Three years ago, on 13 October 2017, the Leiden Medievalists Blog was established. In their blogs, Leiden researchers from all disciplines talk about the Middle Ages in a fun and interesting way. Editors Jip Barreveld, Marlisa den Hartog and Thijs Porck talk about the blog and why the Middle Ages are…

Ustadh Mau Digital Archive project (UMADA) is among the UCLA Library 29 international cultural preservation projects supported by the Modern Endagered Archive Program (Cohort 3). From the 3rd up to the 5th of October, a digitization training workshop took place on Lamu island, on the so-called northern…

The Dies Natalis for alumni on 11 February was an online event. Almost 1,000 alumni tuned in to Bastiaan Rijpkema’s interview with Annetje Ottow, who had then been President of Leiden University’s Executive Board for all of three days. Alumni are part of her portfolio on the Executive Board.

If universities want to open their doors to more students and staff from minority groups, good intentions alone will not suffice. That is what Frank Tuitt, Diversity Officer at the University of Denver, has to say. He will speak at the University’s annual Diversity Symposium on 22 January 2020.

For more than 35 years they helped put American Studies on the map: Joke Kardux and Eduard van de Bilt. This spring, the couple retired. A farewell interview.

The Master programme MSc Crisis and Security Management is completely changed. Combined with three main courses for all CSM-students, this new programme offers exactly the combination of in-depth specialized knowledge and general knowledge about security challenges in a globalizing world society and…

Seven researchers from Leiden University have made a successful application to the Open Competition SSH (Social Sciences and Humanities) XS, a Dutch Research Council pilot programme.

That's just learning parrot-fashion. This was the argument with which the proposal to establish a language lab at Leiden University was rejected in 1962. But six years later, the language lab was launched. And now the Academic Language Lab is celebrating its 50-year anniversary.

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…

Author: Andrew F. Cooper

Fake news about ‘patient zero’ and hyperbolic headlines warning about the ‘yellow peril.’ Leiden researchers have spotted fake news galore about coronavirus as well as racial stereotypes about the Chinese. How harmful is this?

Brand-new professor Gerard van Westen works at the intersection of artificial intelligence and drug development. For the new chair in Artificial Intelligence and Medicinal Chemistry, he uses computer models to make drug development more efficient. Our ultimate goal is a virtual human which allows you…

Aukje Nauta's professorship at Leiden University has been extended for another five years. She will further research how connectedness in the workplace helps people to be their full self and perform better. Her conviction: for a healthy work culture, we need to be willing to feel a bit more ashamed…

A new collaborative monograph of democratic theory, The Sciences of the Democracies, was released by UCL Press on August 7. The book, in the style of a democratic manifesto, is written by a large number of co-authors in a bold attempt to expand and deepen how democracy is studied and understood. Among…

Exercising less, skipping parties and struggling at work: the expectation of chronic pain and itching can lead to avoidance behaviour. But this is by no means the case for everyone with chronic pain, as PhD candidate Gita Nadinda discovered. What does this mean for healthcare?

Assistant Professor Karlsson Linnér, who works at the Department of Economics, is one of the recipients of a Veni grant. His research on the accuracy of preventive genetic testing is a fine example of the intersection of economic science and law.

Anke Klein and her team have devised a fun and useful app to help anxious children. In the app, children can upload a video of themselves showing, for example, something that went well for them and share their success with parents, granny or grandad. Developmental psychologist Klein talks about the…

Hak, lawyer, international imagery law lecturer, and adjunct associate professor, talks about his PhD research on the use of images in international criminal prosecutions. He was a public prosecutor in Canada for over 30 years and dealt primarily with the prosecution of homicides and other major cri…

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 response of international organizations to the problems of cross-border death and gift taxation needs to be revisited, according to PhD candidate Vassilis Dafnomilis. PhD defence on 3 June 2021.

Every year, an outstanding lecturer receives the Faculty Teaching Prize. Lecturers are nominated by students, and a jury – comprising students and lecturers – decides who will receive the prize. The prize will be awarded during the official opening of the academic year on 7 September. Meet this year’s…

On Tuesday 30 September 2025, PhD candidate Kathleen Brown will defend her dissertation 'Deception, Risk, and Evasion: The Politics of Sovereign Debt in Emerging Markets' in Leiden’s Academy Building. Her research sheds light on the hidden world of sovereign debt politics, revealing how governments…

The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) has awarded Veni funding to seventeen researchers who recently obtained their PhD. This award offers promising young scientists the opportunity to develop their own ideas over a period of three years.

Fourteen promising researchers from Leiden University have been given the opportunity to realise their research plans for the coming years thanks to a Veni grant from the NWO. This year, these subsidies have been granted to studies of the influence of noise on the great tit, the conditions necessary…

From the energy transition in Namibia to sustainable jobs for young Nigerians, from African cookbooks to vodcasts on vintage Swahili booklets: during a recent visit by the Executive Board, staff from the African Studies Centre Leiden and the African Library presented their research, teaching and acquisition…

How do parents communicate anxiety to their child via body language and words? Psychologist Cosima Nimphy studied this question for her PhD research. Experiments show that children of anxious parents are not more sensitive to their parents’ signs of anxiety.

Psychology alumna Inge Schilperoord works as a forensic psychologist in the Pieter Baan Centre, a psychiatric observation clinic. Her debut novel 'Muidhond' about a man struggling with his paedophilic tendencies, has received the Bronze Owl 2015 for best Dutch debut novel. Schilperoord: 'The detective…

How can we adapt the Dutch we use at the University so that everyone feels comfortable and included? This was the subject of debate during a panel discussion on 28 June at Leiden University.

‘Collaboration is increasingly important,’ Rector Magnificus Carel Stolker said at the 445th Dies Natalis of Leiden University on 7 February. But, as he heard from a number of Leiden researchers, this is contingent upon a firm disciplinary basis. A novelty of this year’s celebration was a joint dies…

The African Studies Centre Leiden presented the last book by its renowned colleague Prof. Stephen Ellis (1953-2015), This Present Darkness: A history of Nigerian organised crime, on 9 June. The book was published posthumously. Former colleagues and friends paid tribute to Ellis, who was regarded as…

Can David Bowie’s death be seen as a carefully staged hype, just one last version of the musician’s ever-surprising public persona? Cultural Studies researchers Gerlov van Engelenhoven and Bram Ieven look into it.

Paul Wouters has been reappointed as Dean of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences. His second term runs from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2023.

New ways of working like working from home can have a positive impact on a person’s career, but only when their superior supports their choice. Researcher Maral Darouei will defend her PhD thesis on sustainable careers on 9 June 2020.

In the new ‘Educatips’ column, Psychology lecturers share their most important lessons about teaching. This month: Elise Seip wants to help students get out of their head and into their body. She starts every work group with mindfulness.

In the Faculty of Archaeology depots, many artefacts, accumulated after decades of fieldwork across the world are stored. The Leiden Inventory of the Depot (LID) project aims to unlock the door to this wealth of information. Elizabeth Hicks, a Research Master’s student at the Faculty, will be re-evaluating…

Graduates Bruno and Plym took part in the National Think Tank last year. Together with 20 other students and recent graduates, they spent four months pondering the future of our digital society. ‘You learn so much in the space of four months, not just practical skills but also about yourself.’

Why do top athletes sacrifice so much for their sport? And does the prevailing theoretical framework for critical sports research, which is based in part on the insights of French philosopher Michel Foucault, do justice to their experiences? Leiden PhD candidate in philosophy Nathanja van den Heuvel…

Studying with an app and exploratory learning in large groups. Two educational innovations that will be possible thanks to the Comenius Programme of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). Chemist Ludo Juurlink and Professor of Science Education Fred Janssen from the Leiden Graduate…

In The Best of Times, The Worst of Times, environmental scientist Paul Behrens describes both hopeful and pessimistic scenarios for our future and that of our planet. With the book soon to be published, Behrens talks about its content and the writing process itself.

In March 2022, a considerable number of non-Western countries abstained (35) or voted against (5) a resolution deploring Russia’s aggression, its violation of the UN Charter and demanding the withdrawal of its forces from the territory of Ukraine. Even fewer countries subsequently actively supported…

‘It was the biggest bunch of flowers I’d ever seen,’ says Emily Strange about the moment she won the Leiden Teaching Prize 2022. The judge praised the conservation biologist for her passion, engaging personality, and the way she motivates her students. On the Dutch Day of the Teacher, we get to know…

Globalisation means becoming globalised, a process in which material culture plays a crucial role. This is what Miguel John Versluys, the new Professor of Classical and Mediterranean Archaeology, teaches. He bases his teaching on research into the origin and growth of the Roman Empire from the 3rd…

What can opera tell us about societies in the past and present? Leiden honours students went looking for an answer, together with students from the Dutch National Opera Academy. A final concert was, of course, part of the repertoire.

The Netherlands Research School of Gender Studies (NOG) hosts the annual National Research Day, held this year at the Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society. The NOG Research Day is a dedicated platform for sharing the work of junior and senior researchers of Dutch universities in the fields…

The fall of the Schoof cabinet comes as no surprise to Arco Timmermans, an expert in public affairs. Over a year ago, he advised informateur Kim Putters and already pointed out that a workable cabinet would only be possible if the parties took responsibility.

In the depots of the Faculty of Archaeology, many artifacts, accumulated after decades of fieldwork across the world, are stored. A new project, the Leiden Inventory Depot (LID), aims to unlock this wealth of information to the outside world. The 3D scanning of objects takes a central role in this endeavor.…

Under extreme pressure and in agreement with the Faculty Board, the programme chairs, represented by a core group, have worked over recent weeks on additional recommendations based on the Perspective 2028 plan. On 1 December they presented their Alternative Perspective 2028 to the Faculty Board. The…

Van studenten verwachten we dat ze kritisch lezen. ‘Maar hoe dan’, zeggen ze. ‘Je leest een artikel en het klinkt allemaal logisch en overtuigend, waarom zou het niet waar zijn.’ Psycholoog Anouk van der Weiden wil studenten leren om artikelen kritisch te lezen. En meer, daarvoor ontvangt ze een Co…

Language evolution, targeted drugs or archaeological interpretation. Researchers are making increasing use of supercomputers that can rapidly process large quantities of data. This is one reason why the University data centre will be extended and updated. ‘Datamining means we can get a better picture…

More focus on diversity in Antiquity, workshops for students with disabilities, and a card game to share stories about diversity: these and other projects will receive funding from the JEDI Fund in 2023.