiology and course of mood, anxiety and stress-related disorders, such as depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We investigate both the transdiagnostic mechanisms underlying these disorders and work on improving the treatments…

Enforcement of group cooperation fails because of discriminatory punishment, according to research by Welmer Molenmaker and colleagues. When group members have different backgrounds, punishment turns into a double-edged sword: no longer used just to prevent group exploitation, but also to break the…

Our mission is to bring together research and practice focused on the improvement of mental health and the enhancement of treatment / psychotherapy success. To reach this goal we focus on the following paths:

Overlevingsanalyse is een onderzoeksgebied dat zich richt op het bestuderen van de tijd tot het optreden van een specifieke uitkomst.

Our mission is to advance the understanding of mental health of individuals with a history of stress and/or trauma through rigorous interdisciplinary research, integrating insights from clinical psychology, neurobiology, and social sciences. We are committed to translating our findings into innovative…

Members of our research team give different types of presentations and lectures.

Our research regularly receives attention in the (Dutch) popular media. Here is an overview.

For Humans of Psychology, students and staff will be put into the spotlight. At our institute prizes are won, exiting research is conducted, knowledge is harnessed, public meeting are organised and open science is highlighted. Take a look behind the scenes.

Education at the Institute of Public Administration focuses on the broad study of public administration, including the semi-public sector, lobby organisations, civil society, and relevant private organisations.

The Institute of Public Administration at Leiden University serves as a bridge between academic research and practical application from its base in The Hague.

The Institute of Political Science has a multi-dimensional research programme that promotes the unity of the institute as an intellectual community rooted in the social sciences and especially political science, while enabling overlapping groups of colleagues to develop particular research agendas within…

At Leiden University, your curiosity comes first. You’re given the space to explore what interests you and where your strengths lie. You learn to look at issues from different perspectives and work together on societal challenges that matter now and in the future. You do this in Leiden and The Hague:…

By choosing Leiden University, you’ll be choosing to broaden your personal and academic horizons. You’ll be in excellent company too because you’ll be part of an inspiring community of students, lecturers and professors from all over the world. Founded in 1575, ours is the oldest university in the N…

Empathic or anxious mistakes? A neurocognitive investigation of the development of social performance monitoring in youth growing up in stressful versus non-stressful environments

The bachelor's programme in Psychology in Leiden covers the full breadth of psychology. Our bachelor's students have the opportunity to specialise. Our master's students prepare themselves for a career as a ‘scientist - practitioner'. In the one year master's programme the emphasis is on practise; in…

The overarching aim of this theme is to increase our understanding of the mechanisms underlying altered cognitive, affective, and social behavior in relation to mental health problems.

Our selection and placement procedure starts with your application and ends with—hopefully—an invitation to you to enrol as an IRO student. This page tells you all you need to know about the steps to be taken in between.

Professor Kees Waaldijk presented the report on the LawsAndFamilies Database to Pearl Dykstra, member of the High Level Group of Scientific Advisors of the European Commission on 25 April. This comparative study shows that in European countries same-sex partners are increasingly gaining equal rights.…

The research project ‘The History of National Security, 1945-present', is funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), the Campus The Hague/Leiden University and the Netherlands Institute for Military History (NIMH). The project will run until the summer of 2013, when we hope…

Met de val van Balkenende IV laait de discussie over het functioneren van politieke partijen binnen ons democratisch bestel weer op. Opgeblazen ego’s, overambitieuze politici en partijpolitieke machtspelletjes zouden echte democratie in de weg staan. Maar die discussie is niet nieuw.

In the master’s programme in Archaeology, you can follow courses on the archaeology of Europe, deepening your understanding of the continent’s long history.

Because admission to the BSc Political Science: International Relations and Organisations involves a selection and placement procedure, you need to take into account that the application deadline is both early and very strict. And after applying, there are some more deadlines that you will need to take…

Check your application deadlines here. Take note: Not all programmes have the same deadlines; always check the individual programme descriptions for application deadlines.

Our mission is to improve the description, prediction, understanding and the prevention and treatment of mood disorders, including unipolar and bipolar depression, as well as suicidal thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. To tackle this ambitious mission, we focus on several research streams.

In the Dutch healthcare system, only MHC psychologists (GZ-psychologen) are licensed to practice psychology unsupervised.