Welcome to Leiden University

Exploring logging's real impact: Insights from Anthropologist Tessa Minter in the Solomon Islands.

They first entered the Academy Building fifty to sixty years ago. On 28 March, they were back for an afternoon: the members of the Dr Pfiffikus debating society of the German Studies programme. Former chair Hans van der Veen looks back on his student days.

Sacrificing yourself for the greater good: in China, martyrdom and hero worship have been strongly encouraged by the Communist Party for the past decade or so. University lecturer Vincent Chang tells us more about this far-reaching development.

What developments preceded modern Standard Dutch? PhD candidate Iris Van de Voorde conducted research on ‘pluricentricity’, or the idea that language norms arise in different places and spread outwards from there. PhD defence on 19 April.

Debate, Paneldiscussie

Van studenten verwachten we dat ze kritisch lezen. ‘Maar hoe dan’, zeggen ze. ‘Je leest een artikel en het klinkt allemaal logisch en overtuigend, waarom zou het niet waar zijn.’ Psycholoog Anouk van der Weiden wil studenten leren om artikelen kritisch te lezen. En meer, daarvoor ontvangt ze een Co…

Photographer and Visual Ethnography alumna Wilke Geurds captured special encounters during her travels. As an anthropologist, Wilke is always curious about other countries, people and cultural customs. That curiosity forms the core of her new photo exhibition, which can be seen during the Kunstroute…

What can you do about sustainability in your immediate living environment? On Thursday afternoon, April 14, the Museum Volkenkunde in Leiden was filled with policymakers, researchers, entrepreneurs, citizens, students, and even the mayor of Leiden. Leiden University and the Association of Dutch Municipalities…

Lecture, Comparative Indo-European Linguistics (CIEL) Seminars

LUC historian Jacqueline Hylkema unmasks forgeries from the early modern Dutch Republic in the research project "Mapping the Fake Republic".

Lecture, LUCL Colloquium

Lecture, SMILE Talks

Conference, workshop

Lecture, Descriptive Linguistic Seminars

Rik van Gijn was appointed professor of Ethnolinguistic Vitality and Diversity in the World from 1 December 2024. He is keen to use the position to set up research on language vitality. ‘People almost never give up their mother tongue entirely voluntarily.’

Five thousand years before the common era (BCE), Proto-Indo-European, the mother of many languages that are spoken today in Europe, Central Asia and South Asia, originated in eastern Europe. PhD candidate Axel Palmér has combined a 175-year-old hypothesis with new techniques to demonstrate how descendants…

Why are health problems such as loneliness and obesity so persistent? What causes them to occur more frequently in some neighborhoods than others? And how can we solve them? You will learn about these topics in the new minor 'Co-creating a Healthy Society'.

Today marks the start of RoRI’s Phase 2. With our international consortium of partners, we’re excited to launch another five years of generating, synthesising and translating ideas and evidence into practical solutions to improve research.

What does the future of student welfare look like? Throughout this academic year, our faculty has been working hard to answer that question. Ruben van Gaalen, study coordinator, and Femke Weerdmeester, student of Dutch Language and Culture, look back on the past and towards the future.

The Voices of Africa platform is ten years old and has just recently won the annual popularisation prize of the Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics (LOT). High time for a chat with Jenneke van der Wal, Maarten Mous and Nina van der Vlugt about the importance of the platform and plans for the…

Connecting generations, reducing loneliness and slowing mental decline: these are goals of the Oud Geleerd Jong Gedaan foundation’s lectures, which are given by students. What is it like to be a student giving these lectures? And what do the seniors think of them?

Professor André Baranski is a champion for improving organ procurement. He believes there should be standardised training and certification for procurement surgeons. This is what he said in his inaugural lecture on 16 April.

Eduard Fosch-Villaronga from Leiden University has been awarded a Starting Grant by the European Research Council (ERC). This grant of 1.5m euros enables talented early-career scholars to start their own pioneer project, lead a research team, and implement their best ideas at the frontiers of their…

He makes music, goes to the athletics track twice a week and, according to his supervisor, has done his research so well that it would not be out of place in a PhD research. Physics and astronomy student Hidde Stoffels' undergraduate research on the properties of dark matter is of such high quality…

How would you convert Egyptian hieroglyphs into Latin script? And what is actually the correct translation of dishes on a Vietnamese menu? On Saturday 28 January, high school students from all over the Netherlands will come to Leiden to ponder a series of language-related puzzles. Their goal? To win…

Ben Kuipers is benoemd tot hoogleraar Publiek Leiderschap bij FGGA. De leerstoel Publiek Leiderschap (0,2 fte voor een periode van vier jaar) wordt extern gefinancierd vanuit het samenwerkingsverband VPL (Verder met Publiek Leiderschap) en is ingebed in het Leiden Leadership Centre (LLC)

Leiden’s ‘Learning with the City | On Location’ knowledge store opened its digital doors in Leiden-Noord on 8 February. This is where students, residents and professionals can work together on social issues.

University lecturer Gerlov van Engelenhoven was to be a guest in one podcast by culture maker and anthropologist Yanise Zijlstra on intangible heritage. The collaboration went so well that they are now making a short film together for young people.

It is with the greatest sadness that we have learned of the unexpected passing of Emma de Rijke. Emma was a student in the MA Asian Studies, having finished the BA China Studies just before she enrolled in the MA program in February 2024.

Mini organs-on-chips allow us to study how diseases develop and how drugs work. Although the technology is not new, it is becoming increasingly advanced. PhD candidate Bart Kramer hopes it will eliminate animal testing in the future.

Individuals with a mild intellectual disability often experience loneliness more frequently than others. In a new NWA project, social history lecturer Paul van Trigt is collaborating with and for them to find a suitable approach.

Specially for an experiment conducted by Leiden University, public administration experts and water authority officials came together in a laboratory.

During the final meeting of the Thesis Project on 10 February at 'Pand Zuidwest' in The Hague, several students presented their theses. Students from different disciplines conduct research on formulated practice-oriented challenges in The Hague South-West. 'The Thesis Project provides a connection between…

Last Thursday, March 6, Sabine Luning passed away after an illness of more than six months. Sabine was an inspiring teacher who enthused generations of anthropology students with both the theoretical side of social science and the practice of intensive fieldwork. As a researcher, she produced innovative…

Brothers and sisters within a family, with the same parents, experience their upbringing differently. As well as the impact of their own negative experiences, the way siblings experience their upbringing also plays an important role in anxiety and depression. This is the conclusion reached by Marie-Louise…

Minister of Digitalisation Alexandra van Huffelen will give a guest lecture on the government’s ambitions in the field of digitalisation on Monday 12 September. Bram Klievink, professor Digitalisation and Public Policy and founder of The Hague Centre for Digital Governance will act as mediator. ‘Digitalisation…

Leiden professor of Cellular Immunology of Parasitic Infections Maria Yazdanbakhsh receives the prestigious NWO Spinoza Prize this year. This, in many ways, border-crossing scientist contributes with her research to more effective vaccines against parasitic infections and better medication for inflammatory…

During the kick-off meeting, master students taking part in the Thesis Workshop The Hague Southwest presented their thesis ideas to stakeholders from the neighbourhood.

Jan Melissen, associate professor at ISGA and editor-in-chief of The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, and his team have been awarded 10,000 euros from the 'Valued' fund. This pilot fund, implemented by the KNAW (Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences) aims to increase the interaction between science…

Ramsey Albers wins Political Science Master’s Thesis Prize 2022