For hundreds of years, children in Ancient Egypt learned to read using The Satire of the Trades, a text in which a father gives advice to his son through descriptions of different professions. PhD candidate Judith Jurjens investigated how this worked in practice.

The concepts of good and evil are expressed, from a lexical point of view, in different ways in different Germanic languages and at the same time they are declined in different forms depending on linguistic and literary traditions. Moving from theoretical backgrounds, we encourage…

In many Central and Eastern European countries, a period of greater openness emerged in the late 1980s. How did this affect the future perspective of residents? And can we learn anything from this period for our current times? University lecturer Dorine Schellens delves into the literature to investigate…

At the invitation of the Centre for Early Christianity and Its Reception (CECIR), Peter Liebregts, Full Professor of Modern Literatures in English (LUCAS), visited the University of Kent in Canterbury from March 17 to 20, to give a lecture and a masterclass.

The project aims to explore the history of the concept “barbarism” in Europe from the 18th century to the present. Responding to the contemporary popularity of the term “barbarism” in political rhetoric and the media, and the lack of reflection on the implications and legitimacy of its use, the project…

AMT’s mission includes encouraging innovative high-quality research in Leiden on Asia. On this page you will find an overview of AMT related research projects, grant possibilities, publications and vacancies.

Anti-establishment parties with populist appeal have become part and parcel of the political landscape in many European countries. Some of these parties are more successful than others. PhD candidate Tomáš Cirhan studied the rapid rise of ANO, the party of Czech prime minister Andrej Babiš. He concludes…

Reconstructing Later Prehistoric Societies in Northern Iraq (ca. 7000-3000 BCE)

The Leiden Leadership Programme (LLP) employs experts in the field of leadership. They equip LLP students with the necessary leadership knowledge, insights and skills to increase their social impact.

On 1 September 2017, Aurelie van ’t Slot passed the assessor’s baton to Olivier Fajgenblat. As the new Humanities assessor, this third-year student of Film and Literary Studies will promote students’ interests in the Faculty Board. Let’s introduce this ambitious Belgian student.

Children who lost their fathers in early modern England ran the risk of being sold to the highest bidder. Although Shakespeare wrote about it in his plays, the practice disappeared from collective memory for a long time. University lecturer Lotte Fikkers is bringing it back to light in a new Vidi research…

As part of the NWO-funded research project ‘The Multilingual Dynamics of the Literary Culture of Medieval Flanders, c. 1200- c. 1500’, we invite proposals for 20 minute papers addressing any aspect of medieval literature and literary culture. We welcome proposals from scholars at all career stages—and…

Spycraft, by professor Nadine Akkerman and Pete Langman has been selected by History Today and The Economist as one of 2024’s best books

This is an Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility project of the Faculty of Science with two universities in Armenia.

Our Institute’s research focuses on ‘global vulnerabilities and social resilience’. Specifically, we highlight three interconnected themes: diversity, sustainability, and digitalisation.

The Classics and Ancient Civilizations programme in Assyriology offers many extracurricular opportunities to enrich your study experience.

The Classics and Ancient Civilizations programme offers many extracurricular opportunities to enrich your study experience.

In this unique master’s programme you will first deepen your knowledge on specific areas of the world and then learn to reflect upon this in a global context.

Dive into the heart of archaeological science: explore the flora and fauna of bygone ages, study human bones and teeth, analyse the cultural biographies of material objects, or become an expert in the use of computational methods in archaeological research.

The Classics and Ancient Civilizations (Research) programme offers many extracurricular opportunities to enrich your study experience.

Learn about current approaches and ethical issues in heritage management and experience some of these in daily practice.

Within the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, research is organised in seven main research groups:

Ceramics and Society in the Aegean from the 7th to the 20th century A.C. A Case Study from Boeotia, Central Greece (2003)

Leiden University and the Municipality of Leiden worked together on the development of the Schilperoort Park. This new public space is situated in the north-eastern part of the Leiden Bio Science Park. The park ambience is extended into the adjacent residential area, where former medical laboratories…

Would you like to develop further and be challenged academically in your field or beyond? The Faculty of Humanities offers a wide range of courses to boost your career, learn new skills or broaden your knowledge.

This part entails the analysis of an extensive sample of animal bone (c. 30,000 pieces) retrieved from well-defined archaeological contexts of the early period at Tell Sabi Abyad, c. 6800-6200 BC. It comprises aspects of taphonomy, ageing and osteometry, the reconstruction of the local spectrum of domestic…

The fourth conference of Isis Studies was organised by Liège college and has now been published by Laurent Bricault and Miguel John Versluys.

The Classics and Ancient Civilizations programme offers many extracurricular opportunities to enrich your study experience.

The Classics and Ancient Civilizations programme in Egyptology offers many extracurricular opportunities to enrich your study experience.

The Classics and Ancient Civilizations programme offers many extracurricular opportunities to enrich your study experience.

The Classics and Ancient Civilizations (Research) programme in Egyptology offers many extracurricular opportunities to enrich your study experience.

What can languages spoken in the Lesser Sunda Islands today tell us about the histories of its various population groups?

This project, South American population history revisited: multidisciplinary perspectives on the Upper Amazon (SAPPHIRE), investigates population dynamics in western South America on the basis of traces in the geographical, genetic, archaeological, ethnological, and linguistic record.

The Classics and Ancient Civilizations (Research) programme in Assyriology offers many extracurricular opportunities to enrich your study experience.

The Classics and Ancient Civilizations (Research) programme in Classics offers many extracurricular opportunities to enrich your study experience.

Starting April 2026, Niels van Willigen will join the Institute of Political Science at Leiden University’s Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences as Professor by Special Appointment in Strategic Studies. This appointment was made possible by the Atlantische Commissie, which established this chair…

December 2020 saw the crowning publication of the Landscapes of Survival project by Professor Peter Akkermans. Its main topic is human habitation in marginal environments like the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula. ‘The people living here built their own society, and they would not have viewed it as…

From closed government systems in the Middle East to an exceptionally open Dutch government. Public administration lecturer Alex Ingrams is an expert on transparency: ‘Why are some countries secretive? And what role does technology play?’

Many Asian countries are in a process of democratisation. The expectation was that citizens would gradually gain more control over the functioning of their elites. Experts from Leiden have concluded that this process often fails to improve the quality of the administration. They researched the nature…

Academic staff and students blog about their research and teaching.

Creating an open and learning organisation requires strong leadership. HRM Learning & Development offers various training courses with a focus on the different leadership roles. In the coming year, they will further expand this offering.