Israel was ordered to take steps to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza. Giulia Pinzauti, an expert on state conflicts and humanitarian law, explains the significance of the case, the specific details of the ruling and what we can expect to happen next.

Kate Bellamy is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Centre for Linguistics. Her research focuses on P’urhepecha, a language isolate spoken in Michoacán, Mexico. She is particularly interested in its lexical semantics and morphological composition, as well as how it is used – and varies – in language contact…

Miriam Waltz is assistant professor in gender justice and health technologies with a joint appointment between the Institute for Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology and the African Studies Centre.

There are some changes in the plans for the development of the Humanities Campus. The Faculty of Humanities along with the central organisation and the Real Estate department need to save costs due to the financial challenges at the faculty and the cuts in higher education. At the same time, we still…

Four students of the Faculty of Archaeology investigated how the current and past inhabitants of the Dutch province of South Holland deal with water. Their findings now feature in an exhibition that can now be visited in the Van Steenis building’s Reuvenshal.

On the occasion of the conferral of an honorary doctorate to children’s rights activist Graça Machel, a fund has been established that will enable two female students from South Africa to come and study in Leiden.

In recent decades, women in Japan and South Korea have been catching up in terms of educational achievements and economic activity. Yet the number of women in leadership positions is still lagging behind. PhD candidate Yorum Beekman investigated why this is.

Inspired by a gift she received at a conference abroad, Laura Kamsma, coordinator of the FGGA International Office, went looking for new promotional goodies to hand out to the representatives of international exchange programmes at Leiden University - Campus The Hague. The gifts had to meet three requirements:…

Staff members, alumni, and students were greeted by a warm spring day to follow the various programmes during the reunion and career day of BA South and Southeast Asian Studies. From alumni panels and yoga session to informal activities such as board games.

On 3 September 2025, more than 30 archaeological objects were returned to Peru, Panama and Costa Rica. The objects come from a private collection belonging to the descendants of physician and amateur archaeologist Dr Hans Feriz. In her will, his daughter stipulated that the objects collected by her…

University Lecturer Andrew Gawthorpe commented on the BBC regarding Donald Trump’s plans to exclude South Africa from the G20.

Aritri Dutta is an external PhD candidate of literature specializing in postcolonial fiction, with a focused interest in decolonizing epistemologies within literary criticism. Her research explores alternative frameworks for literary knowledge production, aiming to develop a

Natalia Donner is a lecturer at the Faculty of Humanities (International Studies, Latin America area specialization) and a postdoctoral researcher at the Faculty of Archaeology.

Eduardo Alves Vieira is an Assistant Professor of Portuguese Language and Linguistics at the Leiden University Centre for Linguistics. He teaches at the BA/MA Latin American Studies programs and BA International Studies. Additionally, he supervises Ph.D. candidates, mostly working on queer linguisti…

Jennifer Swerida is Assistant Professor in the Archaeology of West Asia.

At one time, the railway from Kimberley to Kambove in Southern Africa symbolised prosperity and progress. Today, the exhausted mining towns along its route are marked by decay and pollution. Professor Jan-Bart Gewald has been awarded an NWO L grant to investigate the long-term global consequences.

Jos Gommans is a historian with expertise on the early modern history of South Asia in its global interactions with the outside world of Central Asia, Southeast Asia and the European colonial empires.

Lecture

Under the title “New insights from old collections”, the archaeological research was introduced on the Museum’s news page.

When deciding what to study you undoubtedly read a lot of information about your study programme. Leiden University employs various systems to provide information about programmes and courses and to facilitate communication between lecturers and students.

Lecture, LAC Asia Academy

Bachelor, Master

Nils Martin is a postdoctoral researcher at Leiden University and is associated with the CRCAO in Paris. He has worked extensively on the Buddhist art history and epigraphy of Ladakh from the Tibetan imperial period up to the Namgyal dynasty. His PhD thesis, which won the Khyentse Foundation prize for…

I am a cultural and social historian of modern South Asia with an interest in examining cultural contestations within colonial and postcolonial societies. My research focuses on northern India in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, particularly, in understanding identities that are expressed and…

Kexin Zheng is lecturer and PhD at the Institute for Area Studies.

An academic from Sri Lanka, with an abiding interest in Legal History and international law. Obtained her LLB and LLM degrees from the Faculty of Law, University of Colombo.

Olli Littunen is a PhD candidate at the Institute for Area Studies.

Xiaoqiang Meng is a PhD candidate at the Institute for Area Studies.

Roozbeh Seyedi is Lecturer and PhD student at the Leiden Institute for Area Studies.

Abhishek Avtans- is a Lecturer at the Leiden University Institute for Area Studies.

Pralay Kanungo is a University lecturer (assistant professor) at the Leiden University Institute for Area Studies.

Martijn van Ette is a PhD-candidate at Leiden's Institute for History. Being part of Dr. Andrew Gawthorpe's NWO-funded project that focusses on American foreign policy and (il)liberalism, he focuses on Southeast Asia and the perceptions that shaped America's strategic interpretations of the region.

Sanne Dokter-Mersch is a researcher at the Institute for Area Studies.

When writing a thesis or paper you must make good use of the insights you have gained during your lectures and studies so far. You should also refer to relevant literature and carry out your own research on the topic.

Berthe Jansen is Assistant Professor of Tibetan Studies at Leiden University. She has a PhD in Buddhist Studies from the same university. Jansen has wide academic interests but most have to do with the confluence of religion and society. Her monograph The Monastery Rules: Tibetan Monastic Organization…

The jury of the Africa Thesis Award is delighted to announce that the 2024 prize has been awarded to Baleseng Maeneche, a graduate of the Faculty of Arts & Humanities at the University of the Western Cape, for her thesis 'Media Representations of Male Perpetrators of Violence against Women and Children:…

A newly opened museum in China appears to be devoted to the origins of the Austronesian-speaking peoples, who some 5000 years ago spread from East Asia across the Pacific, seeding it with a distinctive culture and some 1200 languages. But those displays are also a statement in the long-running dispute…

Arts and culture

Bachelor, Master

A study association is a good way to combine study-related activities with pleasure. Every faculty has one or more study association.