We are pleased to provide an update on progress and recent developments related to the Kernvisie. Several milestones have been reached and major steps have been taken. Now, we can look ahead to the important Kernvisie implementation year 2024-2025. Some milestones:

Alumni and researchers met at two well-attended alumni dinners in Yogyakarta and Jakarta. The alumni reminisced about their time in Leiden and got to see their lecturers once again.

How can chimpanzees, so closely related to humans, have almost no sense of rhythm? ‘The best students ever’ and behavioural biologist Michelle Spierings demonstrated that chimps can actually drum and move rhythmically—each following their own unique beat.

A new academic year means new courses. And that inevitably requires all sorts of new skills: academic writing, searching for sources, setting up a research project... The Science Skills Platform is packed with useful information. This way, you can easily help your students on their way.

After a successful career as a singer, Esmee Schoones started studying French a few years ago. It resulted in a national award for her thesis on musical arrangements of Verlaine's poems and a job teaching French.

As a student, Ratna Lachmansingh wrote her thesis on horror films. Now she is the director of Leiden International Film Festival.

Alumnus Rennie Roos lives and works in Indonesia. What took him there, what does he do there and what inspires him?

Haar hele leven wilde de geadopteerde Cindy Huijgen terug naar haar geboorteland China. Inmiddels is de alumnus Chinastudies en Journalistiek en Nieuwe Media er correspondent.

We need to dispel the arrogant and misguided idea that modern humans are superior to earlier human species. It is thanks in part to all our predecessors such as Neanderthals that we are who we are today. This is what Marie Soressi, Professor of Hominin Diversity Archaeology, will argue in her inaugural…

While studying Indonesian languages and cultures, Rennie Roos started a company. Today he has been working in Indonesia for more than eight years. Where does his love for this country come from? And how does he look back on his studies? ‘I actually wanted to become a pilot.’

How can universities and research institutions, businesses and government bodies in the Leiden region drive ‘broad prosperity’?

Klare taal en betere regels rond geheimhouding. Dit zijn enkele aanbevelingen van Leidse onderzoekers om de toegang tot informatie te verbeteren voor burgers die procederen tegen de overheid. Bestuur en rechter moeten zo vroeg en zoveel mogelijk informatie delen.

The family of the famous diplomat, sinologist and writer Robert van Gulik has donated his personal archive and part of his collection to Leiden University Libraries (UBL). The collection and archive provide insight into the life and work of Robert van Gulik, who became known to the general public for…

At the end of March, the Voice of the Child conference launched three films on children’s hearings in European family law courts to support judicial training in child-friendly justice. Researchers from Leiden University have developed a training manual to accompany courses in the EU.

The programme for the interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary event The Knowledge Orchard has been announced. This anniversary event consists of more than 20 sessions aimed at providing you with practical next steps in your interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary work. Register now!

Lecture, SMILE series

Lecture | Leiden Lectures on Arabic Language & Culture

Conference, Brainstorm

Lecture

Arts and culture

Lecture, Comparative Indo-European Linguistics (CIEL) Seminars

Lecture, Com(parative) Syn(tax) Series

Lecture, Workshop

Lecture, CHiLL series

Conference

Lecture, LAC Asia Academy

Lecture, Book presentation and Q&A

Lecture

Lecture, CHiLL series

Leiden University has had a diversity policy since 2014. The aim is to create a diverse and inclusive learning and working environment for all students and staff. Diversity Officer Aya Ezawa updates us on the process and the results. It’s now 2022, what has already changed?

Lecture, Herta Mohr Lecture

With its FestivOWL theme, Orientation Week Leiden (OWL) promises to be one big festival for new international students in Leiden.

The University Council gives the Executive Board (un)solicited advice and helps decide on important topics. For example, permanent contracts for lecturers and the workload and well-being of our students and staff. It’s an important organ, but many staff have no idea what it does. ‘I think it’s great…

Quentin Bourgeois, Associate Professor of European Prehistory, will assume the position of Vice-Dean for Education at the Faculty of Archaeology of Leiden University as of 1 February 2026, for a term of four years. Quentin Bourgeois succeeds Alex Geurds, who became Dean of the Faculty on 1 January 2…

Over 40 hard-working programme directors and chairs met for the first time in the Academy Building on 27 October to exchange knowledge and experience and gain new inspiration. Rector Magnificus Hester Bijl opened the meeting with an update on strategic developments in higher education.

More than a course. That was the aim of the Leiden Tutoring programme. Through weekly tutoring lessons, students did not just earn five EC. They helped Dutch primary-school children from neighbourhoods with a low socioeconomic status.

Three lecturers from Leiden University have been awarded a 100,000-euro Comenius Teaching Fellowship within the scope of the Senior Fellows programme. The grant will enable them and their project teams to carry out their own teaching innovation project.

Matheus Mendes was awarded the 12th Jaap Doek Thesis Prize at a ceremony on 13 December 2024 for his thesis on the right to read. The prize honours outstanding master’s theses in children’s rights.

The renovated Arsenal building, part of the Humanities Campus, has been in use since April 2020. The building was officially opened on Monday 13 June by Martijn Ridderbos, Vice-Chairman of the Executive Board, and Mark Rutgers, dean of the Faculty of Humanities.

Indira Huliselan recently joined the Institute for History as a PhD candidate within the research project 'Roman Fake News? Documentary Fictions in the Roman Empire'. Below, she introduces herself.

The appointment of Alex Geurds as Professor in Central American Archaeology reinvigorates an existing focus within the faculty. 'The research chair offers opportunities to make cross-connections, across departments and disciplines.'

‘I’m setting Academia in Motion by fostering inclusive practices and enabling data reuse and sharing, with both researchers and students.’ With these words Naomi Truan, Assistant Professor of German Sociolinguistics at the Leiden University Centre for Linguistics, highlights how she is helping to support…

How do you get more interaction with your students during class? Paz Gonzalez has devised a method by which she gives her students an active role during class, turning (even large-scale) lectures into a seminar.

Almost 3,500 visitors came to Master’s Open Day in Leiden and The Hague.

Six researchers from Leiden University have been awarded NWO Open Competition funding.

Music lovers are welcome at this free open-air concert celebrating 450 years of Leiden University, on Sunday 6 July. This special jubilee edition of the Rapenburg Canal Concert will feature a unique orchestra made up of our students, staff and alumni, performing on a floating stage.

Bob de Brabandere discovered his deep passion for cinema through a minor in Film and Theatre Studies. He currently serves as Assistant Manager at Bioscopen Leiden and as a programmer for the Leiden International Film Festival, which commences on 9 October.

Five Leiden researchers have been awarded a Consolidator Grant by the European Research Council (ERC). This grant of up to two million euros will enable them to continue and expand their scientific research.

The world’s attention will shift to China as the Communist Party is set to hold its five-yearly congress beginning on 16 October. We talk to Senior University Lecturer Florian Schneider about how its leader Xi Jinping is expected to cement his place as the country’s most powerful leader since Mao Ze…

The Leiden African Studies Assembly (LeidenASA) held its Annual Meeting on 12 December. LeidenASA is the network of Leiden based Africa-researchers. Fifteen researchers gave pitches on their projects, and sketches of Leiden University's Africa strategy were outlined.