In his art, Rafael Martig shows how drastically human activity changes nature. Fieldwork during his studies reinforced this view. ‘On Ameland I found masses of meadow birds, but the greenery on the mainland was often a grass desert.

As Professor of Literature, Culture and Law, Frans Willem Korsten explores the interplay between literature and law. These are two disciplines that most people wouldn’t immediately connect, but Korsten can see a lot of common ground between them. ‘A fictional story can have a huge impact on law.’

A plant that takes metal from the ground all by itself: a natural way to mine or to clean the soil. PhD student Roderick Bouman (Hortus Botanicus Leiden) described a new plant species from Sabah, Borneo, which can be used to extract nickel. In an open access article in Botanical studies, he and the…

Arie Verhagen said farewell as the chair of Dutch Linguistics and is appointed as the new chair of Language, Culture and Cognition.

A linguistics journal based at Leiden University has risen to the ranks of the top-10 journals in the Humanities.

The climate crisis, the return of TB and the digitisation of cultural heritage. The Netherlands and Indonesia face many of the same challenges. A visit by a delegation from Leiden University to Indonesia at the end of June highlighted the benefits of cooperation.

In an essay published in three prominent European newspapers, Professor Luuk van Middelaar takes a close look at Europe’s role in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. ‘Europe shows plenty of political energy, but what is still lacking is strategic cool-headedness, in facing a nuclear power.’

On 16 April, an edition of Zembla, the Dutch documentary programme produced by BNNVARA, investigated the connection between Thierry Baudet, leader of Dutch political party Forum for Democracy and the Kremlin. Ben de Jong, visiting lecturer at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, was interviewed…

Two years ago, Russian tanks crossed the border into Ukraine. The war seems to be getting closer and closer. Is it time to dust off and reintroduce military service? Our students have their say.

On 1 January 2019, Gijsbert Rutten became LUCL’s new Director of Education. We asked him about his plans.

Marian Klamer's LAISEANG project has been awarded a research grant by CLARIN.

A newly opened museum in China appears to be devoted to the origins of the Austronesian-speaking peoples, who some 5000 years ago spread from East Asia across the Pacific, seeding it with a distinctive culture and some 1200 languages. But those displays are also a statement in the long-running dispute…

On November 22 in Arusha, Tanzania, the Council of Ministers of the East African Community (EASC) endorsed the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as its seventh Partner State.

The Vrouw Vennepolder near Oud Ade has been transformed into the Polderlab. Scientists and students from Leiden University, together with farmers and citizens, investigate how to manage peatland in a sustainable and profitable manner. A great opportunity for students to experience how scientific knowledge…

At the end of the 7th century something curious occurs in Northwestern Europe. Suddenly, people start burying the dead next to their dwellings instead of in communal cemeteries. Professor Frans Theuws recently published a book on this phenomenon. ‘We wanted to know if the study of these farmyard burials…

Missions to the moon have become popular again. In just one week, a lunar mission from Russia failed while India landed a spacecraft in a historic first. Companies, too, want to go to the moon. But can anyone just go to the moon? Tanja Masson-Zwaan explains the rules of international space law on Dutch…

On November 22 in Arusha, Tanzania, the Council of Ministers of the East African Community (EASC) endorsed the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as its seventh Partner State. This meeting, chaired by Kenya’s EAC Affairs and Regional Development Cabinet Secretary Adan Mohamed, represents one of the…

Land van Ons, a cooperation that buys agricultural land for the restoration of biodiversity and landscape, and Leiden University join forces. Together, they will investigate over a longer period of time which agricultural management leads to the best restoration of biodiversity. The research will start…

The Mesoamerican research group 'Time in Intercultural Context: the indigenous calendars of Mexico and Guatemala' funded by the ERC and directed by prof. dr. Maarten Jansen, met up in Mexico from the 13th until the 23rd of February for a field seminar in the states of Tlaxcala and Hidalgo.

Yiya Chen has been appointed professor of Phonetics at Leiden University as of March 1, 2020.

As of this October, linguist Roberta D'Alessandro is appointed as Member of the International Council for Science (ICSU) Committee on Freedom and Responsibility in the conduct of Science (CFRS).

Professor Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade has been awarded a fellowship at Clare College at the University of Cambridge from February to August 2011. She will use the opportunity to pursue her research on the relationship between the history of grammar writing and actual usage.

The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) has awarded LUCL researchers prof.dr. Lisa Cheng and dr. Anikó Liptak a Vrije Competitie grant for their research project

Professor Nivja de Jong has been included in the list of most influential scientists by Elsevier Data Repository. This list of scientists with the highest impact is compiled annually based on citations. De Jong appears on the annual list for the third consecutive time.

Join us at the second edition of the Making Matters symposium, which will take place on Friday 20 and Saturday 21 November 2020 at Het Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam and online.

The research project of Jos Raaijmakers is nominated for the Huibregtsenprijs 2022. The researcher of NIOO, with a guest appointment at the Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL), is one of six nominees. On the Evening of Science & Society (Dutch: Avond van Wetenschap & Maatschappij), 10 October 2022, the…

This year, microbiologist Arthur Ram will start new research on producing useful enzymes in bulk. Ram receives an NWO grant for this project that will find its applications in the industrial biotechnology and food industry.

In a closed room in the Van Steenis building, hundreds of boxes are waiting under fluorescent lights for someone to come and see them. The jumble of handwritten and printed labels unveils how often the collection has been reorganized, moved and rearranged. Boxes full of potsherds and pottery, human…

Friday 30 January 2015 were the final presentations of the last course of the Minor Sustainable Development.

De bevolkingsgroei daalt, de fiscale voordelen voor expats zijn niet aantrekkelijk genoeg en te weinig geschikte arbeidskrachten. Peter Wennink van techreus ASML, is niet blij met het ondernemersklimaat in Nederland. ASML dreigt met een vertrek naar het buitenland.

NASA is offering to buy lunar samples collected by companies for a token sum primarily to set a precedent for space resource rights on the moon. However, there is not international consensus on the U.S. position on the rights to extracted resources.

On 26 and 27 September 2023, the conference

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Professor of International Relations and Diplomatic Affairs at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, says we must block and expel Putin wherever possible.

Sasha Lubotsky, professor of Comparative Indo-European Linguistics, and Ineke Sluiter, professor of Classical languages and culture, have been appointed members of the Academia Europaea.

Many of our staff and students have won prizes over the past year. Others have been awarded a subsidy, or, because of their eminence in their field, they have been appointed members of academic societies or have taken up positions in the community. Reasons enough to be proud of them and to include them…

Lecture

The Voices of Africa platform is ten years old and has just recently won the annual popularisation prize of the Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics (LOT). High time for a chat with Jenneke van der Wal, Maarten Mous and Nina van der Vlugt about the importance of the platform and plans for the…

Leiden Asia Departments

After an introductory first year, in the second year you will learn more about the four themes: the sustainable city, the safe city, the multicultural city and the healthy city. In years two and three you will have elective options, including a minor, studying abroad and an internship.

Research collaborative of LUCAS, LUCL and Tabula Rasa (NWO KIEM-Grant)

Prof.dr. Vincent van Heuven has been appointed as a member of the Royal Academie of Dutch Sciences (KNAW).

Nivja de Jong, languages professor at Leiden University, warns about the impact of proposed education budget cuts by the new Dutch government.

What makes for a good team? In a series of articles on teams, Forbes referred to the work of Marina Terkourafi, professor of Sociolinguistics at Leiden University.

Leiden Anglicist Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade is one of the seventeen new members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Tieken is Professor of Historical Sociolingusitics of English.

Alongside several other authors, Guus Kroonen, University Lecturer in Linguistics, published an article in the well-renowned academic journal Science Magazine. The article,

Lecture, Com(parative) Syn(tax) Series

Prof. dr. Roberta D'Alessandro has written an article on the increasing difficulties that researchers encounter when they apply for a research grant in the Netherlands.

Michaël Peyrot is elected member of the Young Academy of Europe (YAE: http://yacadeuro.org).

The Leiden University Center for Linguistics (LUCL) will organise Going Romance 2019 on November 28-29, 2019.