The slogan of the Faculty of Archaeology, ‘The Future of the Past starts at Leiden University’, might sound like empty marketing speak. But there is something to it. The past can teach us a lot about climate change and that could make us fear the worst for our future. Archaeologist Gerrit Dusseldorp…

How has progress been made on diversity and inclusion at Leiden University over the past decade? Attendees reflected on this at the D&I Symposium 2024: Untold Stories. And in the workshops, students and staff discussed the next steps toward a more inclusive community.

Archaeologist Quentin Bourgeois received an NWO Vidi grant to investigate the emergence of a pan-European culture in the third millennium BC. ‘We see ideas being shared across the entire continent in pre-literate societies. And not only that, for a thousand years, the same cultural ideas persist.’

Another year has reached its end. And what a year it has been! On December 17th staff and students of the Faculty of Archaeology came together to celebrate and reminisce. The event's central topic was the closure of the 50 year anniversary of the collaboration between the Faculty of Archaeology and…

A consortium, led by Erik de Maaker (CADS, Leiden), has under the NWA scheme (Dutch National Science agenda) been awarded 98k€ for Localizing Global Garment Biographies, a two-year project to research the different ways by which users and producers attach value to garments.

It is the fifth year in a row that the Faculty of Archaeology is placed in the top ten of archaeological institutes worldwide. The QS World University Rankings by Subject looks at criteria like academic reputation and citation ratios. Dean Jan Kolen is pleased with this news: 'In recent years, the Faculty…

No fewer than 194 students received their bachelor's diplomas in International Studies on Friday 26 August.

325 students received their Bachelor’s Diploma of International Studies on 30 August 2019. The students received their diplomas in the historic Pieterskerk in Leiden, in front of a large audience of family and friends. With more than 1100 people present, including 325 graduates, this was the largest…

Conference

On 1 and 2 September, colleagues of Leiden Law School participated in the very first International ELS Conference, organised by the ELS Academy in Amsterdam.

Corinne Hofman’s term as Dean of the Faculty of Archaeology has finished. After 11 years she leaves the Faculty Board to fully focus on her research once again. On Thursday September 20th, during the final Dean's Lecture, a series she initiated, she was lauded by her successor, Dean Jan Kolen, Study…

On 26 and 27 September 2016, the Faculty of Archaeology of Leiden University hosted the closing symposium of the HERA-CARIB project “Caribbean Connections: Cultural encounters in a New World setting”.

Many humanities graduates find work in digital heritage, but a good pedagogical model to match education is lacking. University lecturers Karin de Wild and Peter Verhaar want to change this with a Comenius grant.

About the event

Professor Henk Schulte Nordholt was made a Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion on Friday 6 September 2019 for his services to the study of Indonesia. Mayor of Leiden, Henri Lenferink, presented him with his medal. This was at the end of a valedictory symposium for and a valedictory speech by…

During his visit to the Caribbean part of the Kingdom, Minister Ronald Plasterk (Home Affairs) on Thursday, January 24, 2013 performed the official opening of a small exhibition. The exhibition portrays the work Prof. Dr. Corinne Hofman and Dr. Menno Hoogland have conducted on Saba over the past 26…

On May 4, 2024, from 10.00 to 16.00 hours, a festive day took place in Oss, celebrating the fact that staff and students of the Leiden Faculty of Archeology have been doing fieldwork in and around Oss for 50 years in good collaboration with the municipality of Oss, the local heritage and archaeological…

Dusted off and fresh from the field, some insight perspectives on the 2012 field season of the Proyecto Arqueologico Centro de Nicaragua. It's safe to summarize the field campaign as having generated some insights, and possible answers, many more contacts, and the occasional frustration for added bo…

The material and intellectual presence of Egypt is at the heart of Western culture, religion, and art from Antiquity to the present. In his book ‘Beyond Egyptomania. Objects, style and agency’, archaeologist Miguel John Versluys not only presents the Nachleben of Egypt as a major constituent of (European)…

How can the importance of the image in late medieval spirituality be understood in the context of the love mysticism inspired by the imagery of the Song of Songs?

For the third time, the Society for Nobility Studies will present the Virtus Thesis Award for Nobility Studies for the best (Research) Master’s thesis devoted to (an aspect of) the study of the nobility. To be eligible for submission, the thesis must have been produced in completion of an academic Master’s…

On 30 August 2024, 330 students received their Bachelor Diploma of International Studies. The students were awarded their diplomas in the historic Pieterskerk in Leiden. A large audience of about 1000 people consisting of friends, family, and staff members gathered to celebrate the graduates’ achievements…

The editors of the Journal of Sonic Studies are proud to announce that its 23th issue is online.

What does it mean to do “global research”? Global studies is an emerging field that focuses on transboundary, international, and global processes and systems, such as climate change, global social media, and globalization. These issues call for researchers to think beyond conventional state actors or…

Navigation Lab Leiden has launched a study on the effects of the navigation training program we have developed, called Wayfinder. Milan van der Kuil is the main researcher on this project and studies how navigation ability can be improved in patients with acquired brain injury.

What's it like studying abroad? Noor Ismail and Charlot Oltmans share their experiences in videos made in Hhangzhou and Oslo.

The Department of Humanities of the University of Pavia will host the Third European Symposium in Celtic Studies from 7 to 9 September 2022. Papers are invited on any aspect of Celtic Studies, including language, literature, history, archaeology and culture from any period. Deadline for submission:…

The bachelor's programme in International Studies is celebrating its tenth anniversary. Ko Voskuilen was among the very first batch of students to follow the study, and Sophia Healy graduated this summer. How do they look back on their time at the university?

Op welke manieren kan inclusieve communicatie ervoor zorgen dat mensen zich welkom voelen? Hierover ging het D&I-symposium van Universiteit Leiden.

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.

This collaborative project aims to explore the history of the concept “barbarism” in Europe from the 18th century to the present, with a particular emphasis on the role of literature and art in the concept’s shifting functions.

Conference

Last Friday, during the ELS Academy Annual Event, Loran Kostense (VU), Sofia de Jong (Leiden University), Rieneke Stelma-Roorda (VU) and Anne Verboom (Leiden University) were awarded a €5000 research grant to carry out research on comparing the method of case law reviews versus court file studies. In…

Atrocities have been the order of the day in Syria since war broke out in 2011, but the perpetrators are rarely tried. According to PhD candidate Elizabeth Van Schaack, the international community could bring justice in Syria, but only if there is political will. PhD defence on 29 April 2020.

In traditional style, 2025 was ushered in at our faculty with the Meijers Lecture followed by the New Year's Reception. On Thursday 16 January 2025, the Meijers Lecture took place in the Lorentz Lecture Hall where the Meijers Prizes and the Van Wersch Springplank Prize were also awarded. At the New…

Increasingly, citizens are going to court to challenge decisions by the Public Prosecution Service not to prosecute in certain, sometimes socially sensitive, cases. Yet, these citizens are not always taken seriously as democratically engaged persons. A mistake, says Sophie Koning.

Last week on Monday evening, four international Leiden Law School alumni working in various sectors and areas of expertise came back to their alma mater to talk to current students. So who are these alumni?

On 20 September 2023 Mark van de Water successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

On Tuesday 30 April 2024 Jonny Russell successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

LiDAR, a laser-based remote sensing technology, is transforming archaeology by uncovering hidden landscapes beneath forests, vegetation, and shallow waters. Though initially designed for land management, its applications in archaeology have grown rapidly.

The Hay Festival brings readers and writers together to share stories and ideas in sustainable events around the world. The festivals inspire, examine and entertain, inviting participants to imagine the world as it is and as it might be.

For the next three years the municipality of Epe will contribute to the research on the Epe barrow alignment. The city complements funds that NWO made available for the Networked Landscapes (2015-2018) research project by dr. Quentin Bourgeois. The objective of this project is to unlock the principal…

The special of the Dutch History Programme Andere Tijden 'Missie Geslaagd?' (Mission accomplished?) tells the story of the last fathers of the Holy Spirit Congregation who live in Gennep. Professor of Anthropology and Sociology of Africa Peter Pels is one of the specialists in this episode. He explains…

The Mexican embassy, represented by the cultural attaché, Mr. José Manuel Springer, donated to the Faculty of Archaeology a voluminous publication of detailed maps of the historical and contemporary distribution of the indigenous languages of Mexico: “Catálogo de Lenguas Indígenas Mexicanas, Cartografía…

A team of Leiden researchers has received the Ammodo Science Award for conducting innovative humanities research into the experience of cultural heritage. They investigate how 'play', such as the video game Minecraft, can contribute to a deeper understanding of the past.

Archaeologist Eduardo Herrera Malatesta reflects on the unfamiliarity with the pre-Columbian past that he encountered during fieldwork in the Montecristi province in the Dominican Republic.

On Friday, November 22, students of the Archaeology Honours track participated in a poster presentation at the national archaeological congress 'De Reuvensdagen'. The posters were made as final assignment for the Honours Orientation Seminar, which is the introduction course for the Honours Track ‘Crossing…

Martin Berger was asked by the FIFA Museum in Zürich to help develop an exposition on the origins of football. In line with his expertise, he worked on the part of the online exposition that was about the Mesoamerican ballgame.

The chief curator of the National Museum of Ethnology, Laura van Broekhoven, is participating in the Museum Leadership Institute at the Claremont Graduate University.

On October 21st, 2019, the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, handed out the National Prize for the Youth in the academic achievement category to our PhD candidate Omar Aguilar Sánchez. He received this honour for his work on Mixtec pictorial manuscripts.