The next Conference on Multilingualism 2019 (COM2019) will be hosted by LUCL from September 1st until September 3rd 2019.

The MA Linguistic’s specialization in Translation has now been admitted to the prestigious European Masters in Translation (EMT) Network.

Jiang Wu receives an NWO scholarship for his PhD project

The concepts of good and evil are expressed, from a lexical point of view, in different ways in different Germanic languages and at the same time they are declined in different forms depending on linguistic and literary traditions. Moving from theoretical backgrounds, we encourage…

Whispp, a Leiden-based speech technology start-up, is developing an app to help people who stutter express themselves more freely. Among those working together with Joris Castermans and his team at Whispp, are researchers and students from the Leiden University Centre for Linguistics (LUCL).

Jan Melissen in Trouw over wereldleiders die elkaar steeds meer schofferen

Coming semester Karen Vet will be joining our team as the new intern. She has a BA in Middle Eastern Studies from Leiden University, specializing in Arabic language and culture.

The Executive Board has appointed Mette Kamerich as the assessor and student member of the Faculty Board of the Faculty of Humanities. The appointment is for the period from 1 September 2025 to 1 September 2026, and she will therefore succeed Nova Verkerk in this role.

LUC is honoured to announce that its Liberal Arts & Sciences: Global Challenges curriculum has been named ‘Top Rated Programme’ by the Keuzegids Universiteiten 2015

Professor of Indonesian and Javanese Language and Culture Ben Arps has received the Anugerah Kebudayaan Indonesia (Indonesian Culture Award) from the Indonesian ambassador for his services to the field.

Mirjam de Bruijn and camerman Sjoerd Sijsma have been travelling through Chad and Cameroon. The Arab spring hasn't arrived there yet, but the effects of internet and mobile telephony show in everyday life. Mirjam and Sjoerd look for counter voices: young people who try to change these countries in their…

Sometimes fascination can lead to in-depth research. Such is the case with Wahyu Widodo, who came across the Islamic Walikutuban ritual in Java in 2019, on which he subsequently wrote his PhD dissertation. Widodo: ‘Besides community, it also breeds political loyalty’

Many thanks for visiting the Master’s Open Day on Friday 15 March! We hope that you enjoyed the day and that all your questions were answered.

Dr Olga Ceran has been selected as a 2025/26 Mellon/SAR Academic Freedom Fellow. As one of 11 fellows in this year’s cohort, she will work on a project titled ‘The Linguistic Dimension of Academic Freedom: A Human Rights Analysis of Higher
Education in Europe’.

Male scientists owe their position to their brilliance, women to their hard work. Or do they? The Equalista app helps staff and students at the Faculty of Humanities to become aware of gender equality.

Four bachelor courses are rewarded as Top courses.

On 22 March 2020 passed away due to heart failure emerita professor Turkish Language and Culture Barbara Flemming: a great loss for her partner Dr. Sybille Duda, family, friends and colleagues.

Lecture, Sociolinguistics & Discourse Studies Series

PhD defence

Translating ancient texts, filling in missing parts of clay tablets: articles are popping up more and more often about the possibilities offered by artificial intelligence for researching documents in the oldest scripts. Are we better off leaving the deciphering of ancient texts to computers from now…

What do people wonder about on social media? University lecturer Matthijs Westera is the recipient of an NWO grant to investigate what people are curious about online.

Yliana Rodríguez was in the middle of a second fieldtrip in the Falklands researching Spanish-English language contact, when global lockdown measures were announced. Sit back, relax and enjoy reading about Yliana's research into a unique speech community.

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.

Three PhD candidates from the Faculty of Humanities have successfully applied for funding from NWO for new PhD candidates. The three upcoming researchers will receive funding from the PhDs in Humanities programme. With the funding, NWO wants to boost the recruitment and advancement of young talent in…

What role does the frontal lobe play in understanding sentences? Assistant professor Jurriaan Witteman has received a grant to replicate a leading study on this question. ‘As there is some doubt about the reliability of existing neuroimaging results, it’s important to replicate influential studies.’

Dit blijkt uit het onderzoek ‘The Class Divide in Urban Indian Youths’ Lives; Their Time-Use and Adaptive Functioning’ van Radhika Bapat.

Professor Ingrid Tieken (Leiden University Centre for Linguistics, LUCL) and Dr Herman Siemens (Institute for Philosophy) have each been awarded an NWO Free Competition award in the Humanities for their research projects.

Jos Schaeken has just published a book entitled 'Stemmen op berkenbast. Berichten uit middeleeuws Rusland: dagelijks leven en communicatie'.

Professor Chinese Frank Pieke becomes research and general director of the Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS) in Berlijn.

How did Dutch sound 1000 years ago? This is a question that linguist Peter-Alexander Kerkhof has been pondering for some time already. He recently managed to reconstruct this Old Dutch.

Lecture

Three lecturers from Leiden University have been awarded a 100,000-euro Comenius Teaching Fellowship within the scope of the Senior Fellows programme. The grant will enable them and their project teams to carry out their own teaching innovation project.

Lecture, Sociolinguistics & Discourse Studies Series

The Leiden University Centre for the Study of Islam and Society (LUCIS) and the Abdulaziz Saud Al-Babtain Cultural Foundation will join hands in promoting the understanding of Arabic culture. Generous support from Mr. Abdulaziz Saud Al-Babtain enables LUCIS to invite a visiting professor in Arabic culture…

Medewerkers van de Universiteit Leiden trappen maandag 10 maart de estafettestaking af van de Nederlandse universiteiten tegen de kabinetsbezuinigingen.

From a bachelor's degree in English Language and Culture to a master's degree in International Relations: a minor made it possible for Evanthia Andreadaki. 'For me, this is the perfect combination.'

During the online panel discussion ‘Het spel en de macht’ (the game and the power) held on 9 March, six members of Leiden’s Centre for Dutch Politics and Governance (CNPB) discussed trends regarding the current and previous general elections. Will it be tense, this campaign? ‘Baudet probably still has…

PhD defence

We would like to welcome Matthijs Westera, who will be joining LUCL as Assistant Professor of Humanities and AI for SAILS.

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.

During her student years, Claudia Robustella struggled with her mental health. Thanks in part to the help of her study coordinator Rosa van Straten, she still managed to obtain her bachelor's degree.