What are the values that Leiden University cherishes? What does the University stand for and what does it consider important?

Marten Soolmans (1613-1641) studied law in Leiden at the same time that Rembrandt lived in the city. Rembrandt painted Soolmans and his wife Oopjen in 1634, after all three had moved to Amsterdam. This remarkable portrait of the sumptuously dressed Soolmans can be seen at the Kamerlingh Onnes Building,…

How did learned natural historical inquiries into the underwater world develop in eighteenth-century Europe?

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…

Early Modern Medievalisms: The Interplay between Scholarly Reflection and Artistic Production

Death, fire and identity in North-West Europe

What was the stringed instrument known in medieval and early Renaissance Italy as “cetra”?

The BOCA project explores new forms of communicating academic knowledge as a way to strengthen the connection between the university and society.

Investigating the contribution of interpreters, informants, hunters and guides in the making of colonial scientific knowledge.

The NET-ROL project builds on the EU's definition of the rule of law to investigate the role of networks in law-making, executive decision-making, and the judiciary. It examines how these networks influence the weakening of the rule of law. Through an interdisciplinary perspective, the project explores…

Can a virtual character’s friendly non-verbal responses stimulate eye-contact in individuals with varying levels of social anxiety?

The research programme Statistical Science is concerned with the analysis and interpretation of masses of data, the quantification of uncertainty using probability models, and the development and benchmarking of algorithms and methods with these aims.

A mere day after setting foot ashore in the Bahamas on October 13th 1492, Christopher Columbus notes the broad foreheads of the inhabitants of the Americas. These permanently altered cranial shapes are deliberately created through the application of pressure to the head of the infant in the first years…

How was time understood during the colonial period by Tlaxcaltecan Naua communities? What is the relationship between time, spirituality and ritual in the present-day Naua community of Santa Catarina? What does this tell us about the strengths and values of Indigenous heritage and about the impact of…

How to strike a balance between the sometimes conflicting stakes of individual, public and private data-producers and data-processors?

How do urban residents in Brazil and the Netherlands (The Hague and Leiden) perceive the cultural benefits of urban forests? How are these benefits spatially distributed across cities? How do socio-demographic factors shape these perceptions, and do these differences vary between countries?

This research intends to study the why, what, how and the possible outcome of internationalisation in higher education institutions of fine art and design.

Do you want to understand how language and culture shape our view of the world? At Leiden University, you explore societies across the globe - from ancient times to the present day. You’ll delve into topics such as migration, identity, media and heritage, and learn to read original sources in their…

To what extent and in what manner can experimental video be used to reclaim the capacity for telling one’s own story, on one's own terms, speaking in tongues outside the linguistic framework of immune system discourse?

What are the career prospects after the PhD?

Are UN sanctions regimes in need of further formalization in terms of substantive design, procedural architecture and with a view to regulating and governing the interplay with other regimes?

In this special edition of Information Polity there is a focus on the transparency challenges of using algorithms in government in decision-making procedures at the macro-, meso-, and micro-levels.

Research into the development of privacy-friendly care games for children.

The Human Origins group at Leiden University studies the archaeology of hunter-gatherers, from the earliest stone tools in East Africa, more than three million years old, to the origin of sedentary societies towards the end of the last ice age.

This study aims to provide a long time perspective of human landscape manipulation. Studying the roles of prehistoric foragers in past ecosystems is of great importance to establish the character of past 'natural' landscapes and to enhance the management of current ones.

This project focuses on vocational teachers’ professional development in work placement. Teachers’ learning motivation, learning experience and learning outcomes within work placement will be explored in depth.

Do you have a curious character and do you want to know how knowledge is sought at the university? Do you want to acquire knowledge and skills that could not only be important for your everyday life, but could also mean a lot for your future? Then the Pre-University College The Hague is definitely for…

Do natural soundscapes affect migratory decisions of fishes moving up and down rivers and is this process disturbed by vessel sounds?

Almost three years after receiving her honorary doctorate, Dr Graça Machel returned to Leiden University. Over the course of two days she spoke with students, researchers, and other interested persons, about human rights – particularly those of women and children – in a world in which these are continually…

Aesthetic formations and cultural repertoires give meaning to our reality in ways that are never neutral. Focusing on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and its global interlocutors, this project brings together a team of scholars from Leiden University who bring in inter-disciplinary, inter-area…

Diversity and inclusion are core values of Leiden University. Leiden University has committed itself to a policy that aims to become an inclusive community which enables all students and staff to feel valued and respected, and to develop their full potential. The Diversity & Inclusion Expertise Office…

Explore how stakeholders in Gabon's Makokou region interact with forest resources in logging, agriculture, and mining, and their impacts on social and environmental changes.

Guidelines, rules and other important information for PhD candidates are described in detail in various documents. In addition, FGGA has developed faculty-specific guidelines and best practices, which are collected on this page as well.

This book on Alba is edited by Maurits Ebben, Margriet Lacy-Bruijn and Rolof van Hövell tot Westerflier. Each of its fifteen chapters are dedicated to developing a new understanding of a sometimes misunderstood figure in European history.

In this sub-project a selected number of narrative texts will be examined written in the Eurasian realm in the period 1300-1800, focusing on representations of kingship and royal authority.

Knowledge on how to adjust a drug dose in special patient populations such as (prematurely born) neonates or children, obese individuals or critically-ill patients, is not only crucial for novel compounds, but also for existing drugs which are often used in an off-label manner in these special patient…

The Faculty of Archaeology

European integration is under pressure. At the same time, the notion of a European administrative space is being explicitly voiced. But does a shared idea of the public servant exist in Europe?

How are top-down directives translated and implemented at mission level in UN peacekeeping?

The research in this dissertation aims to optimise blood donation processes in the framework of the Dutch national blood bank Sanquin. The primary health risk for blood donors is iron deficiency, which is evaluated based on donors' hemoglobin and ferritin levels.

Landscapes of mobility in the northern Chilean altiplano: from chiefly networks to colonial markets (AD 1100-1800).

What are the genes and molecular mechanisms involved in bacteria-mediated plant drought tolerance?

If you are aware of the admission requirements of the bachelor’s programme Science for Sustainable Societies, it's time to check the application deadlines.

Before you apply for your master’s programme, please check our application deadlines.

Leiden University offers ambitious students the latest knowledge and the freedom to develop their own area of expertise.

Find out how to apply for Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences and Education at Leiden University by following our step-by-step guide.