ACPA alumna Dr. Itandehui Jansen is currently working on a new experimental film. The project researches sustainable filmmaking approaches, while exploring Indigenous Futurisms through film practice. The project is a continuation of Jansen’s research for the AHRC scoping project Sustainable Materials…

Climate change, depletion of natural resources, loss of natural and cultural landscapes, and many other (ecological) sustainability challenges urge us to (re)evaluate human interaction with the natural world. This renewed environmental consciousness has invigorated not only scientists working on effects…

With the What's Next? series we hope to inspire current Media Technology MSc students, show the variety of paths taken after the studies, and bring together alumni. Editions of the series are generally organized around a particular theme by Media Technology MSc students themselves, and followed by social…

Replicas of artworks by world-famous artist and political activist Banksy are being exhibited at several locations in Amsterdam without the permission of the anonymous graffiti artist. Dirk Visser, Professor of Intellectual Property Law, says this is ‘clearly copyright infringement’.

LEAP is a peer-reviewed journal founded in 2021 by a team of junior and senior scholars of Leiden University as part of a Faculty-broad Master course. Each year the journal has a new editorial board and a new theme. Series editors Astrid van Weyenberg and Nanne Timmer guide this process and are assisted…

We are proud to see the work "Magische Korstmossen" by our alumni Carolien Teunisse and Sabrina Verhage exhibited at the Cinekid MediaLab 2021. Via augmented reality, "Magische Korstmossen" lets children interact with the magical world of lichens.

Many years ago, Winston Churchill said; ‘Jaw to jaw is better than war’. Therefore the quality of the jaw to jaw and diplomacy is important. Unfortunately, the quality of diplomacy is decreasing.

With the What's Next? series we hope to inspire current Creative Intelligence & Technology MSc students, show the variety of paths taken after the studies, and bring together alumni. Editions of the series are generally organized around a particular theme by Creative Intelligence & Technology MSc students…

The Rijksmuseum welcomes international, independent research proposals which open new perspectives on the museum’s collection, its history and activities. The programme enables highly talented candidates to base part of their research at the Rijksmuseum, and offers access to the museum’s expertise,…

Vasiliki Kosta has been appointed as a member of the Committee of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) tasked with writing an advisory report on legal safeguards for academic freedom.

The 7th European Congress of Medieval Studies of the Fédération Internationale des Instituts d’Études Médiévales (FIDEM) will be organized by the Department of Arts, Media, and Philosophy of the University of Basel, Switzerland on 6-9 September 2023. Deadline for registration: 15 July.

The Department of Art & Archaeology at Princeton University invites paper proposals on late antique and medieval Syriac iconography and visual culture for a virtual conference to be held on September 17–18, 2021. Abstracts should be between 300–500 words and should be submitted to acady@princeton.edu…

Four bachelor courses are rewarded as Top courses.

As part of his PhD research at the Leiden University, Johannes Boer wrote an opera about the turbulent year in the life of the Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi (1567- 1643).

On the fourth of May, after 16 years, Lia ten Brink is leaving her work as a secretary at LUCAS . She gave up her job, sold her house and will face the adventure of exploring Europe with her husband and two dogs in an old bus...

Dave R. Stikkolorum, Michel R.V. Chaudron, Oswald de Bruin won the Best Paper Award of the Model Gamification Contest at the ACM/IEEE Models 2012 Conference for their paper: The Art Of Software Design, a Video Game for Learning Design Principles.

From 16 to 19 September 2021 a hybrid conference will take place on animation in the Middle Ages. This conference is a cooperation between the University of Bergen (Norway) and the A. Zelwerowicz National Academy of Dramatic Art in Warsaw, Branch Campus in Bialystok (Poland).

Is it ever truly silent? In this TEDx talk at the University of Leiden, ACPA PhD Guy Livingston delves into the meaning of silence and its power and encourages us to seek it in our own lives.

The Turin Humanities Programme of Fondazione 1563 per l’Arte e la Cultura has launched a call for applications for 4 post-doctoral fellowships focused on the topic: “Political Thought and the Body: Europe and East Asia, ca. 1100-1650”. Deadline for submission: February 15, 2022.

Mariana Gkliati participated on 4 April in the course International Human Rights offered by the SIM, Netherlands Institute of Human Rights, at the University College Utrecht.

Thanks to the Department of Ethnology of the Albanian research institute for Cultural Antropology and Art Studies (IAKSA) the lectures given during the Tirana Spring School are now available on YouTube!

On June 13 cellist Elske Tinbergen received her PhD. Her doctorate was on the history of her own instrument.

The Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society (LUCAS) invites applications for a PhD Position in the ERC Starting Grant project Pages of Prayer: The Ecosystem of Vernacular Prayer Books in the Late Medieval Low Countries, c. 1380-1550. Deadline: 30 November 2022.

New Ph.D. programme implemented in collaboration between the Institute of Greek and Latin Studies of the Faculty of Arts of the Charles University and the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences. Application deadline is 30 April 2021, admission examinations take place on 14-16 June…

Mavlyuda Yusupova will be Central Asia Visiting Professor in November 2018. She will deliver two guest lectures for Leiden MA and PhD students.

Every year, an outstanding lecturer receives the Faculty Teaching Prize. Lecturers are nominated by students and a jury decides who receives the prize. The prize is awarded during the official opening of the academic year on 2 September. This year, students nominated four candidates.

From telescopes to science fiction: in just one semester, students with no background in physics or astronomy get to explore the universe. The first group of students started last month in the new minor Our Universe.

Researchers and policymakers are welcome to attend the AI & Society Conference in The Hague on Friday 23 June. The SAILS interdisciplinary research programme will be taking a nuanced look at the state of the art of AI technology. And offering fresh perspectives.

El viernes 3 de noviembre a las 11.15 tendremos el gusto y honor de escuchar a la Prof.dr. Sayak Valencia en el marco del X Congreso Internacional de la AHBx. Prof.dr. Sayak Valencia (Tijuana, Mexico, 1980) impartirá la segunda conferencia plenaria del X Congreso Internacional de la AHBx bajo el título:…

How are stars and planets formed? Is life outside Earth possible? These questions are being researched by Professor of Molecular Astrophysics Ewine van Dishoeck at Leiden University. Her pioneering work has earned her the Kavli prize in the category of astrophysics. The prize consists of 1,000,000 dollars…

From sponsored runs to festivals and from open days to concerts: Leiden University hosts lots of events each year. We are highlighting six of them for 2023.

A team of Leiden researchers has won the Ammodo Science Award for innovative humanities research on perceptions of cultural heritage.

During a meeting at the University on 10 November, staff spontaneously removed a painting by artist Rein Dool from the wall in one of the meeting rooms in the Academy Building, reversed it and placed it on the floor. A tongue-in-cheek action with a serious undertone. This has led to a lot of commotion…

Leiden artist Jos Agasi gets to create the artwork for the atrium of the new Gorlaeus Building. His work was chosen from several entries and will be a real eye-catcher in the building. The artist has a fascination for light and uses it to create works of art with all kinds of materials, objects and…

The author Manon Uphoff from Utrecht will be Leiden University’s new ‘writer in residence’ from autumn 2025. As the writer in residence, Uphoff will contribute to several courses on writing offered by the BA Dutch Language and Culture programme.

With support of several publishers and private foundations, Leiden University Libraries (UBL) and the Scaliger Institute welcome around 15 to 20 Fellows and guests per year to consult and research materials from our Special Collections. The Scaliger Institute received applications this year from domestic…

On 5 September, spaceEU was launched at the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, one of the world’s largest science, technology and media art festivals. This 1 million euro European-funded project is coordinated by Leiden Observatory. SpaceEU fosters a young, creative and inclusive European space community…

Maarten Feteris, the former president of the Court of Appeal and an alumnus of Leiden University, composed the piece ‘Intermezzo’ to mark the transfer of the rectorate during the Dies Natalis on 8 February 2021.

We are very happy to announce that as of 1 March Marleen De Meyer is our new NVIC Director!

Terracotta pottery, precious ikat fabrics and the bazaars where these goods are sold: all these can be seen in a new Louvre film premiering on Friday 9 December. University lecturer Elena Paskaleva collaborated on the film Uzbekistan a timeless journey in Central Asia about Uzbek artefacts.

On 9 June 2023, the workshop on ‘Academic Freedom and its Philosophical Underpinnings in EU law’ took place at the Academy Building, Leiden. It was organized in the framework of the Vidi research project The EU fundamental right to ‘freedom of the art and sciences': exploring the limits on the commercialisation…

On January 12 the Steering Committee Science4Arts awarded the application of Prof.dr. Maarten Jansen entitled:

Ineke Sluiter, Professor of Greek Language and Literature, has been awarded the Academy Professor Prize by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). According to the jury, Sluiter is exceptional in her ability to connect issues from antiquity with the broad themes of the present day…

The NWO just announced the results of the Vrije Competitie proposals. Paul Smith, professor at the French department is, as a member of LUCAS, one of three scholars within the Faculty of Humanities at Leiden University who has been awarded this grant.

Put two single people in one place and what do you get? Science! Psychologists at Leiden University will be conducting research on human attraction at the Lowlands festival on the 19th of August.

How can heritage institutions make their organisations, collections and exhibitions more inclusive and accessible? University lecturer Eliza Steinbock will investigate this using a NWO Smart Culture grant.

Every year, Humanities students can nominate their favourite lecturer for the Humanities Education Award. Traditionally, the winner of the award will be announced at the start of the academic year. Who are 2017’s nominees and what inspires them to teach?

Egyptian artist Bahia Shebab will give a masterclass in Leiden on 13 December. She is one of this year's laureates of the Prins Claus Award and has become known for her subversive graffiti. Judith Naeff, lecturer in Cultures of the Middle East, introduces Shebab and calls on students to register for…

In November 2019 visual artist and PhDArts candidate Riccardo Giacconi obtained the doctoral degree with the research project The Variational Mode. This summer Giacconi has been awarded a LUF grant for the research project The ‘Option’ aftermath in South Tyrol. The research will be conducted at the…

Merijn Tinga hit the headlines in 2016 as the Plastic Soup Surfer. In force six winds, the Leiden biologist ventured across the English Channel on a hydrofoil kiteboard made from plastic bottles. Interview with this Leiden artist who is fighting the mountain of plastic waste and finding his feet as…