More and more Leiden students are studying in China. Two of them talk about their summer course there. 'Now I understand better the kind of country Chinese students come from who are studying in Leiden.'

Lecture, Tuesday Talks: Science Insights

Situasi dunia sedang mengkhawatirkan. Di tengah terpaan berita-berita kurang baik, Anda menerima sebuah email yang selama ini dinantikan. Di pembuka email itu tertulis: "Selamat, Anda diterima di Universitas Leiden!"

This book provides an overview of critical scholarly reflections on the history of Dutch slavery and colonization, as well as how this translates into critical cultural practices.

'There are far too few networking events for young scholars, even though they are eager to attend them;' states Judi Mesman, Dean of Leiden University College (LUC). On Wednesday 7 March, Judi Mesman organised the 'Interdisciplinary Networking Event for Young Scholars', a networking event specifically…

Since the horrific events of October 7, 2023, Leiden students have grappled with difficult questions about Israel, Gaza and Israel/Palestine conflict more generally. Drawing on her expertise in the history of the Jewish experience in the diaspora and beyond, Prof. dr. Sarah Cramsey has held multiple…

This book is a celebration of the work of Professor Frans Theuws and was published in conjunction with the symposium held at the University of Leiden on June 29, 2018.

On Friday, 29 October 2021 (15.15-17.00), this year’s lecture will be delivered by Prof. Howard Louthan, (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA) at the Faculty Club of Leiden University. It will be titled ‘Revisiting a Renaissance Classic: Theuerdank, Maximilian I (1486-1519) and the Discovery of…

This Spring School will pay attention to a wide range of performances in history, from political gatherings, religious rituals, and courtroom proceedings to theatre, concerts, and dance. It combines a focus on the medieval and early modern period with an interdisciplinary perspective, attending to the…

Eighteen of the 150 newly elected Dutch MPs studied at Leiden University or did their PhD research there. Who are they and what did they study?

How can we understand the impact and importance of sound?

Every month a member of the Institute for History tells about a book that inspired him or her. Afterwards, the pen is passed on to another colleague. This month dr. Meike de Goede tells about the book 'Between Tides' by Valentin Mudimbe. The novel, little known beyond the circles of Africanists and…

This thesis aims at thinking through the ethical position of animals in a way that differs radically from the manner in which this ethical position is thought within contemporary animal rights discourse.

Professor Chinese Frank Pieke becomes research and general director of the Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS) in Berlijn.

New insights into the Fayum Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic.

Dear students and researchers at our institute,

Sonja Boas developed new techniques to study vascular growth computationally. The results of her research provide a better understanding into mechanisms behind vascular growth, which is relevant to the development of medical therapies. She defends her thesis 'Computational modeling of angiogenesis'…

Timo Schmidt and Florian Volz, both International Studies students, have travelled the route many refugees took to reach Europe by bike in the summer of 2016. Through crowdfunding, they want to finance their documentary about this journey. With three days to go, they are at 90% of their target amount…

In which way was literary celebrity constructed in the nineteenth century and what forms of fandom were there?

OB associations are loose groups of young, massive stars. They constitute the last stage of the massive starformation process, and the context in which new stars are formed.

You are invited to sign in for the Tabula Gratulatoria for a volume that has been composed for the occasion of Prof. Dr Marc Boone’s retirement.

The programme focuses on the medieval dynamics of intellectual life in the Rhineland and the Low countries, nowadays divided over five countries (Switzerland, France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands) but one cultural region in the later Middle Ages.

The Early Upper Palaeolithic (EUP) record throughout Europe is characterized by major changes in human behaviour.

This dissertation examines how Benedictine monks at the Abbey of Fécamp designed, produced, and read books over the course of the eleventh and twelfth centuries.

Several dozens of students at Leiden University are top-class athletes, in such diverse sports as skating and tennis. Four of them talk about how they combine their sporting activities with their studies. Strict discipline is the absolute key, and the University helps too. 'If you plan well you can…

On January 5, Rosa Winter will obtain her doctorate in arithmetic geometry. She researched solutions of equations that define so-called ‘del Pezzo surfaces’. ‘I like geometry because I can imagine and draw the shapes and objects,’ says Winter. ‘That makes abstract mathematics feel more tangible.’

Ewa Snaar-Jagalska, Shuning He and colleagues from IBL, LION and LACDR reported on a new zebrafish study to understand micrometastasis of human cancer cells. They discovered a novel role for neutrophils in assisting metastasis formation, which provides critical insights for anti-cancer therapies.

On Sunday, November 9 2025, Prof. dr. Sarah Cramsey presented a film at the “Eastern Neighbors” Film Festival in The Hague.

What’s it like to study a certain programme within the Faculty of Humanities at Leiden University? These prospective students found out during the Experience Day on Friday 6 April. They had a taste of the faculty’s atmosphere and discovered what study programmes are actually about.

Eighteen students who obtained excellent results in the minor Intelligence Studies received the annual Kluitersprijs.

Starting 1 July 2020, Pieter Tops will hold the special chair Organised and Subversive Crime Studies. The chair will be hosted by the Institute Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) at Leiden University's Faculty Governance and Global Affairs. Pieter Tops is a lector at the Police Academy. He conducts…

Bringing Dutch and international students together. One way to do that is by playing Archery Attack, archaeology student Timothy Stikkelorum suggested. On 13 November, he and his team, a committee from the Terra study association, won the Van Bergen Prize with their idea.

Launched in early March, GlobalSCAPE is an EU-funded project seeking to understand the current state of science communication globally, especially in non-western countries. Through the Department of Science Communication & Society, Leiden University is one of the main partners of the project, which…

How to related figures of savages to conceptions of history?

The goal of the ANASTASIS project is the analysis and publication of early medieval (Merovingian) cemeteries in the Netherlands (c. 500 – 750 AD).

Lecture, European Union Seminar

Lecture, European Union Seminar

Laura van der Aar talks about the role of self-image in making decisions for future education. In her research, Laura investigated the importance of paying attention to the development of self-image, and how this can better support teenagers in their study choice.

One of the three long-term research interests of our group concerns the Transformation of the Roman World (c AD 450-900).

Middle Eastern Studies, African Studies or International Relations: all examples of studies that are part of Area Studies at the Faculty of Humanities in Leiden. Within Area Studies you study a region and immerse yourself in (complex) subjects of that region, such as cultural uniqueness, conflicts,…

The project focuses on an intriguing aspect of André Chénier’s poetry, which has not received much attention in scholarship: Chénier’s indebtedness – in the form of translation, adaptation, borrowing, reference – to Hellenistic poetry; it interprets the role of this indebtedness in his poetical and…

The Leiden bachelor’s programmes in Linguistics, Religious Studies and Ancient Near Eastern Studies have received the accolade of ‘top study programme’ in the Keuzegids (Study Guide) 2019 for Universities.

The coal-power energy sector is using enormous amounts of fresh water which is projected to negatively affect lives and the ecological balance of the surrounding region. This is the conclusion of the new report The Unquenchable Thirst of Energy Production, published by Greenpeace Bulgaria and Leiden…

Conference, Spring workshop

'The World Upside Down. The Geographical Revolution in Humanist Commentaries on Pliny's Natural History and Mela's De situ orbis (140-1700)', in: Enenkel, K.A.E. & Nellen, H. (Eds.), Neo-Latin Commentaries and the Management of Knowledge in the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period (1400-1700).Humanistica…

This study interrogates contemporary and historical uses of barbarism, arguing that barbarism also has a disruptive, insurgent potential.

Over the centuries painters and photographers have depicted students at study in Leiden. An exhibition at the Hortus botanicus reveals the similarities and differences in 450 years of student life.

PhD defence