Doctoral research on recent developments in museological practices by “critical” curators, interventionist artists, and personnel initiatives, focusing on ‘queering’ as an entrance point to broader intersectional issues; resulting in a report on the ‘Queer Baseline’ (to be launched in 2020), a popular…

China is a one-party regime, yet elections are held for the local congresses. PhD candidate Wang Zhongyuan investigated how the Communist Party uses this democratic instrument to strengthen the authoritarian regime. PhD defence 31 January.

In our European and International Business Law Advanced Master programme, you learn to decipher the hierarchy of European & international business law

The Classics and Ancient Civilizations (Research) programme offers many extracurricular opportunities to enrich your study experience.

Leiden PhD candidate Mona Shahab climbed Mount Everest two years ago to raise money for the education of disadvantaged children in Egypt. She made it to the top and posed there with the University flag. She recently presented the flag to Rector Carel Stolker.

On Monday 26 February the terrible news reached us that our gifted former Egyptology student – and former student assistant at the Leids Papyrologisch Instituut – Juan Archidona Ramírez had succumbed to cancer.

Hanan Hammad and Eftychia Mylona give a master class focusing on conceptual and methodological challenges in writing histories of marginalized social groups.

Special visit of seven ambassadors of the Arabic-speaking world to the University Library

On November 9th, the students of NVIC visited the Dutch Embassy. Marwan Khalil and Imane Makouri, two students, share their experience:

In Ancient Egypt, prominent families engaged in ancestor worship to maintain their high standing. Renata Schiavo researched this link between religion and power for her PhD. ‘People were afraid that their ancestors would bring misfortune if the family’s prestige declined.’

On Thursday the 15th of March, an exhibition displaying funerary masterpieces of Deir el-bersha was opened at the Egyptian museum on the occasion of 120 years of archaeological research at the site. The exhibit runs until 15 April.

On the 17th and 18th of September 2018, the workshop Egyptian Riverine Harbours took place for the second time. The workshop is organized by the French, Austrian and Netherlands-Flemish institutes in Cairo and the Leuven Egyptologists. Harco Willems held his lecture on the relation between the antique…

Dit deel bevat de editie of heruitgave van 52 papyri en ostraca, daterend uit de periode tussen de derde eeuw voor Christus en de achtste eeuw na Christus.

The recently formed Young Academy Leiden consists of a group of young scholars who are committed to increasing interdisciplinary research, promoting science policy, and encouraging outreach (both academic and public). Dr Sarah Schrader will represent the Faculty of Archaeology in the Young Academy L…

This volume contains the first edition of 66 papyri and ostraca in the collection of the Leiden Papyrological Institute.

This volume contains the edition or re-edition of 52 papyri and ostraca, dating from between the third century BCE and the eighth century CE.

The goal of alumnus International Studies Dennis Jansen (24) is to make the voice of young people heard in the climate debate. In November he is going to el-Sheikh in Egypt, where the Climate Change Conference is being held.

Research on papyri has provided new insights into the history of the origins of Islam. Petra Sijpesteijns’s book,'Shaping a Muslim State', is based on these ancient Arabic letters and documents. Her new research on a Viennese collection of untranslated papyri is expected to produce more discoveries.

This month marks the two-hundredth anniversary of the deciphering of Egyptian hieroglyphic writing. NINO, the Language Museum, Things that Talk and the National Museum of Antiquities are seizing the opportunity to organise the first Week of Ancient Writing.

Since mid-October Marina de Regt (VU Amsterdam) resides at NVIC as our 2025 NWIB Visiting Professor. Nearing the end of her time in Egypt, she shares here her experiences of the past months.

If you had something important to write down in ancient times, you would usually write in Greek in the eastern Mediterranean. University lecturer Joanne Stolk has been awarded an ERC grant to explore the kinds of spelling mistakes that were made in these scripts. And, more importantly, what improvements…

Since August 2017, dr. Sarah Schrader is working at the Faculty of Archaeology in the department of Archaeological Sciences. Her expertise is human osteology with a specific focus on the bio-archaeological reconstruction of daily activities. Recently she took over the management of the Osteoarchaeology…

On 1 May, Casper de Jonge will be appointed Professor of Greek Language and Literature. ‘Greek literature did not come from Athens alone: authors from Egypt, Syria and Asia Minor also wrote in Greek.’

Political scientist Kevin Köhler (Leiden University) has been awarded a Consolidator Grant by the European Research Council (ERC). This prestigious grant enables him to set up a research group in the coming five years. Köhler and his team will examine how elite conflict affects processes of regime change…

The Netherlands-Flemish Institute is offering an internship in Cairo from March 2018 onwards. If you are interested please apply before February 15, 2018. (See the details in Dutch only)

Dr Sarah Schrader, an expert in the study of human remains, received a VIDI grant for a research project on health and inequality. In present day people with a high socio-economic status encounter fewer health risks than those in lower socio-economic strati. ‘Now we will look at this process in the…

The Netherlands-Flemish Institute is offering an internship in Cairo from January 2019 onwards. If you are interested please apply before 20 December, 2018. (See the details in Dutch only)

Upcoming activities by PhDArts candidates Basma Hamdy, Danne Ojeda Hernandez and Joost Grootens

Universe Awareness is one of fifteen projects chosen by WISE for providing compelling and innovative solutions to today’s most pressing challenges in education.

Ever since its foundation, Leiden University has turned its gaze outwards to other cultures, languages and forms of academic practice. It is only natural, therefore, that we as a university have four institutes abroad: the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV-KNAW)…

The Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo is offering an internship from September 2019 onwards. If you are interested please apply before 15 July, 2019. (See the details in Dutch only)

Between the early thirteenth and early sixteenth centuries CE, the Sultanate of Cairo affected the balances of power elites across and beyond the regions of Egypt, Syria and the Eastern Mediterranean. Modern historiography has for a long time been determined by the idea of this sultanate as a highly…

We are delighted to announce that the funding of the Leiden University Centre for the Study of Islam and Society (LUCIS) will be continued from 2018 until 2020!

NVIC welcomes Dr. Stefanie Van de Peer of Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh as a guest researcher.

Prof. dr. Iain Gardner (University of Sydney) will be a visiting scholar at Leiden University Centre for the study of Religion (LUCSoR) in September-November 2015

A message from our director

From 4 November until 9 November 2018, the Netherlands Embassy in Cairo organized a training in Museology and Site Management in close cooperation with the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo, the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities and the Reinwardt Academy (Amsterdam), with great contributions of…

NVIC is pleased to welcome Christine Kamel as our new receptionist. Christine will briefly introduce herself: "My name is Christine Kamel. I live in Cairo, Egypt. I studied Pharmacy at an Egyptian University (Ain Shams), class 2010. I worked as a Research & Development Pharmacist in a Pharmaceutical…

We are happy to introduce our new Assistant Director for Egyptology & Archaeology: Dr Ariel Singer

Eleven talented Leiden researchers with several years of research experience have been awarded a Vidi subsidy to set up or expand their own line of research. One of them is LIAS researcher Lara Weiss.

Mattias Brand’s dissertation, The Manichaeans of Kellis: Religion, Community, and Everyday Life (Leiden, 2019) has been selected for one of the five prestigious Praemium Erasmianum Dissertation Awards 2021.

Professor Petra Sijpesteijn has been elected as an International Fellow of the British Academy, a prestigious recognition that highlights her exceptional contributions to the study of early Islamic history.

On 8 December, on the occasion of her 65th birthday, Cisca Hoogendijk was surprised with a festive bundle of 56 text editions by friends and colleagues, edited by her former students Dr Joanne Vera Stolk and Guus A.J.C. van Loon, MA.

We are thrilled to introduce our new PhD student: Andrés Martín García de la Cruz