Traces of a Colourful Past

Did you know that Arabic was for centuries the lingua franca in an area stretching from the south of Spain to the Chinese border? And that the Middle East under Muslim rule was the world’s beating heart of trade, but also of science and scholarship?

Leiden University provides ambitious students with the most recent and innovative areas of knowledge, and offers them the freedom to develop their own area of expertise.

Lecture

Journalists in the Netherlands are unhappy about the handling of their requests under the Dutch Open Government Act (Wet open overheid, Woo). They say these requests take too long, produce too little results, and that communication could be better.

Anneclaire Hagenaar (30, Public Administration Alumnus 2008-2013) attends the course Public Affairs at the Centre for Professional Learning in The Hague. She is a policy officer and project leader at the province of Zuid-Holland.

As of now, the Old Observatory's visitor center is also accessible with the We Are Public Pass! Visitors who have this pass can visit our exhibition More-Than-Planet for free.

The VICI research project Citizenship Discourses in the Early Middle Ages, led by Els Rose (Universiteit Utrecht), published a new book: Els Rose, Robert Flierman en Merel de Bruin-van de Beek, red., City, Citizen, Citizenship, 400–1500. A Comparative Approach (Londen: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2024). It…

For one week, regional public transport drivers will go on strike. At least, that is what Dutch trade unions FNV and CNV are calling for. According to the employers’ association WVOV, half the busses will still be running.

Darinka Piqani is one of the researchers in the interdisciplinary research project 'The Challenge of Enforcing Rule of Law in International Organizations: Winning the Public and Resisting Populist Attacks'

After the Second World War almost three million people emigrated from the Netherlands to countries such as Canada and Australia. The government information was anything but objective, Professor by Special Appointment of Dutch Studies/Dutch Literature Ton van Kalmthout concludes in his inaugural lect…

The ninth issue of the Journal of the LUCAS Graduate Conference has been published. This time the theme is ‘Reinventing Boundaries in Times of Crisis.’

Jan Joosten studied civil and tax law in Leiden from 1985. After exchanges and an internship, he became infatuated with the United States. He is now a partner and co-founder of a new law firm in New York: Pierson Ferdinand.

What is the effect of transgovernmental networks on the principles and practices of democratic accountability within national central governments?

The prestigious journal Science Translational Medicine has published a study by researchers from the Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL) on a potent new antibiotic that can overcome resistance. ‘The idea was to tweak the original antibiotic and create a next-generation drug’, says Nathaniel Martin, professor…

What determines civic engagement in transboundary hydropolitics and why has it been muted in the Eastern Nile Basin?

Jan Melissen, associate professor at ISGA and editor-in-chief of The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, and his team have been awarded 10,000 euros from the 'Valued' fund. This pilot fund, implemented by the KNAW (Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences) aims to increase the interaction between science…

This volume contains the first edition of 66 papyri and ostraca in the collection of the Leiden Papyrological Institute.

This volume contains the edition or re-edition of 52 papyri and ostraca, dating from between the third century BCE and the eighth century CE.

Hugo Koning, an expert in Greek mythology, has won the Lucas Public Prize because he has brought his research to the attention of the general public in so many different ways. This is the first Public Prize awarded by the Leiden University Centre for Arts in Society (LUCAS). Hugo says with a smile:…

Following the terrorist attacks in Paris (November 2015) and Brussels (March 2016), Belgium’s counterterrorism policy has been heavily criticized – domestically and worldwide.

Advanced mass spectrometry of glycosphingolipids takes the central stage in this thesis. Investigations focus on characterization of glycosphingolipid metabolism in health and disease with emphasis to the detection and accurate quantitation of known and so far unknown glycosphingolipids and closely…

How does stress influence cognitive performance? What is the role of selective attention to threatening information in this effect? Could we prevent stress-induced decline of cognitive performance with pharmacological interventions? Could we use resting state theta/beta ratio as a biomarker for cognitive…

In this study, Bibi van den Berg and Sanneke Kuipers from ISGA, explore the ways in which cyber-related incidents may lead to crises

Polymyxins are clinically used antibiotics, discovered in mid-20th century. Once abandoned due to excessive nephrotoxicity, they are now used increasingly to address infections caused by multi-drug resistant Gram-negative bacteria.In this thesis, we describe the development and synthesis of analogues…

In this thesis, the discovery and optimization is described of chemical tools to study the N-acylethanolamine (NAE) biosynthetic pathway.

Thirty years ago, mutations in the BRCA1 gene were first linked to hereditary breast and ovarian cancer, establishing a genetic basis for cancer development.

Within this thesis the central stage is taken by the discovery and investigation of transglycosylation of sterols. First, investigation focuses on the development of a method to accurately detect and quantify glucosylated metabolites in biological materials.

Human and animal cells are very complex: very different chemical processes are going on at the same time, but they are separated from each other because the cells are divided in compartments. These compartments may also have a profound effect on the potential efficacy of therapeutics, because the drug…

In this book, a new generation of scholars offers fresh perspectives on the history of the Dutch slave trade. Traditionally, Dutch research has focused on business practices, often overlooking the enslaved and the complexities of illegal trade and violence.

This book brings together a collection of emergent research that moves the debate on desistance beyond a general consideration of individual and social structural influences.

Promotor: J.P. Abrahams, Co-promotor: T. Grüne

Until the 1990s, the only known planets were those in our Solar System. Three decades later, several thousand exoplanets have been discovered orbiting stars other than the Sun, and substantial efforts have been made to explore these strange new worlds through spectroscopic analyses of their atmosphe…

Currently the focus of the project is the development of a tool that utilizes dimensionality reduction techniques in order to analyze and interpret the lexical and phonological variation between different sign languages. Additionally, the application of deep learning techniques for the extraction of…

What role did inequality play in the past? On Friday 5 December, Master's students in history presented their answers at a conference they organised themselves.

Was the progressive colonial civil servant the precursor of the postcolonial development-aid worker?

Following its foundation in 1575, Leiden University was quick to incorporate Roman goddess Minerva in its coat of arms. This explains why Rembrandt’s Minerva from 1635 can be seen on the façade of the Academy Building, which has been in use by the University since 1581. This is where, in the Senate…

The aim of this project is to investigate the (cost)effectiveness of two innovative forms of trauma-focused therapy for patients with childhood abuse related PTSD. The ultimate goal is to improve quality of care and contribute to treatment innovation for this severely ill target population.

When you apply for admission, you’ll be asked to submit several documents.

Along with your application, you will need to submit the documents below.

What are ‘missing links’ in research on teacher professional development trajectories? We focus on the role and development of teacher facilitators in designing and implementing (collaborative) professional development trajectories.

Leiden University aims to equip its students for the world of tomorrow. All our teaching programmes promote international knowledge, global awareness and intercultural skills.

Dorothea Schulz & Martin Hense

Our research covers a very broad terrain and has a strong disciplinary basis across a wide range of scientific disciplines and fields.

When you apply for admission, you’ll be asked to submit several documents.

When you apply for admission, you’ll be asked to submit several documents.