On the 11th of March, our students of Arabic/Islam and of Middle East studies traveled to Alexandria for their five-day trip to explore this fascinating Mediterranean city.

In her new book, Dr Claire Weeda, cultural historian at Leiden University, investigates how racial stereotypes were created and used in the European Middle Ages (900-1250).

The University of Jena offers twelve PhD positions within the framework of the interdisciplinary Research Training Group 2792 ‘Autonomy of Heteronomous Texts in Antiquity and the Middle Ages’. Deadline: 17 July 2022.

In 2022 Leiden will host the Euroscience Open Forum, Europe's biggest multidisciplinary scientific meeting. Leiden University, the Municipality of Leiden and The Hague Convention Bureau joined forces to organise the conference and bring it to Leiden.

Leiden criminologists have co-developed an artificial intelligence technology that tracks firearms incidents by scanning over 350 news sources.

NUFFIC’s Orange Knowledge programme, funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, awarded a grant to the proposal of Jacqueline Vel, Adriaan Bedner and Leiden alumnus Fachrizal Afandi just before the Christmas holidays.

The master programme was officially opened by H.E. Kees Klompenhouwer – the Ambassador of the Netherlands to the Czech Republic. During his lecture, entitled “Traveling through Europe’s darkness and daylight – A geopolitical Odyssey”, Ambassador Klompenhouwer shared valuable insights on the history…

Paul Abels' book 'Spionkoppen' (Spy heads) was recently published; He wrote the book together with students Marijn Adams and David Mendelsohn. In his book, Abels describes the AIVD (Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service), where he himself worked for several decades, based on his superiors.

The Faculty of Archaeology proudly presents the research brochure Perspectives on the Past, featuring passionate, dedicated researchers introducing a dazzling scala of research topics: from present-day traditional knowledge in Africa to the power of glue in Palaeolithic Europe. In addition to these…

Antoaneta Dimitrova, Professor Comparative Governance, presented the Cleveringa Lecture at the Vaclav Havel Library in Prague last week. We spoke to her about her experience.

During Pinochet’s dictatorship (1973-1990) numerous left-wing Chileans fled to Europe. In exile some of their political views became more moderate. Mariana Perry defended her PhD about this topic in September.

Abeer Abazeed, PhD-student at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, will defend her thesis on Wednesday april 21st. Four questions about her PhD-research ‘Is it One Nile? Civic engagement and hydropolitics in the Eastern Nile Basin’.

The Austria Centre is pleased to welcome Dr. Lena Sadovski as a visiting scholar who will do research at Leiden University for a few months in 2023. We asked Dr. Sadovski a few questions about her doctoral work, her future research and what she wants to achieve during her time at Leiden.

Besides being a linguist, George Saad is also a photography fanatic. He shares his most beautiful and telling pictures, shot during his field research in Eastern Indonesia.

Anthropologist Erik de Maaker has received a grant from the Himalayan Universities Consortium worth USD 37.000, along with researchers from Yunnan Minzu University (Kunming, China), Sikkim University (India), the Royal University of Bhutan (Thimpu, Bhutan). The grant, to be used in 2018/2019, is meant…

The postwar Liberal International Order faces grave challenges today mostly in the form of geopolitical competitions among great powers and exclusionary identity politics unfolding across different countries.

Everyone has been watching the attack on Ukraine, a war on the European continent, with a sense of foreboding. It will bring devastation, loss, suffering and worry and it raises questions. With these words, Rector Magnificus Hester Bijl opened the meeting on the war in Ukraine at Wijnhaven on Thursday…

According to Thomson Reuters’ 2014 Journal Citation Reports® (JCR) and the Washington & Lee University School of Law 2014 Journal Rankings, 22 journals published by the University of Chicago Press rank at the top of their subject categories.

ACPA alumnus Budhaditya Chattopadhyay explores sound practices across South Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America in his new publication 'Sound Practices in the Global South: Co-listening to Resounding Plurilogues'.

On the next meeting of the Committee of Education and Research three new student representatives will be appointed.

Nederlandse bedrijven repatriëren medewerkers uit het Midden-Oosten vanwege oplopende spanningen in dat gebied. Verschillende juristen, waaronder hoogleraar arbeidsrecht Yvonne Erkens, wijzen in het FD op de verantwoordelijkheid van werkgevers in situaties als deze

Between the early thirteenth and early sixteenth centuries CE, the Sultanate of Cairo affected the balances of power elites across and beyond the regions of Egypt, Syria and the Eastern Mediterranean. Modern historiography has for a long time been determined by the idea of this sultanate as a highly…

'When taking into account all finds in the Islamic world of this enigmatic vessel, it would perhaps be wise not to restrict this container to merely one function.'

Students and staff members at the Faculty Campus The Hague are cordially invited by the JASON Institute to join a group discussion with the Dutch EMP Mr. Hans van Baalen and Lithuanian MEP Mr. Petras Auštrevičius, together with Mr. Bart Hogeveen from institute Clingendael as the moderator, at the Lithuanian…

Erik de Maaker and Radhika Gupta received a Seed Grant to initiate research on how heritage has been and can be mobilised to address climate change governance in Himalayan Asia. This project will address a significant knowledge gap on the potentials and pitfalls of climate governance, with an initial…

The new indicators introduced in the 2019 edition of the Leiden Ranking provide large-scale systematic evidence to inform science policy discussions on open access publishing and gender diversity. The indicators can be used to trace developments over time within individual universities and to make comparisons…

Thanks to modern technology, it is now possible to extract more gas and oil in the eastern part of the Mediterranean than in the past. As a result, a conflict has once again erupted between Turkey and Greece, in which Turkey is making claim to part of the Mediterranean Sea around Cyprus.

It has been crackling within the European People's Party (EPP) for months, but is it also going to explode? Michiel Luining, lecturer at the Institute of Public Administration at Leiden University, gives an explanation of the suspension of Fidesz, the party of the Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orbán,…

Erik de Maaker discusses stereotypical narratives of 'isolated communities' like the North Sentinels in De Telegraaf. He calls for a nuanced view by addressing the cultural, ethical, geopolitical and health dimensions behind their isolation.

Dr. Sarah Cramsey, University Lecturer Judaism & Diaspora Studies, has been awarded an Early Career Partnership by the KNAW.

On 3 July, lecturer Alexander Strelkov gave a lecture on the rule of law and EU accession to a group of diplomats from the Balkan region.

On 27 september historian Adam Zamoyski held a captivating lecture on his new book Napoleon: the Man behind the Myth. During this lecture, which was an initiative by Polen in Beeld and the Central and Eastern European Studies Center, Zamoyski answered the question: ‘what were the Napoleonic Wars really…

On June 16th, dr. Bart Custers, associate professor and head of research of eLaw, the Center for Law and Digital technologies, delivered a keynote address at the International Conference on Advanced Cyberlaw and Electronic Security.

Dr. Van Eijk will teach an advertising technology Masterclass for the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) next week. It is the fourth session of the FPF & Brussels Privacy Hub's Digital Data Flows series. Van Eijk will be teaching alongside Adam Towvim (Brandeis International Business School) and moderated…

Aleydis Nissen, one of our colleagues from Belgium, created a feature article with photos for Knack magazine (Roularta Media Group). The Pascal Decroos Fund sponsored this article.

Friday 25 September, 2015 marks the official launch of Leiden University's Central and East European Studies (CEES) Center.

Landen proberen steeds strengere maatregelen te nemen om minder aantrekkelijk te worden voor asielzoekers. Mark Klaassen, universitair docent vreemdelingenrecht, noemt het Europese asielbeleid in de Volkskrant ‘een race naar beneden.’

Joanita Vroom has been appointed as president of the Society ‘Byzantine Studies Netherlands / Byzantijnse Studies Nederland’, the Dutch branch of the ‘International Association of Byzantine Studies / Association Internationale des Études Byzantines’ (AIEB).

Professor Petra Sijpesteijn has been elected as an International Fellow of the British Academy, a prestigious recognition that highlights her exceptional contributions to the study of early Islamic history.

The faculty's research on the ancient rock art found in Jordan's Black Desert has recently been covered by several news and science websites.

On Friday morning, 18 October, Rector Magnificus Hester Bijl and Professor Remco Breuker welcomed Korea Foundation President Gheewan Kim.

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…

Faculty of Humanities, Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society (LUCAS) and the Leiden University Institute for History (LUIH) are looking for a PhD in the History and Culture of Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity.

In view of its aim to aim to promote and strengthen teaching and research in European Studies, the Jean Monnet chair ‘Europe and the World' organises a series of seminars. Several interesting speakers will present their research, and both students and staff members will have ample opportunities to engage…

The faculty of Humanities scores well in the anual QS World Universities Ranking By Subject list. This year we have placed sixth in the category Classics and Ancient History.

On Tuesday, November 18, 2025, Ambassador Bert Theuerman (Austrian Ambassador to The Netherlands) hosted a Coffeehouse Discussion exploring the position and impact of women in science and arts at his residence in The Hague.

On Tuesday, December 9 2025, Prof. Koen Ottenheyn delivered the last Austria Centre lunch talk of 2025. Prof. Ottenheyn serves as a professor of architectural history at Utrecht University, The Netherlands, and is a member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences and the Academic Curatorium which advises…

On Friday June 7, 2024, Sarah Cramsey delivered her inaugural lecture entitled

LECTIO, the KU Leuven Institute for the Study and Transmission of Texts, Ideas and Images in Antiquity, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, invites applications for its Visiting Program 2022-23. Deadline: 10 June 2022. For more information: lectio@kuleuven.be.

On 25 and 26 November 2021 the 18th International Meeting of the Middle Ages in Nájera will take place online. It is devoted to: "The Use of Social Space in the Late Medieval European Town". For more information, please consult: www.neim.unican.es.