We investigate the physics and design of mechanical metamaterial, intricately sculpted materials with properties set by their architecture.

Anna van Buerenplein, Anna van Buerenplein 301, 2595 DG, The Hague

This project, South American population history revisited: multidisciplinary perspectives on the Upper Amazon (SAPPHIRE), investigates population dynamics in western South America on the basis of traces in the geographical, genetic, archaeological, ethnological, and linguistic record.

Ineke van der Ham gave a lecture at the Nacht van de Ontdekkingen in Leiden. This year’s theme was ‘Time’ and Ineke discussed the work of the Navigation Lab Leiden and how time and space play a role in navigation.

The focus of our theoretical research is understanding the behaviour of soft condensed matter, physical matter which is deformed or structurally altered by thermal fluctuations or small stresses.

On 18 June, 2015, Erik Kwakkel was elected to the Comité International de Paléographie Latine (CIPL), a scholarly committee that specialises in the study of the medieval book.

What factors can explain the dynamics of de facto statehood in Iraqi Kurdistan at internal, national and international levels? What has been the nature of the de facto statehood in Kurdistan since its inception?

World Heritage status comes at a cost to the local population’s human rights. PhD Candidate Sophie Starrenburg explains the drawbacks of poetic terms such as ‘the cultural heritage of mankind’.

Van Steenis, Einsteinweg 2, 2333 CC, Leiden

A Persistent Revolution: History, Nationalism, and Politics in Mexico since 1968

How did free agents in the Dutch Republic react to the creation of colonial monopolies (VOC and WIC) by the States-General? This project answers this question by looking at the role individuals played in the construction of an informal global empire parallel to the institutional empire devised by the…

Van Steenis, Einsteinweg 2, 2333 CC, Leiden

On the occasion of prof Paul van der Heijden’s stepping down as Rector Magnificus and President of the Executive Board of Leiden University in 2013 the Chair bearing his name on Social Justice was established. It was a “farewell present” of the Leiden University to it’s Rector.

Anna van Buerenplein, Anna van Buerenplein 301, 2595 DG, The Hague

On Friday April 24th, after a day of festivities in honor of his 60th birthday, Hendrik Lenstra was awarded the distinction of `Ridder in de Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw' by the mayor of the city of Leiden.

Fenneke Sysling has recently launched a podcast: Het Gemeten Zelf (in Dutch). This five-part podcast series explores the history of self-tracking.

This volume sheds light on the role played by progeny in maintaining dynasties in early modern royal courts as well as the horizontal and vertical interplay between the actors. It attempts to break through the narrative of older research that saw dynasties as a series of male rulers. Instead, these…

From 1550 onwards, a great interest in the natural world developed across Europe. This interest was not only stimulated by a growing knowledge of local flora and fauna, but also by the import of numerous exotic animal and plant species. Think, for instance, of researches and collectors like Gessner…

Politically speaking, the Frisian coastal area constitutes a special case in late medieval Europe since it was not subject to an overlord as it withstood feudalization in the 13th century. Its many sub regions, which were dominated by elites of small noblemen and freeholders, long time succeeded in…

The Impact of Mobility and Migration in the Roman Empire assembles a series of papers on key themes in the study of Roman mobility and migration.

Chromatin is an ubiquitous protein-DNA complex that forms the structural basis of DNA condensation in all eukaryotic organisms.

The Rise and Decline of an Iberian Bourgeoisie is one of the first long-term studies in English of an Iberian town during the late medieval crisis. Focusing on the Catalonian city of Manresa, Jeff Fynn-Paul expertly integrates Iberian historiography with European narratives to place the city's social,…

What is the iconography of propaganda specifically as it relates to the historical development of political ideologies in modern Egypt and how was/is this propaganda disseminated among creative fields such as cinema, art, monuments, architecture, and literature?

For three millennia, carved sculptures were ubiquitous among ancient peoples in the Americas. Sculpted in stone, metal or wood, they developed into the well-known totem poles, colossal Olmec heads, royal Maya stelae and golden Inca statues.

Training a robot in a real-life environment is more or less impossible. Computer scientist and psychologist Roy de Kleijn switched to training in a simulated, virtual one instead. ‘You do have a reality gap, but the more precisely you train the robot, the better it is in practice.’ His inspiration:…

This project uses archaeological, literary and epigraphic evidence to investigate urban development in Roman-period North Africa, compiling this in a GIS-linked database in order to analyse the development of urban settlement spatially over time.

Crime is men’s business, isn’t it? Women are responsible for 10 percent of crime in Europe. Yet, if we look at the Dutch Republic in the early modern period, we find that in the towns of Holland women played a much larger role in crime.

Episode 5 of BOLDcast, the podcast of the Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Centre for BOLD Cities, discusses the evolution of libraries from simple lending points for books to places where people can come together and brush up on their digital skills. The guests in this episode are Frank Huysmans, associate professor…

This work focuses on the interpretation of the archaeological remains of the Mixtec culture in Southern Mexico on the basis of the knowledge, perceptions, economy and worldview of contemporary descendant communities.

On the28th of September Didi van Trijp successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

A History of Modern Political Thought in East Central Europe is a two-volume project, authored by an international team of researchers, and offering the first-ever synthetic overview of the history of modern political thought in East Central Europe.

The central aim is to systematically study differences in gendered crime patterns in the records of different types of courts in various English and Dutch cities in the early modern period.

Reijer Passchier, universitair staatsrecht en hoogleraar digitalisering en de democratische rechtsstaat aan de OU, waarschuwt in HP/De Tijd hoe weinig controle we werkelijk hebben over kunstmatige intelligentie, terwijl machtige bedrijven steeds meer invloed krijgen op onze democratische samenleving…

In nearly every Dutch primary and secondary school classroom, at least one child is bullied. The common perception is that the most popular child in the class is often the bully, while less popular children are more likely to be bullied. Is this image accurate? Bullying researcher Mitch van Geel knows…

Political scientists Huib Pellikaan and Niels van Willigen (Leiden University) use and elaborate on the theoretical insights from game theory in order to understand nuclear security in changing environment. Now that the relations between the US and Russia have deteriorated and smaller nuclear states…

Political scientists Marijn Nagtzaam (Leiden University) and Patrick van Erkel (University of Antwerp) investigate how electoral rules affect intra party preference voting. Focusing on the effect of two specific rules—the option to cast a list vote and on a single versus multiple preference vote—and…

A clear majority in the UN confirmed that states are obliged to combat climate change. 141 countries voted in favour, 8 against, including the US, Russia and Saudi Arabia. Associate Professor Jason Rudall explains the implications.

The central aim is to systematically study differences in gendered crime patterns in the records of different types of courts in various Dutch cities in the early modern period.

This critical edition covers the first two parts of De secundis intentionibus by Hervaeus Natalis (14th century).

How did learned natural historical inquiries into the underwater world develop in eighteenth-century Europe?