Interdisciplinary research program exploring Indonesia's sustainable futures through innovative methods, focusing on energy, food, water, digital society, public health, and heritage.

It matters a lot whether a fatwa is given by a female or male Islamic scholar, discovered doctoral student Nor Ismah.

In Dutch society’s discussions about remembering the colonial past, voice is often used as a metaphor for empowerment ('we must raise our voices'), whereas silence is often used as voice’s negative counterpart, signifying a loss or lack of power ('we will no longer be silenced'). Yet, silence is expressive:…

Through language and culture, history, anthropology, and sociology, we delve into the countries, populations, and societies of South and Southeast Asia. From this perspective, we address global issues such as migration, heritage, and colonialism.

Many poor people in Indonesia mainly rely on their family members, neighbours and the local community as a social safety net. One of the forms of aid from the community is called ‘jimpitan’ in Central Java. PhD candidate Ayu Swaningrum researched how this social security system works.

Southeast Asia is a term to denote a collection of at present eleven nation-states with an enormous diversity in languages, cultures and religions. Muslims can both take a majority and a minority position.

On 21 September 2022 Arfiansyah successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

Are you a student from Indonesia, planning to study in Leiden?

Leiden University was founded in 1575 and is one of Europe’s leading international research universities. It has seven faculties in the arts, humanities and sciences, spread over locations in Leiden and The Hague. The University has over 6,700 staff members and 29,520 students. The motto of the University…

How do you recount historic events if you are not allowed to talk about them? For his dissertation, Taufiq Hanafi tried to find out how a period of mass murder – despite heavy censorship – found a place in Indonesian literature. PhD defence 31 March.

Our Permanent Representative Office of Leiden University in Indonesia is located at the compound of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Jakarta.

Indonesia Sandwich Scholarship and academic recharching programme.

In the last week of January, Prof. Rex Arendsen and PhD candidate Maarten Manse of the Department of Tax Law at Leiden Law School, taught an ‘Intensive Course on Tax Law' at the Gadjah Mada University (UGM) in Yogyakarta. This week of lectures illustrates the fruitful cooperation between both univer…

With regard to governance, policies and law, many Muslims and Muslim countries recognise the possibility that Islam has something important to say about the way society is to be ordered, governed, and regulated.

Overview of the Leiden Asia staff per area or country.

Indonesia is experiencing various environmental challenges related to its fast economic growth. Therefore, it is necessary to have measurable and applicable indicators to obtain accurate data and information regarding the costs of adverse environmental impacts arising from economic activities to support…

Investigating the making of knowledge in anthropology and natural history in colonial and postcolonial Indonesia.

When discussing enslavement, attention often focuses on Africans forcibly shipped to South America. Researcher Timo McGregor's new Veni research sheds light on a lesser-known method, whereby indigenous populations were enslaved through the households of colonisers.

This research project focuses on the extended documentation and investigation of these non-Austronesian (‘Papuan’) languages.

Many Asian countries are in a process of democratisation. The expectation was that citizens would gradually gain more control over the functioning of their elites. Experts from Leiden have concluded that this process often fails to improve the quality of the administration. They researched the nature…

An integrated geo-archaeological research of the hominin site Trinil on Java

For a long time, the painful history of colonial slavery received too little attention. People whose ancestors lived in slavery are now asking critical questions about how we should address that past. Leiden University researchers study the history of colonialism and slavery and their long-term impact…

PhD defence

Our library contains around 23,000 books, journals and historical documents under the care of a specialized librarian.

LDE-FISIP UI Joint Minor students brought various issues in the Greater Jakarta Area to their final assignment in the form of policy briefs. The policy briefs are based on a month of research on the topics of waste management, the myth of the Jakarta dream of the younger generation, urban farming, energy…

A devastating tsunami engulfed large coastal areas in Asia and East Africa in 2004. With over 170,000 dead, the Indonesian province of Aceh was hardest hit. The survivors proved to be remarkably resilient as they returned to everyday life. Anthropologist Annemarie Samuels went to live in Aceh, and has…

The Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance and Society (VVI) is part of the Leiden Law School.

On the 17th of September, Jermy Balukh successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated. The Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Jermy on this achievement!

On February 19th, Arum Perwitasari succesfully defended her doctoral thesis and graduated. The Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Arum on this great result.

On Wednesday 5 February 2025 Milan Ismangil successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

“JARAK: the commoditization of an alternative biofuel crop in Indonesia” was a research program from 2010-2014 in which researchers from Indonesia and the Netherlands collaborated.

Mr. Sujadi defended his thesis on 29 June 2017

Islam exists in global history with its richly variegated cultural and social realities. When these specific cultural contexts are marginalized, Islam is reduced to an ahistorical religion without the ability to contribute to humanity. This limited understanding of Islam has been a contributing factor…

Leiden University offers many possibilities to Chinese students that want to study abroad.

The Asian Library holds the largest collection on Indonesia worldwide, and some of the foremost collections on South and Southeast Asia, China, Japan and Korea.

This thesis presents the systematics, epidermal defense, and bioprospecting of wild orchids.

How can legal education in Indonesia become more relevant for graduates who will work in contexts of legal pluralism, aiming for social justice and providing legal services that common citizens need?

Programme management of research programme “Strengthening knowledge of and dialogue with the Islamic/Arab world”

Investigating the contribution of interpreters, informants, hunters and guides in the making of colonial scientific knowledge.

The VVI seeks to develop and disseminate socio-legal knowledge and theory regarding the interaction between law, governance and society. More specifically, the Institute studies the emergence, functioning, and evolution of legal institutions.

Promotor: G.R. de Snoo, W. Kustiawan, Co-promotor: H.H. de Iongh

Central to Nuranisa’s PhD project is the cultural diplomacy practiced by the Javanese courts of central Java (Surakarta, Yogyakarta, Pakualaman and Mangkunegaran) in response to the increasing Dutch colonial power in the 19th and early 20th century.

Below you can find an overview of our network.

Leiden researchers study the extent to which Asian citizens can invoke the rights that they have on paper. This knowledge helps them advise the different levels of government and NGOs on how to improve the lot of poor citizens in particular.