Below you will find an overview of all PRE-Classes provided by the various programmes of Leiden University. For each section, you can find a description of the content and more specific information about the requirements for participation in the Class.

Overview of Leiden publications on Central Asia. For additional publications dedicated to a single country, please go to individual pages of the researchers, which you can access through the Researchers page.

In our HANDS!Lab for Sign Languages and Deaf Studies, we run projects pertaining to sign language linguistics with a focus on Africa. In addition, we are running projects on sign language teaching, tactile signing, deaf people’s experiences with the legal system, and deaf history.

We are doing all we can to save energy at the university. Find out how you as a member of staff or student can do about energy and help reduce CO2 emissions.

In this time of globalisation, the job market offers plenty of opportunities for people with intercultural competences and a global outlook. Graduates of our International Studies programme not only have expert knowledge of a specific world region, but also possess professional and consulting skills…

High-quality education, a broad choice of bachelor’s programmes and personal support in a student city. And that’s just for starters. Leiden University offers you the ideal basis for enjoying the time of your life and a world-class career.

Dutch Studies is a unique bachelor’s programme in which you will quickly acquire fluency in spoken and written Dutch at a high academic level, while also gaining a deep understanding of the culture and history of the Netherlands.

LED3 is the combined effort of four excellent institutes of Leiden University. Through joined hands, we are able to give rise to a more effective early drug discovery pipeline. Let us briefly introduce the institutes.

When asked about the mission of the Leiden Jewish Studies network, Jürgen Zangenberg, Professor of Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity at Leiden University, and one of the organizers of the event says: “We try to keep the network as broad as possible, and to attract as many people from the outside…

The many thousands of small celestial bodies beyond Neptune’s orbit may have ended up there due to a star that passed close to the solar system billions of years ago. This is shown by Leiden simulation expert Simon Portegies Zwart, along with his German and Dutch colleagues. ‘We are answering several…

Where exactly on the surface of a catalyst do the chemical reactions occur? Until now, it has always been a challenge to identify the exact locations of these ‘active sites’. In a new article in Nature, Leiden chemists helped their international colleagues reveal new insights into this issue. Their…

The ninth Museum Night in Leiden will take place on Friday 19 May 2017. This year's theme will be 'About time'. Nine museums are taking part and the city centre will be brightly lit.

Alumni event, Lezing

From Monday 21 August 2017 on, an access control will apply in Wijnhaven outside office hours.

Annelinde Vandenbroucke received the new science communication grant for NeurolabNL Young in December 2020. This grant will help her in her mission: to make science attractive for and by youth. Vandenbroucke tells Humans of Psychology why youth is important to science and vice versa,

The Moot Court trophy has been awarded for the sixteenth time! This time, it went to the best pleader in the spring of the 2024-2025 academic year.

The fact that scientists are increasingly better able to access molecular cell and tissue data also brings with it a new challenge: how can scientists find the information they need for research among the vast amount of data available?

Last weekend, an article on data privacy appeared in Trouw. In this essay, Bram Klievink, Professor of Digitization and Public Policy at the FGGA, addresses the issue of data privacy. What are the downsides of the rules the tech giants have to abide by?

Many people wish for political transparency in The Hague. However, political philosopher Dorota Mokrosinska argues in an article in the Dutch newspaper Trouw that there are certain advantages to political secrecy. She states that politicians are better at compromising with one another behind closed…

February 29 and 1 march 2020

On December 9, 2016 Prof.dr. Ton Koopman will give a lecture 'Bach en zijn zangers' in the Pieterskerk in Leiden.

Leiden’s beadle, Willem van Beelen, is retiring on 29 February. How does he look back on his career and what do those in the know have to say about him?

It is exactly one year ago that the university had to close, bang in the middle of the academic year. Suddenly, on that third Monday in March, we found ourselves at home, working and studying online – many of us from that cramped attic or student room. The momentous coronavirus year in pictures.

Historic and iconic yet expensive and cold. It’s with mixed feelings that the university is leaving the Gravensteen building, which dates back to the 12th century. How was it to work and study in this former Leiden prison?

‘We’ve only just begun,’ said Honorary Doctor Jennifer Chayes in her acceptance speech after receiving her Honorary Doctorate on 8 February. 'We are on the cusp of a data revolution, which will deeply impact both science and society.'

Professor Kees Waaldijk presented the report on the LawsAndFamilies Database to Pearl Dykstra, member of the High Level Group of Scientific Advisors of the European Commission on 25 April. This comparative study shows that in European countries same-sex partners are increasingly gaining equal rights.…

The Faculty of Archaeology is running a funding scheme to assist small-scale projects that contribute to diversifying archaeological practice in all domains, including classrooms, laboratories, museums, and the field. We discuss the grant with two representatives from the Diversity Committee: Tuna Kalaycı…

Professor Annetje Ottow will be appointed President of the Executive Board of Leiden University on 8 February 2021. She will be the first woman to be appointed to this post at Leiden University.

As of 1 September, archaeologist Amanda Henry has been appointed Full Professor at the Faculty of Archaeology, where she will hold the chair in Evolution in Hominin Diets. The appointment marks a new chapter in her academic journey, building on her longstanding research into ancient human diets and…

At the end of the year we always compile a list of our most interesting, most popular articles from that year. In the crazy year that was 2020 one topic was at the forefront of everyone’s minds: coronavirus. Fortunately, there was also room for other stories.

Leiden University is publishing a list giving an overview of its research collaborations with the fossil fuel industry.

Did you know that each year 18 billion animals die without making it to someone’s plate? Governance of Sustainability alumna Juliane Klaura has won the second prize for her thesis about the environmental impact of global food production. She won the prize at the university-wide master thesis award event,…

Het zichtbaar maken van ongeschreven verhalen van inheemse culturen en volken van de Cariben. Dat doet de tentoonstelling ‘Caribbean Ties’ in de Oude UB.

30 July is the International Day of Friendship. The student years are a time when many close friendships are formed, and a surprising number of them last a whole lifetime. Two of our alumni share their stories about a special friendship.

The Dies Natalis for alumni was held on Saturday 10 February, organised by the Leiden University Fund (LUF) together with the University. Almost 500 alumni came together in the Kamerlingh Onnes building to celebrate the 443rd anniversary of the foundation of their alma mater.

Covid year 2021 might have felt somewhat less strange than the year before, but the virus still left its mark on University life and our students and staff. Fortunately there was also room for research, visiting dignitaries and in-person classes. And our social media accounts weren’t only about covid…

‘You are the last generation that will have an effective influence on the future of the world.' This was the message given by guest speaker Maurits Groen to the 135 students who graduated at Leiden University College in The Hague on 6 July.

The train to The Hague holds no secrets for Jeroen Touwen anymore. Since October, the Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Humanities has been part of the board of Campus The Hague. One day a week, together with Jan Crijns (Professor of Criminal Law and, as of February 15, Vice-Dean of the Law Faculty), he oversees…

The lecture series “Humanity in the Automated State” held its second session on January 12, 2026, at Leiden Law School. Dr. Aya Rizk from Linköping University brought her expertise on Information Systems whit a focus on how digital technologies and data drive organizational change, particularly in decision-making…

The lecture series

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.

The Leiden University Green Office is pleased to announce its Spring Podcast competition -- Beyond the Safe Space -- on the theme: the Planetary Boundaries.

A record number of 417 PhD candidates defended their theses in 2016. How many of these were cum laude? What were their propositions? The advantage of dirty nappies, for example. Read about the facts and figures on PhD defences in 2016.

With the help of a LUF grant, archaeology student Anne Wagemakers investigated an archaeological assemblage in Spain. Now her research report has won the annual LISF prize.