Not only dark matter, but also ordinary matter and dark energy are tracked in the largest ever cosmological computer simulation ever. In the FLAMINGO simulations, you can see virtual galaxies and clusters of galaxies emerging over the course of billions of years. This is no easy task: with more than…

Leonard Blussé, emeritus Professor in the History of European and Asian relations, will receive the prestigious Japanese Academic Fukuoka Prize. Blussé receives the prize for creating a new academic field: 'The Maritime History of early modern East/Southeast Asia'. He will receive the Prize in September…

ACPA alumna Kathryn Cok recently released a new solo CD Dialogue, showcasing repertoire by Buxtehude and J.S. Bach, performed on the harpsichord.

After a successful pilot, the Honours Academy is pleased to announce a second International Leiden Leadership Programme (ILLP) starting in 2014 - 2015!

Ornately decorated head pieces and jewellery, images of imposing mosques and photos of local people. The 'Splendours of the Silk Roads' exhibition depicts life and different cultures along this important trade route.

From a catastrophic fire to a flood that engulfs the earth. Mineke Schipper, Professor Emeritus of Literary Studies, has collected myths from the four corners of the earth about the end of humanity. These have inspired 30 striking paintings by Japanese artist Yuriko Yamaguchi. The Dutch premiere of…

Activities of Nizar Rohana, Catalina Vicens, Andrea Stultiens, Shaya Feldman, Jack Segbars, Karen Lohrmann, Patrizia Bovi, Susan Williams, Giuliano Bracci, and Eleni Kamma

Adults are more likely to reoffend after a short prison sentence than comparable adults with a non-custodial sentence, Leiden University research shows. This is true for the likelihood and extent of repeat crime.

Minerva, which calls itself the oldest student association of the Netherlands, has the reputation of being an impenetrable bastion. A lustrum exhibition shows the turbulent history and points to a diversity of contacts: from close bonds with Leiden ‘coffee ladies’ to the visit of Sir Winston Churchi…

After various jobs as an archaeologist, alumnus Ruurd Kok became a journalist. For the ‘Traces of Leiden University’ series, he explored the past of university buildings. ‘To me, history is interesting when you can touch it.’

Depictions of Rembrandt, Michelangelo and many other artists are given a new dimension in an exhibition in the hall of the Oude UB at Leiden University. The exhibition - 'Multiple Images' - opens officially on 15 February. Artist Rudi Struik has given the slides of Leiden art historian Henri van de…

Herman Boerhaave (1668 - 1738) is generally known to have been a dedicated doctor and chemist. However, the significant role he played in botany is less well documented, according to Margreet Wesseling. So she decided to write about about Boerhaave the botanist to mark the 350th anniversary of his birth…

Professor of Sociohistorical Linguistics Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade was appointed Knight in the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands on 11 September in her home city of The Hague. Deputy Mayor Bert van Alphen presented her with the decoration.

The KNAW has rewarded 11 Leiden scientists for their commitment to science communication, by awarding them 10,000 euros each from the ‘Appreciated!’ fund.

The university has been shaping the city of Leiden for 450 years. A brief history of the university buildings that have helped define the city.

On Monday 26 February the terrible news reached us that our gifted former Egyptology student – and former student assistant at the Leids Papyrologisch Instituut – Juan Archidona Ramírez had succumbed to cancer.

Professor emeritus Leonard Blussé of the Leiden University Institute for History has won the ‘Special Book Award of China’. The Chinese government awards this prize to translators, writers and editors who have contributed to making China better known among non-Chinese.

This year's Nobel Prize for Medicine goes to the three American researchers who have unravelled the mechanism behind the biological clock. Joke Meijer, Professor of Neurophysiology and an expert in the field of the sleep-wake rhythm, explained in Dutch newspapers Trouw and NRC why this discovery is…

Leiden University continued to reduce its carbon footprint in 2021 by being more careful with natural resources and making structural reductions to its energy consumption. This is what it says in the Sustainability Report 2021.

Over the summer, students – and a few members of staff – at Leiden University sent in their best photos to the University’s ‘Summer in Leiden and The Hague’ photo competition. All these summer-inspired photos are now on display in the Summer in the City photo exhibition in the University’s central administration…

Leiden archaeologists have been digging into the municipality of Oss’s past for 50 years now and students have gained their first experience of fieldwork there. What is the result of half a century of research and teaching? Archaeologist Richard Jansen and his students take us to the largest excavation…

On 1 October, Yvonne Bleyerveld, Senior Curator Drawings and Prints at the RKD, becomes the Professor by Special Appointment 'Art on Paper and Parchment' at the Faculty of Humanities of Leiden University. The chair, established by the Netherlands Institute for Art History (RKD), is hosted by the Leiden…

On Thursday 10 January the annual Meijers prizes were awarded for the best published article, of each faculty research programme, written by Assistant Professors or other academic staff members. The winners received a certificate and a sum of money to spend on research.

Public Administration researcher Adrienne Héritier will receive an honorary degree from Leiden University. The award is for her groundbreaking work in the field of multilevel governance, decisionmaking and institutional theory at the European level. She will be awarded the degree on the dies natalis…

In 2021, Assistant Professor Tax Law Rens Pieterse published a biography about former professor in tax law H.J. Hofstra. Dutch magazine ‘Het Register’ did an extensive spread on Pieterse, his writing and other activities.

On 15 June 2023, the book presentation for the ‘Panta Rhei: recht en duurzaamheid’ (Panta Rhei: law and sustainability) was held at the Oude Sterrenwacht in Leiden. The book provides an overview of research in the field of sustainability conducted at Leiden Law School and was compiled by Yvonne Erkens,…

Op maandag 1 april 2024 stierf onze leermeester, vriend en gewaardeerd collega Dr. Alexander Hendrik de Groot (Sander).

The map application includes information from old and new buildings archaeological projects. This makes it possible to investigate whether water facilities (wells, cisterns) and waste facilities (cesspits, sewers) were the privilege of Leiden’s wealthy elite in the late 16th and 17th centuries or whether…

Dirk Huyge (Director) & Wouter Claes (Vice-Director)

Who is Economic Man? Every economic paradigm presupposes an anthropology, a theory of human nature. This project explores the anthropologies presupposed and produced by ancient Greek economic texts, and the specific knowledge forms that shape these anthropologies.

10 October is the Day of Sustainability. What is the current status of sustainability at Leiden University? Things are moving ahead. Professor of Environmental Biology and Dean of the Faculty of Science, Geert de Snoo, outlines a new prospect: biodiversity.

The Dutch press has given the anniversary exhibition in the Leiden Meelfabriek some rave reviews: ‘Global Imaginations is amusing and confrontational.’ The exhibition celebrates the 440th anniversary of Leiden University and can be seen until 5 October.

The Faculty of Archaeology, in the persons of Marlena Antczak and Lennart Kruijer, had three pictures included in the exhibition 'Heritage on the Move'. The whole collection of 18 pictures can be seen from 3 December 2018 until 7 January 2019 at the Oude UB Building, Rapenburg 70, Leiden.

Maarten Schrama (CML) has won the Teacher of the Year Award 2021. During a lunch with fellow nominees, Schrama received a cheque worth 5,000 euros from student assessor Joost Barendse to spend on educational activities.

Het onderzoeksproject heeft als doel ouders te helpen hun kleuters gezonde eetgewoonten aan te leren door het bevorderen van sensitieve voeding tijdens de fase wanneer peuters kieskeurig met eten worden.

How would you convert Egyptian hieroglyphs into Latin script? And what is actually the correct translation of dishes on a Vietnamese menu? On Saturday 28 January, high school students from all over the Netherlands will come to Leiden to ponder a series of language-related puzzles. Their goal? To win…

Bone remains that are thousands of years old are often too fragmented to be identified. PhD candidate Frido Welker is the first person to be able to distinguish human bones from one another on the basis of old proteins. PhD defence 18 May.

An international team of astronomers has witnessed a cosmic weather event that has never been seen before.

For the first time ever, a float from Leiden University is taking part in the Grand Parade during the Relief of Leiden or Leidens Ontzet. October 3 is one big party in Leiden, and the University is joining in big style to celebrate its 444th anniversary.

The Vrouw Vennepolder near Oud Ade has been transformed into the Polderlab. Scientists and students from Leiden University, together with farmers and citizens, investigate how to manage peatland in a sustainable and profitable manner. A great opportunity for students to experience how scientific knowledge…

Seventeenth-century Danish scientist Niels Stensen made groundbreaking discoveries in the anatomy of the body and of Earth. This Leiden alumnus’s theories are still relevant, as an exhibition at the Oude UB shows.

A cultural delegation from Taiwan has presented 175 books and journals to Leiden University. The gift is meant as thanks for all the research carried out by the university on the subject of the indigenous peoples of Formosa, as Taiwan was called in the past.

17 November is International Student’s Day, dedicated to showcasing the international experience of international students in the Netherlands.

Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, the city of Batavia was supplied with produce by its hinterland, known as the Ommelanden. Bondan Kanumoyoso studied the history of the various ethnic groups that populated this area and in doing so has shed light on the structure of modern-day Indonesian society.…

Ten Leiden museums and heritage institutions have curated the online exhibition ‘Carel’s Universe’. They selected objects from their collections that symbolise retiring Rector Magnificus Carel Stolker and the research in Leiden. With direct references, playful associations and the odd nod and wink.

This year, LUCIS adapted the programme of its popular annual Middle Eastern Culture Market into an evening version, featuring a lecture, book discussion, and music.

Finally we know for sure that there is a black hole at the centre of our own galaxy. Today, astronomers unveiled the first ever photo of Sagittarius A*, a super-massive object at the centre of the Milky Way. This picture could only be taken thanks to the cooperation of telescopes worldwide.

‘I already gave a talk about planets when I was five.’ With the theme of the 3 October celebrations being ‘Jong geleerd is oud gedaan’ (meaning something like, ‘You’re never too young to learn’), this year’s 3 October University was especially for children. Many parents came with their offspring to…