What did PhD ceremonies look like through the centuries? From a plush thesis cover and ornate graduation prints to a historic gown, wax seals, and menu cards: Hora est! showcased the doctoral ceremony in its most festive, formal, and surprising forms.

The purpose of LENS is to foster, coordinate and support research of visual media of analog and digital photography, film, and video, and the visual arts.

If you have a question, there are various ways to get in touch with us.

The journey of sugar from east to west

Leiden houses the oldest university in the Netherlands, 13 museums, and 23 kilometres of canals with 88 bridges.

Study information

Study information

Want to know more about the MA/MSc Archaeology and experience what it’s like to study in Leiden? There are a number of activities that can help you choose your study.

Do you want to apply for this master’s programme at Leiden University? Find out how to apply for your programme by following the step-by step guide below.

Yearbook of Women's History.

As a universalist category, humanity is no longer the monopoly of Western humanitarianism. The central objective of Entangled Universals is to study how Islamic charitable networks in seeking to address global needs position themselves as universalist projects, entangled with Western humanitarianism…

Impressions by Martin Küster, Master of Arts.

Leiden’s expertise on the Middle East spans from ancient history to contemporary tensions in the region. By studying languages, cultures, religions, literature, art, and philosophy in in conjunction, we create an indispensable, in-depth understanding.

On the basis of the characteristic aspects of a picture, certain computers can tell us what the picture is showing. They can learn this in the same way that young children are able to learn to recognize images. Further improving these techniques opens the way to a whole range of new applications. Biology…

In the master’s programme in Archaeology, you can follow courses on the archaeology of the Americas, deepening your understanding of this large region.

What would a university be without its students? In 2025, we will celebrate 450 years of studying with an exhibition showcasing our students from the past centuries. How did they study in the past? And how do they study now? This outdoor exhibition will be on display from 23 April at the Hortus bota…

Who doesn't love to turn on a horror film on a rainy evening? Fortunately, it is only fiction - or is it? According to university lecturer Evert Jan van Leeuwen, modern horror says more about our society than we think. He has been nominated for the Klokhuis Science Prize for his research into addiction…

How are law and governance in China responding to rapidly changing circumstances, and what does that mean for the relationship between the state and its citizens?

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration receives the 2021 Royal Astronomical Society Group Achievement Award. In April 2019, the EHT team presented the first-ever photograph of the shadow of a black hole. Leiden professor Huib-Jan van de Langevelde has been director of EHT since last year. Three…

Tarlach McGonagle has been appointed as Professor of Media Law in the Information Society as of 1 May 2019. The Chair is established by the Leiden University Fund (LUF) and is situated within the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law.

Last week, Dr. Joris Larik, Assistant Professor of Comparative, EU and International Law at Leiden University College and convener of the International Justice major, gave a presentation at the Second World Meeting of Societies for International Law at the Peace Palace in The Hague.

On 15 July 2019 Hans-Martien ten Napel started a new series on freedom of religion or belief for the London School of Economics research-led interdisciplinary Religion and Global Society Blog.

Societal challenges call for a resilient society. In taking steps towards a more resilient society, friendships play a major role. But how exactly do friendships relate to resilient behavior? In Dutch opinion magazine Vrij Nederland, Anne-Laura van Harmelen (professor Brain, Safety and Resilience at…

At the recent Historical Keyboard Society of North America Conference which took place from 22-26 June in Hunter New York, Kathryn Cok, Phd was nominated and elected to the position of Vice-President from July 1st by distinguished American and international colleagues.

Leiden has much to celebrate: first, 450 years of the Relief of Leiden and then 450 years of Leiden University. And that is no coincidence.

Past, Present and Future of Nubian Communities in Sudan

The MA in Middle Eastern Studies provides intensive and comprehensive training to prepare you for a range of careers requiring specialist language, cultural, or political knowledge.

Research conducted in this group aims at furthering our understanding of how communities and individuals deal with social change, conflict and trauma through remembrance and commemoration as well as forgetting in the arts.

How can archaeological datasets reveal the interplay between past indigenous understandings of the surrounding world and resilient and sustainable ways of life in the Isthmo-Colombian Area?

Worldwide, countries are barely prepared for major borderless crises such as extreme natural disasters or other unexpected calamities that destabilise society, Professor of Political Science, Arjen Boin, warns. In his inaugural address on 23 October he makes some recommendations.

Joop van Holsteyn, Professor in Political Behaviour and Research Methods (Leiden University Institute of Political Science), joins the Dutch Electoral Council.

On 28 and 29 May, Carlotta Rigotti, postdoctoral researcher at eLaw, held a workshop on fairness and diversity bias in AI-driven recruitment at the annual symposium of the Japanese Society on Artificial Intelligence (JSAI) in Hamamatsu, Japan. The workshop was organised as part of the BIAS project in…

Dr. Anke Klein, head of the Knowledge Center for Anxiety and Stress in Youth (KAS) and Associate Professor at the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, has been appointed as faculty lead of the Leiden Healthy Society Center (LHSC) on behalf of Leiden University.

On Friday, November 7, 2025, the Leiden Jewish Studies Network together with the Leiden Interdisciplinary Migration Seminars (LIMS) and the MA Programme Governance of Migration and Diversity invited the German-Jewish writer, curator and activist Max Czollek to a conversation on his work.

Conference

Faculty Lecture

Thalia Hoffman is a visual artist and researcher working in film, video, performance, and public interventions in the area she lives in, east of the Mediterranean. In 2020 she graduated from the Leiden University PhDArts programme, with the thesis Guava, a conceptual platform for art-actions.

The main research question of this PhD project focus on how educational policies and practices can contribute to the promotion and understanding of archaeological indigenous heritage among teachers and students in the Caribbean?

Open up a world of opportunities with your master's degree in Archaeology from Leiden University!

With an MSc degree in BPS and Science Communication & Society you are well prepared for a broad array of career prospects in research or industry. The master’s degree is an excellent preparation for a career at the interface of science and public affairs.

Seven large reproductions of works by Rembrandt on seven University buildings in the centre of Leiden reveal the relationship between the painter and the University. Rembrandt van Rijn enrolled in the University in 1620 and painted the portraits of various alumni of the University. The exhibition runs…

The Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL) is an internationally oriented institute for research and education in biology. We are part of the Faculty of Science at Leiden University.

Rembrandt painted this Flora, the Roman goddess of spring, in 1635. She is on display above the archway leading from the Academy Building to the lush flora of the University’s Hortus Botanicus. Rembrandt, who had his own cabinet of curiosities, almost certainly knew this botanical garden, the oldest…

Book by Dr. Mariana Françozo resulting from her research into the collection of count Johan Maurits of Nassau-Siegen, governor of the Dutch colony in Northeastern Brazil between 1637 and 1644.

The Faculty of Archaeology ranks as the best on continental Europe and is in the top ten of the world. Our master’s degree in archaeology offers the most diverse programme of its type in the Netherlands.

The Faculty of Archaeology ranks as the best on continental Europe and is in the top ten of the world. Our master’s degree in archaeology offers the most diverse programme of its type in the Netherlands.