Sara Petrollino, a university lecturer in linguistics, strongly believes that language influences the way we see the world. An NWO Open Competition (XS) grant will enable her to test this hypothesis among the Ethiopian Hamar people. ‘The idea that everyone thinks in geometric shapes is culturally de…

Rafaëlle Kwakkel is currently studying Literary Studies: Literature in Society. In addition to her studies, she works at Studium Generale and enjoys being creative.

On 5 September, spaceEU was launched at the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, one of the world’s largest science, technology and media art festivals. This 1 million euro European-funded project is coordinated by Leiden Observatory. SpaceEU fosters a young, creative and inclusive European space community…

Earlier this week, a working group of the United Nations, comprising all 193 of its member states, adopted a consensus report on norms for responsible state behaviour in cyberspace. Dennis Broeders, full professor of Global Security and Technology at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, Leiden…

How did people move and form communities when human societies first shifted from hunting and gathering to farming? A new study of the Neolithic period in southwest Asia, the birthplace of agriculture, offers fresh insights.

A workshop (Cairo, Egypt, 14-15 September 2018) organized by the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo with support from “DICIS” / Digital Cinema Studies https://www.digitalcinemastudies.com/

No less than 33 project received a Leiden Kiem grant in 2023. How did they fare? Olga Bogolyubova shares experiences from her project ‘Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Study of Safety and Danger in the Digital World’.

Working for a social client during your studies: this is what happens at Urban Studies. For the course Urban Studies in Practice, third-year students carry out projects for public clients, such as the municipality of The Hague.

It is the fifth year in a row that the Faculty of Archaeology is placed in the top ten of archaeological institutes worldwide. The QS World University Rankings by Subject looks at criteria like academic reputation and citation ratios. Dean Jan Kolen is pleased with this news: 'In recent years, the Faculty…

Eveline Crone: 'Many thanks to my amazing Brain and Development Research Center colleagues. I am so thankful for the 15 fantastic years. It is also extremely exciting and energizing to start at Erasmus University Rotterdam with the Society, Youth and Neuroscience Connected SYNClab.'

Friendships play a crucial role in our lives. For children, these relationships really start to blossom during middle school, when they begin to understand the give and take of friendships,

Gabina Aurora Pérez, Mixtec investigator and defender of rights of indigenous peoples, who is working at the Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University (The Netherlands), was honored by the Government of the State of Oaxaca, Mexico, as her name was given to one ofthe modern buildings in the ' Ciudad…

The students of European Union Studies visited Brussels this October, and it was another successful and worthwhile trip for those students in the MA International Relations programme.

Last week, Dr. Joris Larik, Assistant Professor of Comparative, EU and International Law at Leiden University College and convener of the International Justice major, gave a presentation at the Second World Meeting of Societies for International Law at the Peace Palace in The Hague.

This project investigates properties of quantity expressions across languages from the perspective of how quantity is represented in the human brain.

Symposium

During Cyberweek, from 17-24 October, the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs (FGGA) highlighted its research and teaching on cybersecurity, digital developments, and their impact on society.

The Leiden archaeologist Harold Berghuis was closely involved in archaeological discoveries off the coast of Java. Skull fragments and other fossil remains provide new insights into the world of Homo erectus. The discovery was the subject of numerous news reports.

Yvonne Erkens and Fieke Weber, both from the Department of Labour Law and Social Security, recently organised a panel discussion on behalf of the International Labor Rights Case Law Journal (ILaRC). The discussion took place during the ISLSSL World Congress in Rome and was a huge success.

The CARICOM-MERCOSUR Chamber has confirmed its participation at the ‘Trade Beyond COVID-19: Building Resilience’, a public seminar organized by the World Trade Organization.

The African Studies Centre Leiden’s Research Programme for 2025-2029 is called ‘African Trajectories: Past Dependencies and New Directions’. Building on its former programme, it extends the recognition of Africa’s pivotal role in world affairs. The continent’s global significance has become increasingly…

The secular West is struggling with the rise of AI, but so too is Muslim Southeast Asia. What can we learn from each other?

Zār jewellery from Egypt can be found in many museums and private collections in the West, but for a long time very little was known about it, except that it was used in rituals to protect against spirit possession. PhD candidate Sigrid van Roode has explored its history and discovered that the jewellery…

How do politics and play relate to each other? Six Leiden academics hope to find an answer to that question over the coming years. They have received an NWO grant of 750,000 euros. Professor Sybille Lammes and University Lecturer Bram tell us how they plan to spend the money.

People suffer from anxiety wait on average twelve years before seeking professional help. That’s a pity and it’s unnecessary, says development psychologist Leonie Vreeke. She is therefore developing prevention programmes where parents learn to react in a helpful way to anxious behaviour on the part…

How do you make niche subjects interesting and accessible? Benjamin Suchard, historical linguist and researcher, seems to have created the perfect recipe, which consists of his various projects alongside his regular research, including a Twitter account and a major international film.

In het onderzoek van docent Martijn Nouwen wordt voor het eerst aan het grote publiek blootgelegd hoe de ‘geheime’ Europese Gedragscodegroep er niet in is geslaagd om verschillende vormen van schadelijke belastingconcurrentie uit te bannen.

Niek Strohmaier and Gitta Veldt will start as assistant professors within the project Empirical Legal Studies (ELS). Their appointments are part of the sector plan of Leiden Law School.

The short film El Último Consejo (The Last Council), directed by alumna Itandehui Jansen, has won the Emerging Talent Award at the ImagineNative Film & Media Arts Festival in Toronto.

It was meant as a joke for friends and family. A quick snap of him with his bags packed while watching the exit polls of the Dutch general elections. But the photo of our colleague Ilyasse El Boujadayni soon found its way around the entire country and before he knew it, he was being invited by national…

Leiden Professor of Molecular astrophysics Ewine van Dishoeck has been awarded an Advanced Grant by the European Research Council (ERC). She has been awarded 2.3 million euros in research funding for the MOLDISK programme. Within this programme, Van Dishoeck wants to connect chemistry and physics in…

ACPA alumni Ilya Ziblat Shay recently published the audio essay, A Fundamental Mode Of Being in the World: Improvisatory Paths as a Principle Creative Paradigm.

¡Bienvenidos a la Universidad de Leiden! Estamos encantados de que estés interesado/a en conseguir tu doctorado en nuestra universidad.

79 students, 15 organisations, and 16 projects: within the master’s programme Governance of Sustainability, diverse groups of students worked together with organisations to tackle sustainability challenges. In this blog, Annemiek de Looze reflects on how the power of their transdisciplinary approaches…

From chilling on the beach to a speech by the mayor. HOPweek is a speedy way for hundreds of ‘Leiden’ students who are going to be studying in The Hague to get to know each other. Many of them come from abroad. ‘I actually dare to cycle here.’

The current and future board of F.D.L. Gibalaux, the study association of the French language and culture programme, talk about the association, the change of board, their experiences and plans.

Two years ago, Danae Barboudi (26) moved from Greece to the Netherlands to study at Leiden University. Next to her studies, she is also one of the people behind the Orientation Week Leiden (OWL) – the introduction week for international students.

International bachelor’s and master’s students started the OWL on Monday morning. During this introduction week they get to know their new university, city and each other.

This week, around 1,200 brand new students from 68 different countries are getting to know each other and their new student city. Orientation Week Leiden (OWL) got off to a good start on sunny Lammermarkt, which was packed with enthusiastic internationals.

Career preparation, whether or not present in the curriculum, is becoming increasingly prominent in many educational institutes. Atse Fokkens (39) notices this in his work as a career adviser and internship coordinator. He welcomes the fact that more attention is being paid to preparing students for…

Limburg lawyer Roger Cox has caused a legal revolution. With high-profile cases against the Dutch state and Shell oil company, he transformed the law into a tool to enforce climate policy. Leidraad alumni magazine spoke to him about a life defined by radical choices for a better world.

For 25 years now, each faculty has had an assessor, a student representing the interests of all the faculty’s students. Yet few students are aware of this.

This week, Leiden University bade farewell to Henri Lenferink, who is retiring after 20 years as mayor of Leiden.

It was a unique meeting at the Academy Building on 10 April. Around 200 local entrepreneurs came to a networking event hosted by Leiden City Centre Management and Leiden University.

Kitesurfing, colonising the Binnenhof and most important of all - meeting fellow students. More then 700 students of Leiden University in The Hague get to know the city and one another during the HOPweek.