Combining cutting-edge quantitative approaches with more traditional book history approaches, this new book offers the first history of medieval manuscript destruction in England from the medieval period to the present.

To cover up their deportation plans which targeted Polish Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto, the Nazis re-opened schools. In her inaugural lecture, historian Sarah Cramsey demonstrates with examples how care was used ‘as a weapon’ during the Holocaust. She also stresses that care is a unifying cement in society…

For the third time, the Society for Nobility Studies will present the Virtus Thesis Award for Nobility Studies for the best (Research) Master’s thesis devoted to (an aspect of) the study of the nobility. To be eligible for submission, the thesis must have been produced in completion of an academic Master’s…

On 30 August 2024, 330 students received their Bachelor Diploma of International Studies. The students were awarded their diplomas in the historic Pieterskerk in Leiden. A large audience of about 1000 people consisting of friends, family, and staff members gathered to celebrate the graduates’ achievements…

The report of the Commission the Winter, a pre-study on violence against children in youth care, was launched May 17th 2016.

What does it mean to do “global research”? Global studies is an emerging field that focuses on transboundary, international, and global processes and systems, such as climate change, global social media, and globalization. These issues call for researchers to think beyond conventional state actors or…

The editors of the Journal of Sonic Studies are proud to announce that its 23th issue is online.

Navigation Lab Leiden has launched a study on the effects of the navigation training program we have developed, called Wayfinder. Milan van der Kuil is the main researcher on this project and studies how navigation ability can be improved in patients with acquired brain injury.

What's it like studying abroad? Noor Ismail and Charlot Oltmans share their experiences in videos made in Hhangzhou and Oslo.

The Department of Humanities of the University of Pavia will host the Third European Symposium in Celtic Studies from 7 to 9 September 2022. Papers are invited on any aspect of Celtic Studies, including language, literature, history, archaeology and culture from any period. Deadline for submission:…

How can the importance of the image in late medieval spirituality be understood in the context of the love mysticism inspired by the imagery of the Song of Songs?

The bachelor's programme in International Studies is celebrating its tenth anniversary. Ko Voskuilen was among the very first batch of students to follow the study, and Sophia Healy graduated this summer. How do they look back on their time at the university?

This collaborative project aims to explore the history of the concept “barbarism” in Europe from the 18th century to the present, with a particular emphasis on the role of literature and art in the concept’s shifting functions.

Last Friday, during the ELS Academy Annual Event, Loran Kostense (VU), Sofia de Jong (Leiden University), Rieneke Stelma-Roorda (VU) and Anne Verboom (Leiden University) were awarded a €5000 research grant to carry out research on comparing the method of case law reviews versus court file studies. In…

Students from the programmes Life Science & Technology filled out the most National Student Surveys (NSE) out of all Leiden Science students, the assessor announced on 16 March in the Science Club.

In collaboration with the The Hague Historical Museum and photographer Dagmar van Weeghel, Leiden University Libraries (UBL) is the first to present a retrospective exhibition of the photographic oeuvre of Alexine Tinne (1835 – 1869). New research into her life and work is the reason for a reappraisal…

An impressive 1,300 international students from 84 different nations got to know each other at the University in Orientation Week Leiden. Where do they come from and why did they choose Leiden?

On 20 September 2023 Mark van de Water successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

A ‘world class institute’ with a ‘vibrant atmosphere’, doing research on a continent that is ‘becoming increasingly important’. That is how Annetje Ottow, president of Leiden University’s Executive Board, described the African Studies Centre Leiden (ASCL) on its 75th anniversary celebration on 8 September…

From 5 to 14 May, the recently reopened NIMAR is organising a study trip to a number of places in Morocco in collaboration with the Leiden Islam Academy. The theme for this trip is ‘Islam, gender and citizenship’. Registration closed down a few weeks ago, but there was a great deal of interest among…

Twenty three students who obtained excellent results in the minor Intelligence Studies received the annual Kluitersprijs.

Did your grandfather or grandmother also study in Leiden? And your parents, uncles, aunts, brothers, sisters...?

Nineteen students who obtained excellent results in the minor Intelligence Studies received the annual Kluitersprijs.

On Tuesday 30 April 2024 Jonny Russell successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

Every year on 26 November Leiden University commemorates the protest speech given by Professor Cleveringa against the Nazis. At least 663 students, staff and alumni of the University lost their lives during the Second World War, yet little was known about these victims. PhD candidate Adriënne Baars…

More than 300 students received their Bachelor’s Diploma of International Studies on 31 August 2018.

In 1960, Albert Winsemius started to help the city state of Singapore achieve its rapid rise out of economic misery. He helped the Singaporean government understand how the Netherlands had managed to rebuild so quickly after the Second World War, with the help of the American Marshall Plan. PhD defence…

The Dutch museum landscape is among the most forward-thinking worldwide, in terms of innovations in engaging diverse audiences and stakeholders. Building on the museum studies and art history programmes at Leiden University, the Museum Lab explored conceptual and practical aspects of the museum as a…

In Uprooting the Diaspora, Sarah Cramsey explores how the Jewish citizens rooted in interwar Poland and Czechoslovakia became the ideal citizenry for a post–World War II Jewish state in the Middle East. She asks, how did new interpretations of Jewish belonging emerge and gain support amongst Jewish…

Counter-Discourse in Zimbabwean Literature is a study of specific aspects of counter-discursive Zimbabwean narratives in English. In discussing the selected texts, my thesis is based on Terdiman’s (1989) the postcolonial concept of counter-discourse.

On Thursday 10 April 2025 Wahyu Widodo successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

Religion, Philosophy, and the Pre-modern World

How do first-hand narratives of war of commanders in the front line relate to the official narrative of the Eighty Years’ War?

Leiden archaeologists investigate how people in the past impacted their environment. Together with scientists, environmental scientists, and humanities experts, they use this information to draw conclusions about the present – and show what we can learn from it for the future.

Organisation of settlement space and residence rules among the Taino, the indigenous people of the Caribbean encountered by Columbus

Leiden and The Hague are home to many museums with large numbers of artefacts and archives. Leiden University also and the Leiden University Library also house special collections. Museums, Collections & Society stimulates research and education and raises ethical questions regarding the collections’…

Imagine that you have a chronic skin condition, characterized by red patches of itchy, scaly skin. You regularly notice people staring at your skin and sense their reluctance to shake your hand. Or imagine that you have Parkinson's Disease, causing your hands to tremble and making it difficult for you…

In this project the already developed parcel based historical GIS (HISGIS) for the Dutch province of Friesland (Frisia) will be extended with a series of crucial datasets and map layers.

See below for the full programme and abstracts of all papers.

This is an Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility project of the Faculty of Humanities with three partners in Uzbekistan.

People in Asia increasingly feel the need for a strong identity. This is the consequence of developments such as globalisation and the realisation that Asian countries such as China and India are becoming new world powers. Professor Hilde De Weerdt studies how political ideas and national identity spread…

On 10 November Guanmian Xu successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

The ties between Leiden University and South East Asia, especially Indonesia, have been strong for centuries.

On the 24th of November Aditi Mukherjee successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.