How did the Arabs manage to maintain an empire based on Islamic principles for three hundred years? Arab expert Petra Sijpesteijn and her team will be examining this question over the coming five years, focusing on the correspondence of ordinary people. The research is being funded by an ERC Consolidator…

The launch meeting of the Leiden Islam Academy on 7 December in the Academy Building drew just the right audience: a diverse group of people who were all in some way engaged with Islam. This was just what the directors of the Academy, Maurits Berger and Fatiha Azzarhouni, were hoping for.

Nicole van Os won the Academy Kiss 2022. Van Os, study coordinator and advisor who also chairs the Delegation of Workers' Organizations in The Local Consultations of the AOb teaching union, won the award because of her commitment to the cause of giving language teachers permanent contracts, over hiring…

The renovation of the South Cluster has been in full swing over the recent period. As the completion date approaches, no later than 1 April, we're excited to provide you with a glimpse of the current state of the building.

‘Qasr Bshir is magnificent even in decline. It sits majestically in the landscape, master of all it surveys. On approaching the site, however, it is clear that the structure is damaged’, states the latest issue of the journal Current World Archaeology.

Pre-Islamic Arabia was barren, barbaric, and isolated. At least, that's what many Arabic writers and historics argued. Ahmad Al-Jallad debunks this myth. For this, he received the Gratama Science Prize during the opening of the academic year.

Master studies History, Classics, Russian Studies and Dutch Studies have received the label ‘top programme’ in the Keuzegids Masters of March 2018. The study guide bases its results on the opinion of students (through the National Student Survey) and experts (NVAO).

The Udhruh archaeological project in Jordan was recently visited by Diala Dabbas for her program ‘Helwa ya Donya’ (which translates to ‘Beautiful Universe’). Helwa ya Donya is one of the most viewed television programs in Jordan and deals with many Jordanian topics, one of which is the current research…

The University of Groningen is looking for an assistant professor in Medieval history for 1,0 FTE. Deadline for applications, 23 March 2025.

I am Sijmen Wals and this semester I'll be the new intern at the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo.

On Tuesday 19 March, Chris Suijker (Director of Real Estate) handed over the key of the Herta Mohr Building to Saskia Goedhard (Executive Director of the Faculty of Humanities), officially transferring the management of this building to the Faculty of Humanities.

We are delighted to welcome Elisabeth Faber as our new intern for the Fall semester 2022.

How can you figure out if a skeleton is male or female? How did they brew beer in the distant past? Visitors to ArcheoHotspot could examine archaeological finds and taste prehistoric drinks at the Faculty of Archaeology.

For over six centuries, the Tatars have been part of Poland’s social and cultural fabric. In this 8-episode series, released weekly, professor Maurits Berger and assistant professor Ewa Górska explore how this Muslim minority has maintained its identity across generations, how Islam is practiced in…

The board of the Netherlands Institute for the Near East (NINO) has agreed on June 27 on a plan for closer collaboration with Leiden University and the National Museum of Antiquities (RMO). The plan includes the launch of a NINO research institute with an annual budget of approximately 300.000 euro.

Medievalism is the area of academic study that investigates the reception and reconstruction of the medieval past since the Middle Ages came to an end.

To be eligible for Italian Literature and Culture at Leiden University, you must meet the following admission requirements.

To be eligible for German Literature and Culture at Leiden University, you must meet the following admission requirements.

How can theories about modern disinformation help to understand how Roman documentary fictions functioned?

To be eligible for English Literature and Culture at Leiden University, you must meet the following admission requirements.

The specialisation in Translation at Leiden University offers a unique combination of translation theory, research and practice. This prepares you for either a further academic career or a professional career in the language industry. If you aspire to become a translator, subtitler, terminologist, linguist,…

In 2024, Professor Joanita Vroom received a substantial grant from the Packard Humanities Institute (PHI) in support for her Hinterlands of Medieval Chalcis Project (HMC Project) in Greece. PHI, a California-based non-profit organization, is dedicated to archaeological research as well as to the preservation…

The Assyrian Empire was the first state to achieve durable domination of the Ancient Near East, enduring some seven centuries and, eventually, controlling most of the region. Yet, we know little about how this empire emerged from a relatively minor polity in the Tigris region and how it managed to consolidate…

While phenomenology and Yogacara Buddhism are both known for their investigations of consciousness, there exists a core tension between them: phenomenology affirms the existence of essence, whereas Yogacara Buddhism argues that everything is empty of essence (svabhava). How is constructive cultural…

The premier LUCIS lecture series, running since 2021. Each year, two eminent scholars visit Leiden to deliver landmark lectures in Islamic and Middle East Studies. This forum for presenting and discussing cutting-edge research brings together researchers, students, and other interested participants…

Religion, Class, and the Postwar Development of the Dutch Welfare State. Dennie Oude Nijhuis.

As an alternative to the diving board shaped force sensor, we are now developing a magnetically levitated small superconducting particle – or ‘Lead Zeppelin'' – as our mechanical resonator. We explore routes towards detection of gravity between small objects.

What are the historical roots of the indivisibility of pledge and hypothec?

Kralen spreken tot de verbeelding. Ze zijn aantrekkelijk en persoonlijk vanwege hun kleuren, materialen, patronen en associaties. Je draagt ze op je lichaam, waar je ze voelt en anderen ze zien. Kralen zijn waardevol en verplaatsbaar, tegelijkertijd reizigers en souvenirs.

This book offers a comprehensive analysis of China's global resurgence and its effects on U.S. dominance.

The Faculty of Archaeology produces several journals

This volume is themed around the interdependent relationship between humans and the environment, an important topic in the work of Corrie Bakels

A functional study of chert artefacts from preceramic sites in Colombia (2002)

As a student or staff member at Leiden University, do you want to organise a meeting and invite an expert? We advise you to contact one of these institutes.

A Study of Middle Palaeolithic Riverside Settlements at Maastricht-Belvédère (The Netherlands).

This dissertation assesses the influence of British Celtic on the phonological development of English during and shortly after the Anglo-Saxon settlement period, ca. AD 450-700.

In a modernist interpretation of migration controls, nation states play a major role. This book challenges this interpretation by showing that comprehensive migration checks and permanent border controls appeared much earlier, in early modern dynastic states and empires, and predated nation states by…

The Disticha Catonis by Catenaccio of Anagni. A text in vernacular from Latium (late 13th - early 14th century)

The research contained in this dissertation explores the origins of fire making in prehistory, focusing primarily on the fire use practices and fire production capacities of Neandertals.

Law is of major importance for socio-economic development. Ideally, law organises human interaction in a way that promotes justice and legal certainty and protects vulnerable groups from exploitation and arbitrariness.

Osteoarchaeology is a rich field for reconstructing past lives in that it can provide details on sex, age-at-death, stature, and pathology in conjunction with the cultural, social, and economic aspects of the person’s environment and burial conditions. While osteoarchaeological research is common in…

Roman Nijmegen is not only the largest archaeological micro-region in the Netherlands, but also one of the most extensively excavated settlement complexes of the Roman period north of the Alps.

The Patriot behind the pot tells the story of pottery, people and politics in the Netherlands during a time of great revolutions -revolutions both in a political and industrial sense.

This book is a celebration of the work of Professor Frans Theuws and was published in conjunction with the symposium held at the University of Leiden on June 29, 2018.

Lecture

More focus on diversity in Antiquity, workshops for students with disabilities, and a card game to share stories about diversity: these and other projects will receive funding from the JEDI Fund in 2023.

Between 25 April and 1 May 2026, Luc Sels, President of the Executive Board of Leiden University, paid a week-long visit to Cairo highlighting the growing strategic importance of Egypt in international academic cooperation and the increasingly central role of Leiden University’s institutes abroad as…