A key challenge in neuroscience is understanding how neurons in hundreds of interconnected brain regions integrate sensory inputs with previous expectations to initiate movements and make decisions.

Consensus and harmony or balance and reciprocity?

The department of World Archaeology combines research and education about regions all over the world, from Human Origins to the Middle Ages, and from Europe, to Asia, Africa and the America’s. That broad range in time and space makes the department a dynamic pluriform community with many different approaches,…

This book presents an archaeological overview of the presence and development of Egyptian material culture in the context of Augustan Rome.

Accurately recognising others’ emotions is a fundamental social skill, relevant for navigating the social world from early childhood. Children’s ability to do represents a milestone in their socioemotional development and is associated with a number of important psychosocial outcomes. Many individual…

In our research and education, we focus on the following topics:

On Thursday 11 May 2017, Qiang Yu defended his doctoral thesis ‘Market Power and Competition Law in the Software Industry’. The supervisors of the research are Professor T.R. Ottervanger and Professor S.C.G. Van den Bogaert. A brief summary of his thesis is provided below.

In this paper, Sibgatullina and Abbas aim to illuminate the complex connections between the European right-wing movements and Islam and discusses how the adoption of Muslim identity may function as a politically strategic opportunity for European conservative forces.

How to interpret the concept of truth is a much debated topic in the history of philosophy. The issues related to truth involve language, reality and their correspondence relations.

In this article, Honorata Mazepus, assistant professor at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, and Dimiter Toshkov, associate professor at the Institute of Public Administration, discuss whether the winner–loser gap extends beyond the political domain to subjective health and well-being as…

Promotor: H.J. van den Herik, B.R. Katzy, Co-promotor: K. Sailer

A new publication on changes in the relationship between news and their public in Chile

The project Multimedia Research and Documentation of African Oral Genres: Connecting Diasporas and Local Audiences (Director: D.Merolla) focuses on multimedia as technology that allows scholars to share documentation and scientific knowledge with the cultural owners of the collected oral genres.

Alternatives to current practice

Comparison across jurisdictions is one way of assessing the appropriateness of lethal force resulting from the actions of law enforcement agencies. This article sets out a vision for a global use of force monitor that can enable meaningful comparisons between law enforcement agencies. It examines some…

The authors explore the decision-making processes and debates surrounding EU member states' troop contributions to CSDP military deployments.

With our research and teaching, we help make the world a better place. We join in the academic and public debate, and seek answers to economic and social issues – not just at the local and regional level but at the global one too.

To what extent are individuals socialised with heteronormativity and gender norms by the national context in which they live, by Dutch schoolbooks, and within Dutch families?

The Discovery of El Greco: The Nationalization of Culture Versus the Rise of Modern Art (1860-1915)

Are you interested in working with Leiden University or Leiden University Medical Centre?

The Europa Instituut is pleased to announce that on 21 November 2016 a new handbook “EU State Aids” (31 Chapters, 1500 pages) was published.

Imitation is, perhaps more than ever, constitutive of human originality.

Together with Pepijn Tuinier and Thijs Brocades Zaalberg, Sebastiaan Rietjens researched the role of trust in an international intelligence cooperation.

The Caribbean Research Group has recently been involved in fieldwork on two sites on St Vincent. Firstly Brighton Beach, and secondly Argyle.

La naissance d’une thalassocratie considers the contribution of the Burgundian and Habsburg Netherlands to the rise of the Dutch Republic as a maritime power. In Braudelian fashion, its chapters follow three lines of research.

The starting hypothesis of the project is that secrecy is not always inimical to democratic governance as conventional wisdom has it.

Edited by Dr. S. Arnoldussen and Prof. dr. H. Fokkens

On 14 January 2021, Joost Westerweel defended his thesis 'Lokale democratische innovatie'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. G. Boogaard and Prof. M.J. Cohen.

This work focuses on the interpretation of the archaeological remains of the Mixtec culture in Southern Mexico on the basis of the knowledge, perceptions, economy and worldview of contemporary descendant communities.

The first of the two volumes of this co-authored study has just been published by Metzler. The study explores the history of the concept ‘barbarism’ from the 18th century to the present and illuminates its foundational role in modern European and Western identity.

The Near East, situated at the nexus of Europe, Africa, and Asia, was central to the development of ancient societies in all three continents.

This thesis aims at thinking through the ethical position of animals in a way that differs radically from the manner in which this ethical position is thought within contemporary animal rights discourse.

While many European universities, Leiden included, have a proud tradition of research into Islamic studies, a topical and thematic focus on Shiʿi Islam in all its dispensation remains a desideratum.

On Wednesday 5 February 2025 Milan Ismangil successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

On 14 November 2019, Luis Fiallos Pazmino defended his thesis 'Legal Perspectives on the Cross Border Operations of Unmanned Aircraft Systems'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. P.M.J. Mendes de Leon and Prof. E.C.P.D.C. De Brabandere.

Dr. Gruni published an article on the impact on sustainable development in the EU Common Commercial Policy of recent Opinion 2/15 CJEU on the Global Trade and Customs Journal.

Natascha van der Zwan, Assistant Professor at Leiden Univeristy, together with two other authors, wrote a book that explored some of the ways coronavirus is impacting the global capitalist system – and how this could change for better and for worse.

The Centre for Indigenous America Studies (CIAS) at Leiden University is designed to coordinate and promote the teaching and research of Indigenous languages, literatures, cultures and cultural heritage. Our aim is to contribute to an increased acknowledgement, recognition and understanding of Indigenous…

The ECtHR needs to provide effective rights protection, but it also needs to set clear standards while showing deference to decisions made at the national level. Especially when socio-economic issues are concerned, meeting these different demands is a challenging task.

In the article Multimodality: Reshaping Anthropology, Mark Westmoreland describes how multimodality provides anthropologists with a new perspective on how we conduct research, produce scholarship, teach students, and interact with diverse audiences.

Ms. Monica Klasing Chen defended her thesis on 16 December 2020

The key facts and figures about Leiden University from its Annual Report for 2024.

Why do some parties fail to settle conflict, even after long periods of fighting? ISGA PhD candidate Valerie Sticher suggests that costly concessions often stand in the way of a negotiated agreement. Conflict party members not only care about their in-group's welfare, but also want to avoid rewarding…

This paper sheds light on how better monetary-fiscal coordination can be expected to play out across very different political-economic contexts.

The Department of Archaeological Heritage and Society focuses on the relationships between past and present, the role of heritage in society, and how heritage can contribute to the improving quality of life and our (future) environment.

Jurisprudence