The faculty's research on the ancient rock art found in Jordan's Black Desert has recently been covered by several news and science websites.

Together. If we look back on the corona crisis some time from now, that will have been the keyword in the political communication, says Arco Timmermans. Having allies is imperative, especially in these times.

Nadine Akkerman released her new book Invisible Agents in July 2018. View the reviews on BBC History and Telegraph UK. Keith Simpson added it to his summer reading list recommendations.

On 1 March 2023, the Dutch Safety Board (Onderzoeksraad Voor De Veiligheid, OVV) published its report on the protection provided by the Dutch security services and lessons learned from three cases. The OVV was highly critical of the use of key witnesses and the protection offered to them. Jan Crijns,…

The numbers of asylum seekers and the direct family members hoping to join them were not the problem, says Mark Klaassen. The stumbling block was the housing market. He says the asylum crisis is being used for electoral gain.

How to understand the simultaneously dis- and reappearance of letters in contemporary culture, and how does this Neo-Epistolarity relate to media-technological change?

Associate professor Salvador Santino Regilme spoke in various media outlets about the tensions between the United States and Venezuela.

Assistant professor Daniel Schade of Leiden University was a guest on various German-language media outlets, discussing the state of the Schengen Agreement after 30 years.

For decades, the trade in pocketbooks prescribing how to be a good Muslim flourished in East Africa, but in recent years the number of books in circulation has been declining. University lecturer Annachiara Raia is the recipient of an Impact Explorer grant to revive this tradition, in cooperation with…

Minims are letters that are made up of short, vertical pen strokes, such as 'm', 'i', 'n' and 'u'. In Gothic script, there is often little distinction between letters composed of minims. Assistant professor of medieval literature Krista Murchison has written an article in History Today on the hidden…

Nadine Akkerman's book Spycraft, which she co-wrote with historian of science Pete Langman, has garnered top publications, with reviews featured in The Telegraph, Literary Review, The Spectator, History Today, and the Times Literary Supplement.

Saniye Çelik, Professor by Special Appointment of Diversity, Inclusion, and Policing at Leiden University, has received the Woman in the Media Award at Beeld & Geluid in Hilversum. She was selected as the winner by the jury from three female experts with the most votes.

AI has huge societal and economic potential and is widely used. But it also brings challenges: how do we combine human values with AI, how do we make AI more transparent and understandable, and what can AI and human cognition learn from each other, for example about language learning?

This project is situated within the context of an innovation of the biology curriculum in Dutch secondary schools. The main purposes are (1) to clarify the relation between teachers’ practical knowledge and the decisions they make when planning and implementing their lessons and (2) to develop a professional…

The Swahili coast has a long-standing history of transoceanic Islamic connections dating back to the 25th century. Yet, print, has changed the world – not only ours. This project unravels unique forms and archives of intellectual history emerging from within South-South connections. In East Africa Indian…

Promotor: W.Th.F. den Hollander

On 1 May, Casper de Jonge will be appointed Professor of Greek Language and Literature. ‘Greek literature did not come from Athens alone: authors from Egypt, Syria and Asia Minor also wrote in Greek.’

On 14 February, the second student edition of Mediaforum, journal of media and communication law, was festively launched with a symposium in the Academy Building of Leiden University. During the symposium, the student authors, some of them from our own ranks (Roosmarijn Altink, Roosmarijn Niesing and…

From 2 to 6 June 2014, Prof. dr. Frank den Hollander has provided 2 lectures during the workshop ‘Recent Models in Random Media’ at the Centre International de Rencontres Mathematique in Marseille (CIRM). This center facilitates workshops for mathematicians throughout the year.

Research often theorizes about young adults and their social media use. John Boy wants to investigate social media platforms by talking to users rather than talking about them

From 17 to 19 September, the University of Granada organized the 27th International Conference of the Spanish Society for Medieval English Language and Literature (SELIM).

How interest groups, differences in policy issues and institutional differences between countries affect whether public opinion is translated into policy?

As of November 1st 2019, Sybille Lammes, Professor of New Media and Digital Culture, will be the new academic director of the Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society (LUCAS). She succeeds Anthonya Visser, who has been the institute's academic director since 2014. It is a three year-long appointment.…

In 2020, Leiden University launched its stimulated interdisciplinary programs, including one focused on regenerative medicine.

The research team

Leiden University's Citizen Science Lab supports and organizes initiatives where anyone can get started with scientific data and research. This is how we enrich research with insights from the community, make science accessible to all, and tackle important local issues together.

Career and apply for jobs

Nadine Akkerman recently appeared as a guest on a BBC podcast and the History Extra podcast to discuss her book Spycraft. In these interviews, she delved into the fascinating world of espionage, sharing insights from her research and highlighting key themes from her work.

In Harper’s Magazine, reviewer Dan Piepenbring discusses the latest book by professor Nadine Akkerman and Pete Langman. ‘Spycraft’ showcases how and why messages were ciphered in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England.

'Consider languages in their shared context.' That is the message of Professor and Arabist Beatrice Gründler, who will receive an honorary doctorate from Leiden University on 8 February. ‘I would like people to learn that Arabic history has a close connection with Europe.’

Yeast, alpacas, and antibodies. They may seem unrelated, but within the project of the Leiden iGEM students, they come together perfectly. For the international synthetic biology competition iGEM, the team is working on an innovative method to produce nanobodies—a special form of antibodies—using brewer’s…

From 6 to 9 May the Law's pluralities conference was held at the Justus-Liebig-University in Giessen. Highly interdisciplinary in the areas of literature, art and law.

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…

Lecture, Studium Generale

Online content can be harmful to democracy and the self-regulation approach is no longer adequate, claims Professor Tineke Cleiren in an opinion piece in Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant.

Whether implicitly or explicitly, we all have ideas about how the law is supposed to function, whose interests it should represent, and what role it should play in society. This project explores the ways in which these questions are addressed in the works of the Roman historian Publius Cornelius Tacitus…

Never before has so much research been carried out on the therapeutic effect of psychedelic drugs. Researchers at the LIBC Public Day are happy about the effect the drugs can have on depression, anxiety and PTSS, but at the same time they have some doubts. ‘The hype is bound to crash before long.’

Grass, nettles, dandelions: we should banish them from our gardens, right? Wrong! Weeds can help cool, fertilise and increase biodiversity in your garden. In this episode of The University of the Netherlands, biologist Nienke Beets lists the advantages of more green in our villages and towns.