The Trojan War plays an important role in Greek mythology. But there is much more to Troy than mythology. The exhibition ‘Troy. City. Homer. Turkey’ can be viewed from 7 December to 5 May 2013. Leiden linguist Alwin Kloekhorst wrote an article for the exhibition catalogue on the language of Troy.

Luuk van Middelaar and Vestert Borger, both affiliated with the Europa Institute of Leiden University, have recently been awarded a research grant by the Statesman Thorbecke Fund Programme of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). The aim of the fund is to promote knowledge about…

On 1 November 2018, Rina Visser-Rotgans obtained her doctorate with her thesis on ‘Veranderend kunstenaarschap. De rol en betekenis van de kunstenaar in participatieve kunstpraktijken’ (Artistry evolving. The function and definition of the artist in participational practices of art). Rina’s research…

Skilful watercolours by botanical painter Esmée Winkel, anatomical flower models and the odd stunning real orchid. In the Extraordinary Orchids exhibition at Oude UB, the Hortus botanicus shows us the wonderful world of the orchid.

'Don’t Let the sunny weather fool you' a film made by Visual Ethnography alumna Guusje Meeuwissen has been selected for the RAI film festival in London this year. It's a short film about the everyday lives of a farmer and a fisherman in the Philippines, and their capacity to adapt to a changing natural…

Professor Craig M. Crews of Yale University (USA) is the recipient of the 2025 Havinga Medal.

On Tuesday 19 March Major General (ret) Patrick Cammaert gave a guest lecture about peacekeeping to the students from Leiden University Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs. The lecture was made possible by the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA).

Prof. Ton Liefaard and Chrisje Sandelowsky-Bosman visited Curaçao to launch de Caribbean Center for Children’s Rights and present research.

Salvador Santino Regilme has been selected for a fellowship at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study (NIAS) in Amsterdam. From September 2022, he will spend 5 months at NIAS working on his research project titled 'The Normative Order of the Global War on Drugs'.

On 14 October 2019 the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) convened a one-day International Business Diplomacy workshop, which was held under the auspices of The Hague Journal of Diplomacy.

A team of Dutch and Scottish researchers led by Simon Portegies Zwart (Leiden University) has found an explanation for the chaotic behavior of the orbit of Halley's Comet. The findings are accepted for publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

LUC The Hague celebrated the graduation of the Class of 2016 on Friday 1 July 2016 at the Royal Theatre (Koninklijke Schouwburg) in its home city – The Hague. Around 600 guests were present to witness the conferring of the degrees and ‘the turning of the tassel ceremony’ of the 143 (of a total 162)…

The Young Academy Leiden (YAL) is an initiative of the Leiden members of The Young Academy of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. It fits very well with the recommendations issued by the working group Rankings and Toptalent last year in their report on academic excellence and talent…

On 28 February, Professor E.W. Meijer, member of Leiden University’s Board of Governors, was appointed Commander in the Order of the Dutch Lion.

Biology student Britt van Kasterop has received a Holland Society Young Talent Award for her excellent results in the first year of study. The online awards ceremony took place on 30 November.

Berthe Jansen receives an Early Career Award from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) for her research on Buddhism and law in ancient Tibet. She receives the prize, an amount of 15,000 euros and an artwork, for her innovative research.

Maghiel van Crevel has been elected member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). The professor of Chinese Language and Literature will be installed on Monday 12 September 2022.

The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) has awarded a KNAW Early Career Partnership 2023 to Philippe van Gruisen for interdisciplinary research on (labour) migration from a broad perspective on societal wellbeing.

Highland Bhutan is facing unprecedented challenges from a combination of climate change, new economic opportunities, and changing cultural aspirations of its residents. Today, what does highland heritage constitute, to who, and how does it matter?

The Faculty of Archaeology has a new Centre of Archaeological Studies in Italy.

Three of the four Heineken Young Scientists Awards for 2022 have gone to researchers from Leiden: chronobiologist Laura Kervezee, physicist Jordi Tura i Brugués and health psychologist Liesbeth van Vliet.

What is life like as an academic? Twelve PhD candidates will report on their daily work in videos and blogs on the Faces of Science website (in Dutch). They include three researchers from Leiden who are researching topics such as North Korean support for African liberation movements, how differently…

Leiden physicist Bernard van Heck is one of the seven young Dutch scientists who will be travelling to the 65th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting. Promising young scholars from all over the world have the opportunity to meet with Nobel Prize winners at this famous science conference.

On Thursday 7 February 2019, the graduation ceremony for the executive master programme Cyber Security took place at The Hague Security Delta (HSD). The Cyber Security programme is a collaboration of University Leiden, Delft University of Technology, and The Hague University of Applied Sciences. A total…

PhD candidate Sibel Bahtiri is one of the new Faces of Science. In videos and blogs, she will show what life is like as a young researcher.

With Dies Natalis (Foundation Day) approaching, our year-long 444th birthday celebrations are coming to an end. We ran numerous activities, from a manhunt to an exhibition, and all our doctoral defences were given a 444 twist. A peek behind the scenes at the creatives and makers who helped make our…

Three Dutch research institutes - including the Leiden University’s KITLV - will conduct a follow-up study on the use of violence during the Dutch East Indies war of decolonisation (1945 – 1950). The government has designated 4.1 million Euros for this study.

A unique app that connects the city of Leiden with similar spots on the other side of the world, in Indonesia. This is what the Leiden tour app 'Envisioning Indonesia' offers. Leiden alderman Paul Dirkse will launch the app on 19 June with the first public walking tour. Join and see Leiden from a different…

Biopharmaceutical sciences master's student Nicole ter Laak has won the KNMP Studentenprijs 2023. She wins the prize for her research project on dosing guidelines of antibiotics in newborn babies with a very low birth weight for gestational age.

Alex West’s dissertation,

An international team of astronomers, including Leiden's Maciej Bilicki, has discovered an enormous supercluster of galaxies. The supercluster had previously been overlooked because it was obscured by our own Milky Way. The researchers are publishing their findings in the Monthly Notices of the Royal…

Van Es is the successor to Professor Huijgen whose retirement is approaching after nearly 27 years’ professorship. This new appointment is from October 2022, but Van Es has been working at the faculty for some time.

Over 1600 astronomers and space scientists will gather online from 29 June until 3 July for the annual meeting of the European Astronomical Society (EAS). The virtual meeting will also host NAC 2020, from 1 July until 3 July: the 75th Conference of the Royal Netherlands Astronomy Society (NAC).

Alice Twemlow has been named professor by special appointment in the Wim Crouwel chair in the History, Theory and Sociology of Graphic Design and Visual Culture at the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Amsterdam.

From 23-25 April 2014, a conference will be held on the topic of Buddhism and Social Justice. This conference confronts the common perception of Buddhism as intrinsically a tradition of peace and justice, and explores the various ways in which historically Buddhist societies of Asia have shaped, transmitted,…

On Tuesday 26 May 2020 professor H.U.E. (Bonno) Thoden van Velzen passed away.

Professor Ian Lilley, the Faculty of Archaeology’s Willem Willems Chair in Archaeological Heritage, was invited by Her Excellency Mrs. Marion Derckx, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Australia, to present the 2022 commemoration speech for Netherlands Memorial Day on May 4th at the Netherlands-Australia…

From 5 to 15 April 2024, a course on graffiti in Italy between the seventh and sixteenth centuries will take place at the Dutch Royal Institute in Rome (KNIR). Applicants are encouraged to apply before February 4, 2024.

Multi-channel sound and video installation of the on-going project: Decomposing Landscape (2014 -).

On 24 and 25 April 2025, the Trippenhuis in Amsterdam — home to the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) — hosted an interdisciplinary workshop organized by dr. Rafal Matuszewski, an ancient historian at the Institute for History in Leiden.

Our own Dr. Martin Berger has been accepted as a member of the Young Academy Leiden! He is thrilled with his appointment. ‘I am honored to be accepted as a member of the Young Academy Leiden and am looking forward to working together with other scholars from across the University.’

Bernardo Almeida will give a webinar on Building land tenure systems in Timor-Leste on February 18, 2021, from 15.30 - 17.00. This webinar is organised by the KITLV.

Application deadline: October 1, 2021

Research conducted by Dutch news programme ‘Nieuwsuur’ into the work carried out by Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands for victims of the childcare benefits scandal raises many questions. Legal experts are puzzled as to how the Cabinet at the time assigned the tasks. Geerten Boogaard, Professor…

From gay rights in Asia to water management in the Philippines and from the Silk Road to current tensions with North Korea. Come to the Tour of Asia on 14 September to find out all you wanted to know about Asia and more.

The Dutch Research Council (NWO) awarded behavioural biologist Hans Slabbekoorn (Institute of Biology Leiden) a grant of 750,000 euros to study fish and sounds around wind farms in the North Sea.

Professor of Cognitive Psychology Mariska Kret has been awarded the Dr Hendrik Muller Prize by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) for her pioneering research into emotions. Kret: ‘This prize offers a wonderful opportunity to give a boost to emotion research.’

The Rutte IV cabinet will be sworn in soon. A fifth of the prospective ministers and secretaries of state studied in Leiden. Who are they and what did they study?

Ten Leiden students have received a prize from the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities (KHMW). They were nominated by their degree programme. Who are these students?

Last Thursday, the April edition of the ILS Lunch Seminars took place. This well visited seminar took on a slightly different format, since we had the honour of receiving Leandro Mancano from the University of Edinburgh.