As a woman, working in Japan and Korea can be pretty tough, Yorum Beekman discovered. It prompted her to pursue a PhD on the subject: ‘I thought: hey, that’s interesting!’

Archaeological finds off the coast of Java, Indonesia provide insight into the world of Homo erectus, 140,000 years ago. Skull fragments and other fossil remains provide a unique picture of how and where these early humans lived, says Leiden archaeologist Harold Berghuis.

Just imagine new AI technology is able to read human emotions flawlessly. How would that affect us as humans? That is the question PhD candidate Alexandra Prégent is exploring.

Exhibition

The underwater world around present-day Indonesia has changed greatly in recent centuries as a result of human activity. University lecturer Johannes Müller has been awarded an NWO XS grant to map the history of the Indonesian ecosystems.

Now that the Herta Mohr building is fully operational, construction work is moving to the other side of the University Library. Over the coming years, the former Matthias de Vrieshof will be transformed into the Aleida Nijland building. Architect Bart van Kampen tells us more about the plans.

From a ship that has been designed to tell you what maintenance it needs and when, to an intelligent journey planner for global goods transport. The three universities in Zuid-Holland are abuzz with AI research in the field of ports and maritime. Three researchers explain. Part two in a series of five…

Study information

Every year, the Netherlands Red Cross and Belgian Red Cross-Flanders organise the Frits Kalshoven International Humanitarian Law Moot Court Competition. Eight teams from Belgium and the Netherlands participated in the 17th edition of the competition, from 5-7 March 2025 in The Hague. The team from Leiden…

The 'deepest and sharpest' image of the Universe to date: the first photos from the new James Webb space telescope yesterday mesmerised astronomers and the public alike. Leiden Professor of Molecular Astrophysics, Ewine van Dishoeck, spoke to various media outlets about the first images, which include…

The New Scholar, an interdisciplinary peer-reviewed journal at the Faculty of Humanities of Leiden University, is launching its first issue, and how? With a double issue!

It was the Night of Discoveries on Saturday 16 September: a summer encounter between art and science. Leiden researchers from various disciplines inspired the public with their quest to understand our world.

Leiden University College (LUC) is proud to announce that it have been awarded the Special Feature Sustainable Higher Education by the Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders (NVAO). This recognition affirms the deep commitment to embedding sustainability across the curriculum, research,…

Have you ever seen your friend smiling, and suddenly you started grinning too? PhD student Chris Riddell is researching how and why we copy body language. As a new Face of Science, he will take us along on his research journey for the coming year.

In July, Leiden will be hosting the EuroScience Open Forum conference. Humanities scholars from Leiden will make use of the opportunity to stress the importance of art in science. ‘Artists have the ability to show the consequences of science.’

Lecture, Faculty Lecture

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Study support, Study support

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Food security touches upon human rights, international law and sustainable development. These frameworks are not separate worlds but deeply interconnected; something that becomes painfully clear in times of climate crisis, armed conflict and inequality.

Questions to a European and International Human Rights Law alumnus episode 1: Christina Azzarello.

Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur for human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, visited Leiden Law School on 8 December within the scope of International Human Rights Day.

Angry politicians, angry journalists: the initiative of Forum for Democracy politician Gideon van Meijeren during which he secretly filmed a reporter portraying them as a ‘sewer rat’, caused a lot of anger. Where does all this commotion come from? Wouter Hins: ‘Calling a journalist a "sewer rat" is…

Lecture

Workshop

In the coming years, Hilde De Weerdt gets to spend over three million euros. She received grants from both the European Research Council (ERC) and the Dutch Research Council (NWO) for research on Chinese infrastructure. ‘It is great that it is also possible to develop large projects in the social sciences…

Neanderthals were able to outwit straight-tusked elephants, the largest land mammals of the past few million years. Leiden professor Wil Roebroeks has published an article about this together with his German colleague Sabine Gaudzinski-Windheuser in the Science Advances journal. The breakthrough takes…

Prof. Mark Leiser and a team of thirteen law students from Leiden University’s Advanced LLM programmes in European and International Human Rights Law as well as in Law and Digital Technologies together drafted a report for the UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom…

During the Late Pleistocene, Europe was a cold and unforgiving place to live. Even so, groups of early modern humans roamed around, just like their Neanderthal counterparts. It is unclear what kind of dwellings these people inhabited to shelter them against the elements, especially in regions without…

Postdoctoral researcher Veronica Tamorri and a PhD candidate Maia Casna held an online osteoarchaeological class for secondary school children. However, based on reactions, the exchange of ideas seemed to go both ways.

Rüya Akdağ is part of a research team with the aim of further studying social anxiety. The Leiden psychologist receives the grant for her doctoral research on the role of emotions and cognition in the emergence and occurrence of social anxiety in adolescents.

In 2021 the Leiden Osteoarchaeology Lab hosted an international workshop on methods to study past physical activity. It aimed to tackle a niche topic with the field: namely the method of studying muscle attachments to bone. Dr Sarah Schrader, one of the organisers of the workshop: ‘You can quantify…

Lecture

Digital diagnostic tools should improve the diagnostic process of patients with musculoskeletal complaints, so that they can receive the right treatment more quickly.

On Friday 9 July 2021 the graduation of the two-year Advanced MSc International Relations and Diplomacy (MIRD) programme took place in the Academy Building in Leiden. The ceremony was opened by Professor Madeleine Hosli.

A team led by Leiden University in the Netherlands and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory have, for the first time, robustly detected semi-heavy water ice around a young sunlike star. In this ice, some of the ordinary hydrogen atoms have been replaced by deuterium, a heavier variant of hydroge…

When following a course on archaeology of the Crusaders, five archaeology students were presented the unique opportunity to create a small exhibition at the National Museum of Antiquities. The coronavirus situation made a complex task even more challenging. ‘We had to work through the lockdown with…

What is the Leiden Leadership Programme? And why is it a worthwhile addition to your master’s? Alumnus Ruilin Ma gained more confidence in his capabilities through the LLP – but there were things he valued even more: ‘Proud to be part of such a warm community.’

Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile, researchers at Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands have for the first time detected dimethyl ether in a planet-forming disc. With nine atoms, this is the largest molecule identified in such a disc to date. It is also a precursor…

On Monday, 13 October, Jasper will travel to Brussels with a delegation from Key Region Leiden. Why is this collaboration important? And who will he be having dinner with that same evening in Voorschoten? Jasper shares his account of a long and interesting Monday.

UNESCO has recognized an international set of fifteen manuscripts about Ferdinand Magellan's first circumnavigation of the globe and the three Hikayat Aceh manuscripts as World Heritage. The manuscripts are inscribed in the global UNESCO Memory of the World Register. This list contains documentary heritage…