Although the weather in the Netherlands will always be unpredictable, June might be the month to say with certainty that the temperatures will be pleasing enough for a ride on your bicycle. Aside from the benefits for your (mental) health, you will also make a positive impact on the environment. Start…

Professor Henk Schulte Nordholt was made a Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion on Friday 6 September 2019 for his services to the study of Indonesia. Mayor of Leiden, Henri Lenferink, presented him with his medal. This was at the end of a valedictory symposium for and a valedictory speech by…

The Erasmus Training Centre in Jakarta supports the exchange of students and researchers between the Netherlands and Indonesia, with training courses and language lessons. The centre was opened officially on 13 February by Minister of Education Jet Bussemaker.

During this Lunch Seminar of 20 November 2023, Ramesh Ganohariti presented his PhD research on contested sovereignty and politics of citizenship.

Application deadline is 4 June 2025. Applicants will be notified about the outcome no later than 10 June 2025.

Prof. Benno F. Galjart, Professor Emeritus at the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology of Leiden University, has passed away last Wednesday, 10 February 2016, at the age of 82.

The journal is looking for a postdoc Associate Editor:

At least twice a year the Skandapurāṇa team meets to discuss drafts of the forthcoming volume of the critical edition. in March 2016 a five-day meeting was held at Kyoto University, where we discussed several chapters that will be part of Volume IV.

On 26 and 27 September 2023, the conference

ACPA alumnus Budhaditya Chattopadhyay is organizing a new festival in The Hague in 2023: Unmediated.

Cambridge History of South Africa, volume 1: From early times to 1885 (edited by Carolyn Hamilton, Bernard K. Mbenga, and Robert Ross) made Choice magazine's list of Outstanding Academic Titles for 2010.

In March 2022, a considerable number of non-Western countries abstained (35) or voted against (5) a resolution deploring Russia’s aggression, its violation of the UN Charter and demanding the withdrawal of its forces from the territory of Ukraine. Even fewer countries subsequently actively supported…

Since April 2023 the current war in Sudan has brought larger death, destruction, and displacement than any other ongoing armed conflict on earth. And yet, international media coverage of the conflict remains limited.

The Hortus botanicus Leiden has one of Europe’s largest collections of living plants from the Asian region. This rich resource is no longer the sole domain of botanists. Multidisciplinary research, teaching and the general public are equally at home in the Hortus. This is the view of Paul Kessler, professor…

Nelson Mandela, former President of South Africa, who died on 5 december 2013, received an honorary doctorate from Leiden University in 1999. Mandela’s response was modest: ‘It is not a personal achievement. It is a tribute to all those who emerged from underground, from prison, from exile...’

Many of the challenges of our time are too complex to be resolved within the confines of a single discipline. Leiden University is a broad-based university where an incredible number of research fields converge. That makes us the ideal breeding ground for, and practitioners of, interdisciplinary research…

The Faculties of Leiden University have developed several themes for research cooperation between Leiden University and its Indonesian partners.

This is an Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility project of Leiden University’s Faculty of Medicine with Haramaya University in Ethiopia.

What will be the outcome of the US raid on Venezuela and capture of President Maduro? ‘History shows that people usually react to being bombed by a foreign power by rallying around the flag, not turning against their leaders’, says historian Andrew Gawthorpe in The Conversation.

Knowledge of Islam and of Muslim societies is indispensable when trying to properly understand the globalising world, as well as changing Dutch society. Researchers from Leiden are therefore immersing themselves in the languages, culture and religion of Muslim societies. Their work and insights can…

The La Galigo manuscript at Leiden University Libraries (UBL) has been digitized. The manuscript, which was inscribed in 2011 on UNESCO's ‘Memory of the World’ Register, is now freely available online and can be used for teaching and research. La Galigo is the world's longest epic, written in the Buginese…

Dark matter represents around eighty per cent of the total mass in the Universe. Yet, we still don't really know what it's made of. Astronomer Pavel Mancera Piña is looking for answers. With a Veni grant from NWO and the most advanced telescopes, such as the James Webb Space Telescope, he will investigate…

America’s dominance of the world stage is coming to an end. These were the words of Professor Amitav Acharya in his guest lecture in The Hague on 5 February. ‘But the world really won’t be plunged into immediate chaos.’

Professor of Korean Studies Remco Breuker has been awarded a subsidy from the European Research Council to study the dispute between both Koreas and China on the history of Manchuria. Political scientist Daniela Stockmann will be examining the role of social media and how the Chinese authorities handle…

On 8 May, the memoirs of Jang Jin-sung are appearing worldwide under the title Dear Leader. Jan Jin-sung was a member of the personal circle of the former North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il. Dear Leader provides a radically different perspective on the workings of the regime, as it reveals the moving…

SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research is moving. In 2021, the Utrecht branch of the institute will be located in South-Holland. Leiden professor Paul van der Werf sees the move as a great enrichment: ‘It will all be much easier when SRON is located here behind us in the parking lot two years…

There is much wrong with the taxonomy of the plant genus Phyllanthus. Roderick Bouman of the Hortus botanicus Leiden has developed a new phylogeny for Phyllanthus and exposes the evolution of the plant genus. Publication in TAXON.

In 2015 the Pascalchair of the Faculty of Science, Universiteit Leiden and in particular of Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science, is held by Prof. Dr. Natasa Jonoska, University of South Florida, Tampa, USA.

Leiden University has received Wisselstroom funding for three projects to improve the information provision for prospective students and help them choose and transfer between study programmes.

Kalsang Gurung is the first Tibetan to obtain his PhD in Leiden. He carried out research into the accounts of Shenrab Miwo, the founder of the Bön religion. Gurung demonstrates that these accounts do not reflect historical reality. PhD defence: 31 May.

This was the fourth panel of the Just Peace Dialogues.

The Austria Centre is pleased to welcome Dr. Lena Sadovski as a visiting scholar who will do research at Leiden University for a few months in 2023. We asked Dr. Sadovski a few questions about her doctoral work, her future research and what she wants to achieve during her time at Leiden.

2017 was the Leiden Asia Year. Leiden has had connections with Asia and built up extensive knowledge of the continent over many centuries. This Leiden-Asia link has been in the spotlight for the past year.

Smallholder farms in tropical regions can double their crop production by 2030 compared to 2015, a study finds to which José Mogollón (Institute of Environmental Sciences) contributed. But to achieve this, the farmers must increase the input of phosphorus beyond what is currently foreseen. The study…

Leiden University's Academy Building (Rapenburg 73) will be less accessible for traffic and pedestrians on 28, 29 and 30 March because of filming by the BBC along the Rapenburg. Filming will only take place in public areas, not in the University buildings themselves. Some roads may be closed off to…

In recent decades, a more radical Islam has been on the rise in Indonesia, but the government now promotes a moderate form of Islam. In his inaugural lecture, Professor Nico Kaptein will analyse the dynamics of Islam and the influence of the Middle East in this the largest Muslim country in the world.…

On 24 April it was announced that, following his farewell, archaeologist Professor Maarten Jansen was appointed Knight of the Order of the Dutch Lion. Unfortunately, due to the corona pandemic the actual ceremony will have to wait.

An overview of awards and prizes granted to our staff and students in 2020, as well as special appointments at Leiden University and other institutions.

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

Vasiliki Kosta spoke at the Magna Charta Universitatum Observatory webinar on ‘The roots of academic freedom – underlying values and human rights perspectives’ on 16 February 2023.

Dennis Braekmans receives funding from the Byvanckfonds for the research

The Skandapurāṇa Project considers fieldwork to be essential to the study of purāṇic religious topography and the understanding of the socio-political milieu in which the Skandapurāṇa was composed and disseminated.

Space, stars, and galaxies. The wonders of the universe can be captivating and studying them is helping us unravel their mysteries. This edition of 'Learning World' looks at some projects that are offering classroom experiences that are truly out of this world.

On 5 December, Luuk van Middelaar appeared as a guest on Dutch current affairs programme Buitenhof to talk about various European issues, including how Europe had tackled the coronavirus pandemic.

To commemorate the twentieth anniversary of Resolution 1325, this introduction discusses the state of the field in the women peace and security (WPS) agenda and outlines the challenges to implementation. It begins by ntroducing the current gaps we see in WPS practice, many of which are driven by…

On 18 July 2018 former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela would have been 100 years old. In 1999 the anti-apartheid activist received an honorary doctorate from Leiden University. His response was modest: 'This is not a personal achievement. It is a tribute to all those who were involved in the…

Ranti Tjan has been appointed director of the Royal Academy of Art as of 1 June 2022. He succeeds Henk van der Meulen, who will stay on as director of the Royal Conservatoire and Chairman of the Executive Board.

On 3 July, lecturer Alexander Strelkov gave a lecture on the rule of law and EU accession to a group of diplomats from the Balkan region.