Neanderthals at Pech-de-l'Azé I in South Western France had a striking use for manganese dioxide 50,000 years ago.

If it’s up to PhD student Guangsheng Du, patients don’t need to worry about big needles anymore. At the Leiden Academic Center for Drug Research (LACDR), he studied the use of microneedles and nanoparticles as a new vaccination system. ‘I want to create a more patient-friendly delivery method.’ He defends…

The way in which written language is processed in the brain is a hot topic in cognitive research. Cognitive psychologist Rinus Verdonschot studied a Japanese script in which a single character can have up to three possible pronunciations. He discovered that all three are simultaneously activated in…

Many of our staff and students have won an award, received a grant, obtained an academic fellowship for their quality or have been socially engaged due to their specific expertise. See below for an overview per year.

In 2025 hebben medewerkers en studenten van de Universiteit Leiden veel mooie prijzen ontvangen en belangrijke onderzoekssubsidies binnengehaald.

Lecture, Lectures in Historical Linguistics and Philology

History can be found in utensils and in interviews with ordinary citizens. ‘With the reconstruction of everyday life, an anthropological approach works better,’ thinks historian Jan-Bart Gewald. Inaugural lecture on 6 June.

‘We’re going to see each other again on campus. We’re so pleased, but we do have to say safe.’ Rector Magnificus Hester Bijl is looking ahead to the new academic year, which begins on 6 September. No more 1.5m distancing, but we do have to take responsibility for other people’s safety.

The new Ehrenfest multi-storey car park at the heart of the Leiden Bio Science Park was opened today by the Vice-Chairman of the Executive Board of Leiden University, Martijn Ridderbos. The car park, an initiative of the University, should improve accessibility and quality of life on the campus.

War and terrorism overshadow interest in the pre-Islamic heritage of the Arabic peninsula. The new Leiden Centre for the Study of Ancient Arabia aims to make the general public more aware of the ancient history of this region.

The Centre for Innovation has launched a new podcast series called What if Education… In each episode, the host Monika Theron invites students, teachers and experts to think differently about education.

The Biotech Training Facility (BTF) on the Leiden Bio Science Park is now officially open. Professionals and students can practise their skills and learn new competences in the field of life sciences in this fully equipped training centre with laboratories, clean rooms and technical areas.

‘It was a discovery we did not expect,’ says Remko Offringa, professor of Plant developmental genetics. Today he publishes a new trait of a versatile gene in Current Biology: it makes the difference in plants between herbaceous and woody stem growth. A useful feature to prevent dehydration.

This fall, LUCIS will have the pleasure of welcoming Professor Wadad Kadi, of the University of Chicago, to Leiden. She is the first Abdulaziz Saud Al-Babtain Cultural Foundation Visiting Professor in Arabic Culture at Leiden University.

How does it feel to be spied on by robots? Did you know that they too discriminate? Our entanglement with technology makes life easier, but there’s a downside too. Artists and researchers will show all aspects of this in the SAILS online talk show The Future of AI is Human. Join in on Tuesday 15 December…

In the past, the Dutch community living in Cairo made an annual visit to the then Leiden-only mission to Saqqara. They would come out and have a nice picnic together with the excavation team and visit the monumental New Kingdom tombs. The current Leiden-Turin expedition would very much like to revive…

This fall, LUCIS will have the pleasure of welcoming Professor Maribel Fierro, Research Professor at the CSIC (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid), to Leiden. She is the third Abdulaziz Saud Al-Babtain Cultural Foundation Visiting Professor in Arabic Culture at Leiden University…

Uniting an international consortium of scholars, the Skandapurāṇa Project comprises a team of researchers working in fields across the Humanities. We are creating a critical edition of a foundational work of purāṇic literature and, in doing so, tracing the dynamics of a textual tradition to better understand…

A team of researchers has managed to recreate the most natural skin cream in existence. Using the DUBBLE beamline (Dutch Belgian Beamline) at the European Synchrotron Radiation produced on the basis of the information identified, has the same properties as vernix caseosa. This cream may have a therapeutic…

The ongoing conflicts between the United States and its allies and Russia and between the United States and its allies and China reflect both the anarchical nature of the international system and the uncertainty with which decision-makers and diplomats have to deal with in attempting to solve the conflicts…

Online discussion

The final conference of the Eurasian Empires programme took place from 15 to 17 June 2016 in Leiden. The conference concluded a five-year research programme in which nine researchers worked on their own specific projects within the programme’s Eurasian scope, transcending borders by bringing together…

Speech Prosody 2024 includes several poster sessions, the description of which you can find below.

From Monday 15 until Thursday 18 October 2018, the eighth annual NISIS Autumn School will take place at the University of Groningen. This year’s Autumn School is organised by NISIS and the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies of the University of Groningen in cooperation with the Netherlands Organisation…

Lecture

PhD defence

Study information

Lecture

This research project is an integral part of its mother-programme NEXUS1492 ERC Synergy Project directed by Prof. Corinne Hofman. Overarchingly, it aims at understanding and bridging from the archaeological perspective the late pre-colonial and early colonial history of the Southeastern Caribbean macroregion…

The Grotius Centre Working Paper Series is an occasional series through which researchers in the Grotius Centre can publish the unedited versions of manuscripts that have been accepted for publication by journals and books.

How do societies move forward with sustainable, effective and efficient management of Earth's water resources?

On the 10th November 2016, The Hazelhoff Centre for Financial Law organised a symposium on “Ethics and Moral Hazard in the Banking Union” in the historic Academy Building of Leiden University.

The University Council meeting on 2 June was largely dominated by the demonstration, occupation and policing in The Hague last month.

Dear friends of the NVIC,

Our annual "Science to Experience" exhibition of student works is hosted by the V2_ Lab for the Unstable Media. This year's theme is "TIME".

The importance of science communication and cross-boundary collaboration, and the ‘mantra’ of diminishing social cohesion in society: these all came up at Leiden University’s 448th Dies Natalis. A panel discussion including Leiden’s mayor Lenferink, music and two honorary doctorates completed the special…

Lecture, Sociolinguistics & Discourse Studies Series

Study information

Study information