Assistant Professor Christopher Green was interviewed on ABC Australia about the recent COVID-19 outbreak in North Korea. Green says that the statistics the isolated country has given are ‘essentially nonsense’.

At the Leiden Institute for Area Studies (LIAS), scholars have been studying the Indian subcontinent with attention and expertise for more than 100 years. This part of South Asia is an economic giant with a population of over two billion. Nira Wickramasinghe, Professor of Modern South Asian Studies,…

For the first time in the Netherlands, an exotic insect species is released into the wild to combat a harmful plant species. The Japanese knotweed psyllid should offer relief against the rampant Asian knotweed. Suzanne Lommen of the Institute of Biology Leiden coordinates the field trials.

The CADS Asia Research Cluster extends the legacy of the Institute’s Asia focus into the future, as an important hub in international networks on the study of Asia and through active engagement with colleagues in Asia. Within the Institute the Asia Research Cluster offers a platform for anthropologists…

Thanks to its early civilisation and continuous mix of influences, the Muslim world has a rich and varied culture. The study of material culture, books, stories, films and increasingly television series teaches us about the structure of modern-day Muslim societies.

Democratic citizenship refers to the capacity and willingness of citizens to actively influence the functioning of state institutions. While considered a vital correlate of democratization and the rule of law, its largely western-oriented literature rarely studies the forms of democratic citizenship…

The ‘Locke drawings’ collection and the representation of Brazilian native peoples in global perspective

The motto of the Institute for History is: ‘Global questions, local sources.’ Its researchers use local sources to find answers to major historical questions. Without historical analysis, it is impossible to understand and explain the issues in society today. Leiden itself has a rich history, with big…

This Global and Comparative Philosophy master’s programme is unique in Europe. It offers comparative perspectives from around the world that will enable you to be part of the next generation of thinkers: someone studying and shaping philosophy for a globalised 21st century.

Interdisciplinary research program exploring Indonesia's sustainable futures through innovative methods, focusing on energy, food, water, digital society, public health, and heritage.

Most people know what law is. But what it should be or where it comes from is what interests the researchers from the Institute for the Interdisciplinary Study of the Law. Key to their approach are topics that go right to the heart of philosophy of law. What is a state? What are the limitations of…

This seminal volume covers the entire global history of urbanization since the rise of cities in Mesopotamia in the 6th millennium BC. Leiden historians Wim Blockmans, Leonard Blussé, Luuk de Ligt and Leo Lucassen contributed survey and thematic chapters.

To promote a sustainable partnership with Asia, it is important to gain a better understanding of each other in economic, socio-cultural, historical, and legal terms. For decades, scholars from Leiden have made a significant contribution to the acquisition of knowledge about both the present and the…

What are the impacts of digital educational resources on rural teachers and their teaching in China?

Organisations such as the EU are of enormous benefit to the member states, but the inhabitants of the member states are often unaware of this. Leiden researchers investigate whether international organisations such as the EU or ASEAN are able to influence global politics.

Common challenge: unique circumstances

Our library contains around 23,000 books, journals and historical documents under the care of a specialized librarian.

Browse the latest articles and issues of Inter-Section.

This 4-year research project focuses on vernacular and unacknowledged heritages of the highlands of Bhutan. It seeks to make a major contribution to the preservation of these heritages, to create a cultural resource for current and future generations.

Regulating Relations: Controlling Sex and Marriage

Shafa’Atussara Silahudin defended her theses on 18 May 2021.

Our institutes abroad are instrumental for Leiden’s internationalisation activities.

Your time at Leiden is about more than just studying. Some of your best experiences will stem from being a part of our lively and diverse student community, as well as from life in the beautiful city of Leiden.

Leiden University offers ambitious students the latest knowledge and the freedom to develop their own area of expertise.

Are you ready to take on an extra challenge during your Leiden Bachelor programme? With options like Honours College, The Humanities Lab and the Academy of Creative and Performing Arts (ACPA) you can add extra depth, intensity and ECTS – even a dual degree – to your study.

The Leiden University Institute for Area Studies (LIAS) is devoted to the study of places in the human world from antiquity to the present time in a comparative and interdisciplinary perspective.

LIAS welcomes Visiting PhD Candidates and Visiting Researchers (post-PhD) from around the world who are interested in working with LIAS scholars and/or making use of the Leiden University Library’s holdings in Middle Eastern and Asian Studies for their research. Information about the application procedure…

Leiden University offers ambitious students a world-class environment in which to develop their area of expertise.

Master

Our team is committed to the study of knowledge in its broadest sense, encompassing both ideas and practices in all its historical variety. We look at what people regarded as knowledge, how they created, collected, circulated and used it, also why it mattered to them, and how all this was embedded in…

This project studies how Islamic charitable networks in seeking to address global needs position themselves as universalist projects, entangled with Western humanitarianism and neoliberal welfare regimes. It seeks to understand how and to what extent contemporary transnational Islamic charitable networks…

As we think it is important for you to choose a programme that truly suits you, matching is a compulsory part of your application.

Investigating epistemic and ethical practices in medical experimentation on humans in the colonial period in Southeast Asia.

Every year, an outstanding lecturer receives the Faculty Teaching Prize. Lecturers are nominated by students, and a jury – comprising students and lecturers – decides who will receive the prize. The prize will be awarded during the official opening of the academic year on 7 September. Meet this year’s…

Sometimes fascination can lead to in-depth research. Such is the case with Wahyu Widodo, who came across the Islamic Walikutuban ritual in Java in 2019, on which he subsequently wrote his PhD dissertation. Widodo: ‘Besides community, it also breeds political loyalty’

When it comes to literature, people mostly talk about what characters see or hear. Rarely is it about what they smell. That’s a shame, thinks university lecturer Jan van Dijkhuizen. He has been awarded an Open Competition grant from NWO to expand academic knowledge about scent in literature, and to…

Call for Papers for the conference Relocating Governance in Asia: state and society in South- and Southeast Asia, c. 1800-2000, Leiden University, 22-24 January 2020.

VVIK Lecture

Below are some examples of ACPA projects that have a meaningful impact on arts and society. This page will be refreshed every now and then, presenting projects that exhibit how artistic research can significantly contribute to the way we perceive, understand, and relate to the world and to other pe…

Knowledge and culture subproject 4:

In the 19th century, Old English poems were claimed as cultural heritage by various non-Anglophone nations, including Scandinavians, Germans and Dutch. These competing nationalistic, cultural appropriations happened against the backdrop of a growing interest in early medieval English language and literature…

Conferences, Workshops and Lectures showcasing research and tools in Digital Humanities.

This programme adopts a new approach based on the paradoxical nature of these responses in early modern Italy: it draws on rhetorical discussions of lifelikeness and living presence, and it uses the anthropological theory of art as agency developed by Alfred Gell.

The Journal of the LUCAS Graduate Conference was founded in 2013 to publish a selection of the best papers presented at the biennial LUCAS Graduate Conference, an international and interdisciplinary humanities conference organized by the Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society (LUCAS). The…

Maria Boletsi has received a fellowship from the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study (NIAS) within the framework of the Theme Group Project The Politics of (De)familiarization: The Common and the Strange in Contemporary Europe.

To truly understand Dutch literature, we have to look beyond borders. At least, that is the view of Sander Bax. From 1 August, he will be Professor of Contemporary Dutch Literature and Culture in a Transnational Dynamic.

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

Following the success of the Dutch version, the podcast 'Scandal and Controversy in Russian Literature' is now also available in English. Senior University Lecturer Otto Boele guides listeners through eight infamous texts in this version.

Leiden University Libraries invites you to the public lecture by Ted Underwood, Visiting Scaliger Professor. This lecture will be held on Thursday 21 November, from 16.00-17.00 in the Lipsius building, Room 0.19, Cleveringaplaats 1, Leiden. Afterwards, you can meet the new Visiting Scaliger Professor…