Leiden University is the oldest university in the Netherlands and enjoys an excellent worldwide reputation, built on more than four centuries of outstanding teaching and research. The university has two locations: Leiden and The Hague. Our Science for Sustainable Societies programme is located in Le…

The international bachelor's programme in Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology covers three years, allowing you to establish a firm foundation and specialise in topics that you find interesting.

Leiden University offers ambitious students a world-class environment in which to reach their full potential.

In 2014 Hans-Martien ten Napel received a Research Fellowship in Legal Studies at the Center of Theological Inquiry in Princeton, NJ. The book he wrote as a result of this fellowship was published last week by Routledge Law.

On March 6, Annelise Reid was granted the Speckmann Prize 2017 for best MA thesis of the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology. Annelise Reid wrote her thesis on the Dutch Pentecostal community. Erik de Maaker was her thesis supervisor.

In her “Jews and Judaism” lecture class, Dr. Sarah Cramsey’s students produced 7-minute long podcasts instead of final papers.

At 1 January 2019 NISIS will move from Leiden University to Utrecht University. Dutch research schools have to change host universities after a certain period and now it is time for NISIS to move.

Dr. Rafal Matuszewski, assistant professor at the ancient history department of the Institute for History, has been awarded an Early Career Partnership by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW).

Tolerance and democracy are not our European values

Are you a teacher (history, social studies, religion, philosophy, geography, etc.) and do you have questions about the relationship between citizenship and Islam? Consider joining NIMAR's study trip to Morocco.

The Catholics were by no means pitiable victims over the two centuries that they had to practise their religion underground, Caroline Lenarduzzi writes in her PhD dissertation. They managed to keep their faith alive from the mid-sixteenth to the mid-eighteenth century. PhD defence 25 October.

Every year, an outstanding lecturer receives the Faculty Teaching Prize from the teaching committee. The prize is awarded during the official opening of the academic year on 7 September. This year, students nominated eight candidates.

Five lecturers from Leiden University have received a Comenius teaching award. With the grants they can carry out an innovation project.

Everyone benefits when cooperation runs smoothly However, people often act obstructively. Why do they do that? Professor of Social Psychology Carsten de Dreu researches this issue using a wide variety of methods, from brain scans to the role of religion. Inaugural lecture 7 October.

Zār jewellery from Egypt can be found in many museums and private collections in the West, but for a long time very little was known about it, except that it was used in rituals to protect against spirit possession. PhD candidate Sigrid van Roode has explored its history and discovered that the jewellery…

On Friday 9 September, Jeanin van Hooft, Professor of Gastrointestinal and Liver Diseases, will deliver her inaugural lecture titled: 'The scope of connection'. She emphasises the value of collaboration and connection for scientific research. In addition, she pleads for more diversity; according to…

When I posted the post below on the LUCSoR Twitter account a few months ago, I didn’t fully realise how aspirational that final sentence would be: ‘raise a toast with us for the next 10 years!’.

We are saddened by the news of the unexpected passing of prof.dr. Pieter Sjoerd van Koningsveld on 28 July 2021.

With the passing of Henk Jan de Jonge on 16 April 2022, Leiden University has lost one of its most characteristic, learned and devoted professors.

The Netherlands and Morocco: relations between the two countries go back a long way. Assistant professor Nadia Bouras is researching these relations. Of Moroccan migrant workers, she says, 'In the seventies the predominant idea was that everyone had the right to their own culture and religion. That's…

The Reformed Church removed preacher Caspar Coolhaes - Leiden’s first Professor of Theology – from office because of his advocacy of tolerance. PhD candidate Linda Gottschalk sheds new light on this controversial preacher.

How can we promote social cohesion in a society that is culturally and religiously diverse?

Knowledge of Islam and of Muslim societies is indispensable when trying to properly understand the globalising world, as well as changing Dutch society. Researchers from Leiden are therefore immersing themselves in the languages, culture and religion of Muslim societies. Their work and insights can…

The Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance and Society (VVI), in collaboration with the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV), will organize a two day conference on the continued importance of adat law in present day Indonesia on 22 and 23 May 2017.

It is one of the most personal and simultaneously most universal experiences of human life: caring for a young child. Professor Sarah Cramsey has been awarded an ERC Starting Grant to investigate how factors such as nationality, political systems, and religion influence the first thousand days after…

Can suffering be positive? Currently dominant discourses, primarily voiced through human rights activism and humanitarianism, maintain the opposite: suffering, mentally and physically, has to be avoided and where it exists, it has to be reduced.

On 11 October 2019, the 5th CML Rev. on Tour conference took place in Paris, at the beautiful Salle des Conseils in Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas University.

Histories, Philosophies, and Communities

The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research has awarded a grant of 750,000 euros to the 'Visualising the Unknown in 17th-century Science and Society' project. Researchers will reconstruct how seventeenth-century scientists recorded and shared their groundbreaking microscopic discoveries. We…

Three young researchers from Leiden have received an Early Career Award from KNAW for their innovative research. The award consists of the sum of 15,000 euros and an artwork.

Prof. Zangenberg came to Leiden in 2006 as Professor for New Testament and Early Christian Literature and is now Chair for the History and Culture of Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity.

The Austria Centre is pleased to welcome Dr. Lena Sadovski as a visiting scholar who will do research at Leiden University for a few months in 2023. We asked Dr. Sadovski a few questions about her doctoral work, her future research and what she wants to achieve during her time at Leiden.

LUCSoR is happy to welcome Verena Myer, researcher and lecturer in Islam in South and South-East Asia to the staff. In this interview she will discuss the course she is teaching, as well as her upcoming book.

In line with tradition, the opening of the academic year will see the presentation of the LUS Teaching Prize to the University's best lecturer. Get to know the nominees. This week: Kim Beerden.

PhDArts candidate Ruchama Noorda will graduate on Wednesday 9 December 2015

Leiden alumnus Emma Govaart (24) wanted to make an impact on society, so she took a job in the non-profit sector after graduating.

With her Veni research, investigator Rosanne Baars from the Institute of History aims to demonstrate that women played a role in the eighteenth-century diplomatic circles of the Ottoman Empire. ‘We already know that one woman led the entire embassy.'

Bachelor's students Larissa van Beckhoven, Eeke Brussee and Mirjam de Haan were granted the Speckmann award for their Fieldwork NL report ‘Een Tastbaar Mysterie’ (supervisor: Bregje ter Meer). Alumnus Markus Enk received the Master's Speckmann award for his innovative thesis called ‘Do spirits resist…

This year, LUCIS adapted the programme of its popular annual Middle Eastern Culture Market into an evening version, featuring a lecture, book discussion, and music.

On 29 November 2019, Christa Tobler gave a lecture in Brussels on the new case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union in the field of gender discrimination.

Leiden’s Religious Studies ranks 40th place in the QS World University Rankings by Subject.

Two books that recently appeared in the Debates on Islam and Society series at Leiden University Press are now available in Open Access through the Knowledge Unlatched initiative.

The deadline for applications for the NISIS Autumn School has been extended until Monday 24 September 2018, 9.00 hours (CET)!!

New PhD opportunities in Medieval and Neo-Latin Studies, a collaboration between the Institute of Greek and Latin Studies, Faculty of Arts, Charles University, and the Institute of Philosophy, Czech Academy of Sciences. Deadline for application: 31 March 2025.

Dr. Sarah Cramsey, University Lecturer Judaism & Diaspora Studies, has been awarded an Early Career Partnership by the KNAW.

On 14 and 15 November, the LUCIS Annual Conference takes place in Leiden. Scholars from diverse backgrounds will come together to share their research on all branches of Shiʿi Islam.

Point of departure of this meditation on the ethical role of sounds and silences within Christian rites and other religious practices is the documentary Into Great Silence. It is an intimate portrayal of the everyday lives of Carthusian monks of the Grande Chartreuse, a monastery high in the French…