Fieldwork photographs of Meike de Goede, Catherina Wilson and Mirjam de Bruijn (with African Studies student Vera Bakker) have been selected for the LeidenGlobal Photo Exhibition Heritage on the Move, which will travel around the different Faculties of the University in the coming months.

Theft, prostitution, fortune-telling or murder. Historian Manon van der Heijden and a group of students are researching court records from The Hague from 1600 to 1800. They are tracing crimes and offenders and shedding new light on The Hague’s Gevangenpoort (or Prison Gate). Among their many discoveries…

The International Studies and Urban studies study programmes have moved to a new address. After five years in the Wijnhaven building they have moved to the Schouwburgstraat. ‘It is nice to have our own place in The Hague as the Faculty of Humanities.’

On Wednesday 3 July 2024 Renata Schiavo successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

The court has dismissed Ratko Mladić’s appeal and upheld his life sentence for genocide and war crimes. The verdict is one of Yugoslavia tribunal’s last. Mission accomplished?

Various consortia in which Leiden University is represented are beginning interdisciplinary research, which will bring scientific and societal breakthroughs within reach. Knowledge institutions, government and private parties are working closely together on the projects.

Dr Quentin Bourgeois and a group of students are currently exploring the Veluwe. In 2019 and 2020 volunteers looked at altitude maps of the Veluwe and indicated potential burial mound locations. Now the team from Leiden is 'ground-truthing', checking on the spot whether we are dealing with an actual…

Archaeology has always been at the forefront of innovation. Now, an inventive collaboration between archaeologists Tuna Kalayci and Alex Brandsen brings together the winning combination of robotic technology with an archaeological AI. While an impressive new step in the archaeological technology, this…

On Monday 28 November 2016, Ton Liefaard spoke at the International Conference on Crime Prevention and Resocialization of Children in Contact with the Criminal Justice System in Chile. In his lecture he discussed European perspectives on crime and prevention and reintegration.

On Monday 25 September, Professor M. Cherif Bassiouni passed away, at the age of 79. Throughout his distinguished career, Professor M. Cherif Bassiouni has made a unique contribution to international criminal justice.

On 14 April 2016, Professor Carsten Stahn, Programme Director of the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies in The Hague, and Ambassador Bernd Borchardt, Founding Director of the International Nuremberg Principles Academy, signed a new partnership agreement on research cooperation and joint…

As of today, Maartje van der Woude (Professor of Sociology of Law, Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance & Society) has become a member of the advisory board for Oxford Law’s research platform Border Criminologies.

The parents of Romy, Savannah and Nick have launched a petition for tougher punishments in Dutch juvenile criminal law. Their children were killed by minors.

On the 13th of May, 2016, the International Juvenile Justice Observatory launched the training Manual “Can anyone hear me?” for the project ‘Improving Juvenile Justice Systems in Europe: Training for Professionals’, funded by the European Union (DG Justice). Dr. Stephanie Rap, Apollonia Bolscher, LL.M.,…

On the occasion of the launch of the Council of Europe’s new children’s rights strategy 2016-2021, the Republic of Bulgaria hosted a high-level conference in Sofia on the 5th and 6th of April, 2016.

The European Union has claimed, following its own investigation, that the Dutch government is falling short in how it deals with Dutch nationals convicted abroad, but who want to serve their sentences in the Netherlands. Jannemieke Ouwerkerk, Professor of European Criminal Law, has responded in Dutch…

Y.N. (Yannick) van den Brink (LL.M, MA) will be appointed Assistant Professor at the Child Law Department of the Leiden Law School as of 1 August 2016.

From 4-6 July, the annual conference of the International Society on Public Law (ICON-S) took place in Wroclaw, Poland. Its theme was 'Global Problems and Prospects in Public Law'. ICON-S brings together scholars of public law from across the globe and has over a thousand active members.

No hearing in court, but at the community centre. Does this local approach help keep people with various problems such as debts or school absenteeism away from crime?

An increasing amount of research is demonstrating the importance of taking parenting from prison seriously. But the plans of Minister Dekker of Legal Protection do not address this issue.

Dutch companies are increasingly rescreening staff to monitor security risks. Assistant Professor Ard Barends commented in the ‘Financieele Dagblad’ about the situation: 'By repeating background checks, companies can keep tabs on risks.'

Hilde Wermink, Assistant Professor at the Institute of Criminal Law & Criminology was interviewed on this topic for an article published in US News on 13 May.

September 2022 marks the tenth anniversary of International Studies bachelor's programme. Some (former) staff members tell us what they think makes the Faculty of Humanities' largest programme so special.

On the 22nd of April 2021, the students of the LL.M. European Law had the opportunity to virtually visit the European Commission.

The Europa Institute organized, in collaboration with the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, on the 3rd of May 2021, a Holocaust Survivor Talk.

‘Heritage Under Threat’ and ‘The Rooseveltian Century’ are among the 21 best MOOCs for a general public according to New York Magazine.

In December 2023, Mr. Max Farasat (B.A. Religious Studies) was announced as Co-Winner of the

Building off the success of the 'Jews at Home' conference in December 2023, the Leiden Jewish Studies Network convened its second conference 'Care and the Jewish Experience' this past September in Leiden.

In this book, a new generation of scholars offers fresh perspectives on the history of the Dutch slave trade. Traditionally, Dutch research has focused on business practices, often overlooking the enslaved and the complexities of illegal trade and violence.

Study Abroad Festival 2016

Ana Oleart came to The Hague from Barcelona to study for her bachelor's degree in International Studies. After completing no fewer than two master's degrees at Leiden University, she now works in the HR department of a large hotel chain.

300 hundred man went down with Dutch VOC vessel ‘de Rooswijk’ on January 9 1740 for the coast of Deal in the UK.

André van der Laan has been appointed Professor by Special Appointment of Juvenile and Adolescent Crime at Leiden University, a chair established by the Leiden University Fund (LUF) and the Dutch Research and Documentation Centre (WODC). It is the first time that a professorship by special appointment…

Can politicians say whatever they want? What is the limit and when can the Public Prosecution Service act? PhD candidate Jip Stam examined the limits of free speech in criminal law. 'Intervening too soon can threaten democracy and the rule of law,' he warns.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is under intense scrutiny when it comes to prosecuting international crimes. This due to increasing conflicts worldwide. During her visit to Leiden, the President of the Court, Judge Tomoko Akane, said that the Criminal Court will not yield to threats.

On 26 January, Rowie Stolk, Laura Hanrath and Marloes Noorloos spoke at the lecture ‘The Right to Demonstrate under Scrutiny’. This discussion session, part of the university lecture series Community. Conversation. Connection., was organised in response to difficult questions about the right to demo…

For the spring semester 2025, the Austria Centre Leiden and the Institute History are excited to welcome Prof. Eva Pfanzelter to Leiden for her term as Visiting Professor in Central European Studies. Prof. Pfanzelter will teach two classes, give public talks in Leiden and around The Netherlands and…

Course

This year Leiden will be celebrating the 450th Relief of Leiden. Leiden master’s students are researching this history as part of the ‘Traces of 3 October’ project.

In December 2023, Louise van der Vlugt was announced as Co-Winner of the 'Best Thesis in Jewish Studies' Award. She sat down to answer some questions about her prize-winning BA Thesis.

Increasingly, crime and immigration are mentioned in one breath. This 'interweaving' of these terms is referred to as crimmigration, an expression mainly used in legal science. But what does crimmigration actually entail in practice? Defence on 8 January 2020.

The registration for the Medieval Studies Day on 17 December 2021 is now open.

This year, an NWO PhD in the Humanities grant went to Mink van IJzendoorn, enabling him to investigate the disappearance of amphorae. ‘We take means of packaging and shipment for granted, but they are deeply ingrained in our daily lives; they are crucial.’

On Tuesday, February 10, 2026, Professor Saskia Jaszoltowski, the new Visiting Professor for Central European Studies at Leiden University joined students, colleagues and friends of Austrian Studies at Leiden for a lunch-time talk that introduced her exciting research to our community.

Some examples of AI-research done at Leiden.

The researchers in the World Archaeology department of the Faculty of Archaeology concentrate on a range of different periods and regions: from humanity’s origins to the Middle Ages and the modern age, and from Asia to South America.