Sonic Modernities situates Southeast Asian popular music in specific socio-historical settings, hoping that a focus on popular culture and history may shed light on how some people in a particular part of the world have been witnessing the emergence of all things modern.

On Wednesday 11 June 2025 Steffie van Gompel successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

In our digital society, the internet seems to offer endless possibilities for expressing yourself, gathering information, and making contact with others. The anonymity of the internet seems to give us the freedom to come and go as we please. But what about our online privacy? Should it be dealt with…

On 11 January 2019, Maastricht University and the University of Groningen hosted a workshop on the regulation of social media influencers.

Climate change is a hot topic and constantly in the news. Thousands of Dutch high school students protested at the Malieveld in The Hague. News website Nu.nl has barred climate change deniers from their comments section to prevent ‘fake news’. How does climate change impact the research community, and…

On Wednesday 3 July 2024 Renata Schiavo successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

After a long period of formation, the Rutte III cabinet presented itself on 26 October 2017. The coalition agreement on which ministers will build is called ‘Vertrouwen in de toekomst’ ('Confidence in the future'). But what impact will this new cabinet have on our future? We asked our researchers in…

Those who know their dystopian classics will inevitably associate the concept of surveillance society with the all-knowing oppressive force characterized as Big Brother in George Orwell’s novel 1984. However, surveillance permeats our society in many more subtle aspects than our worst fears about spy…

After 45 years at Leiden University, it is time for Kees Goudswaard to retire. In his farewell lecture, he reflects on developments in his field: social security.

The need for knowledge among practitioners and the lack of an academic knowledge base for specifically collective arrangements of social work in the Netherlands were the reason for Anouk de Koning, Femke Kaulingfreks and Maartje van der Woude to start working on a Dutch Research Agenda (NWA) application…

Enhancing social inclusion through developing methods and analytical tools for understanding and reasoning about such phenomena based on sensor data.

How were (post) colonial migrants included in post-war welfare systems?

Childhood sexual abuse is a common problem, with approximately one in five girls and one in 13 boys worldwide experiencing some form of sexual abuse before the age of 18. Despite its high prevalence, many individuals remain silent about these experiences, often delaying disclosure for years, with one…

Stress, burnout, depression – these conditions pervade all levels of our society. Children and students suffer from constant pressure to achieve; at the international level, tensions lead to short-sighted actions; and, at the personal level, stress affects our health and social environment. How do our…

In a recent mega-analysis, researchers from Leiden University aimed to clarify the contradictory findings of research into social anxiety disorder. They found that to obtain reliable research results having the largest possible sample size is important. Publication in NeuroImage:Clinical.

An acute shortage of social care staff means that family members often quit their jobs to care for relatives with severe disabilities. This seems too good to be true – and there is a catch. Barend Barentsen, Professor of Labour law, discusses this on Dutch consumer programme ‘Radar’.

How does the criminal justice system in Indonesia safeguard the rights of and access to justice for witnesses and victims?

On behalf of the interdisciplinary programme Social Resilience & Security, we would like to remind you of the call for proposals for seed funding (up to €4.000) to boost interdisciplinary research.

Leiden University has become a partner of the Global Coalition for Social Justice.

Semiha Aydin is one of the three first-generation researchers who received a grant from the Leiden Empowerment Fund to stimulate their scientific career.

Many poor people in Indonesia mainly rely on their family members, neighbours and the local community as a social safety net. One of the forms of aid from the community is called ‘jimpitan’ in Central Java. PhD candidate Ayu Swaningrum researched how this social security system works.

Climate change is made up, the secret services murdered Pim Fortuyn and JFK, and the moon landing was a fake show. Conspiracy theories are of all times, providing sensation and entertainment, but also unrest and fear. The corona pandemic is new fuel for conspiracy theorists who set fire to 5G masts,…

A new bill is currently under debate in the Netherlands, advocating raising the prison sentence for manslaughter from 15 to 25 years. ‘This very serious crime (...) evokes feelings of disgust and insecurity in society’, Dutch Minister for Justice and Security Grapperhaus comments on the sentence that…

The League of European Research Universities (LERU) makes recommendations for the future of the Social Sciences and Humanities research in Europe. Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) research is vital to build an innovative and resilient Europe.

How do people vote? How rational are voting choices? How much do external factor weigh in? In this article social scientis provide some background.

Delineating psychophysiological endophenotypes of social anxiety disorder

Ontdek je eigen gedrag en dat van anderen tijdens onze unieke teambuildingervaring, waar wetenschap, emoties en spelletjes samenkomen!

On 12 November, Clare Fenwick defended her doctoral thesis, The Political Economy of Immigration and Welfare State Reform: A Collection of Comparative Political and Economic Essays on Human Mobility and Social Protection. The PhD research was supervised by Olaf van Vliet and Kees Goudswaard.

As part Leiden University's interdisciplinary programme Social Resilience and Security, dr. Marieke Liem has been appointed Professor Security and Interventions effective 1 January 2020.

Have you ever experienced the feeling of awkwardness when attending a party where you didn’t know anybody? Ever felt shy at a party within the first few minutes? While this feeling is labelled loosely as feeling socially anxious, social anxiety disorder goes to a much further extent.

Chaider Bamualim defended his thesis on 9 September 2015