When did the Mali Empire disintegrate? What does the Sunjata heritage demonstrate about the political situation after 1600?

Damien Van Puyvelde and Paul Oling explore how government intelligence agencies can effectively collaborate with the private technology sector to meet their evolving technological needs, focusing particularly on emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing.

Leiden patriot Pieter Vreede fought for greater popular influence. Historian Dirk Alkemade reveals how this pioneer used radical means to shape Dutch democracy.

In a recent EUobserver opinion article, Salvador Santino Regilme, warns that Europe faces a crisis of legitimacy if it continues to ignore the structural influence of billionaires and oligarchic interests within its institutions.

Sophie Vériter explores a small state’s impact on EU security governance, a hard challenge means against big states in this policy area.

An important component of the master programme consists of extracurricular activities. On this page all extracurricular activities are listed.

If you choose to study Political Science: National and International Politics, then you choose Leiden as your home base. You will study at a leading research institute, with a heart for good education and inspiring teachers. And Leiden is a real student city with a flourishing cultural and nightlife,…

Explore student life for the MSc International Organisation at Leiden University: student associations, events, extracurriculars, and living in The Hague.

Develop a tool to assess land tenure, access to land and, and land tenure conflict in Timor-Leste

An important component of this master consists of extracurricular activities. Get the most out of your programme by taking part in our extracurricular activities.

The specialisation in Translation allows you to explore translation theory and research and you will become familiar with various translation tools and technologies. Upon graduation you will earn a qualification that will give you entry to the national register of sworn interpreters and translators.

Research in the International Relations and European Studies Team addresses the interconnections and interdependence of contemporary global political, economic and cultural affairs from a multidisciplinary perspective rooted in the humanities.

Explore student life for the MSc The Politics of Artificial Intelligence at Leiden University: student associations, events, extracurriculars, and living in The Hague.

The EUTAXGOV Chair will address the EU Standard of Tax Good Governance. This Standard has been introduced in 2008 by the ECOFIN Council with a view to tackle tax fraud and evasion by companies and individuals and as a pre-condition for third (non-EU) countries that receive EU development aid, and concluded…

National Meat Free Week (Nationale Week Zonder Vlees, 7–13 March) is an initiative to reduce meat consumption. Assistant professor Paul Behrens is studying what impact a change in our food consumption would have on the world. What, according to him, are the main reasons to switch to a (mainly) plant-based…

Marion Anker is a junior curator at the Rijksmuseum, the National Museum of the Netherlands. She studied History in Leiden and Amsterdam. Together with her team, she organised the controversial exhibition ‘Revolusi! Indonesië onafhankelijk!’ What did studying History teach her?

The first Dutch National Post-Doc Prize was awarded to Dr. Hayley Mickleburgh, postdoctoral researcher in the field of funerary archaeology with ERC-Synergy NEXUS1492 at the Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University.

On the occasion of the Workshop organized last July to officially launch the Leiden Chinese Queer Collection (LCQC), the National Museum of Taiwan Literature (NMTL) donated 30 titles of Taiwanese LGBTQ+ literature to support this initiative. These works where published between 1971 and 2022 by authors…

The ASEAN community formed by Brunei, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, Timor-Leste, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, and The Pacific Alliance formed by Chile, Colombia, México and Perú adopted the ASEAN-Pacific Alliance Work Plan (2021-2025) back in 2021.

To what extent does the Law Ombudsperson for Children achieve its goals as intended by the legislator when introducing the law?

From indigenous space to colonial setting. Archaeological investigations at El Chorro de Maita in Cuba wins prestigious prize.

How can we understand the implementation of EU policy and what challenges are involved?

Niels van Willigen (Institute of Political Science, Leiden University) puts Dutch participation in UN peacekeeping into an historical context. He analyses the reasons for the Dutch withdrawal from the 1990s onwards, and explores the obstacles and opportunities for a structural return. Van Willigen argues…

The fourteen Dutch universities have published a digital magazine in which the researchers explain the Digital Society programme in text and images.

On Friday 5 February 2021 the online conference of the Dutch Platform of Empirical Legal Studies (ELS) took place. This conference served as a platform to bring young, enthusiastic and driven ELS scholars together in a research community and enable them to learn more and discuss about empirical research…

Biology PhD student at Leiden University Kevin Groen and his identical twin brother Marvin Groen (a biology student as well) will be on Dutch Television from Tuesday 5 September in the programme called Vroege Vogels every week (NPO 2, 19:20).

For the second time in six months, Hans-Martien ten Napel has been invited to write the opening essay for a series of international blog posts.

At the end of January, the fifth installment of the International Leiden Leadership Programme (ILLP) has started. This year twenty masters’ students from ten different countries were selected. In the coming months they will increase their knowledge on leadership and develop their own leadership skills…

On April 12th three students majoring in Earth, Energy, and Sustainability (EES) from Leiden University College participated in the annual conference of the Netherlands Center for River Studies.

Subproject of the ERC project 'Challenging the Liberal World Order from Within: The Invisible History of the United Nations and the Global South'.

Arnold Tukker and Mingming Hu (CML) will look for urban resilience solutions in the Dutch-Chinese ReSURE2 project that received 1.1M euro.

The human trafficking of Eritrean refugees is a booming business, where money is made with smuggling people, but also using violence, hostage situations and even torture. Modern communication methods like money transfer via mobile phones play a vital role in this, conclude professor Mirjam van Reisen…

The European Football Championship for Women, in the Netherlands this summer, is the background for a large and innovative data research project. The Dutch football union is working together with Leiden University and Sportinnovator. The research is expected to uncover links that have thus far remained…

The proportion of female professors at Dutch universities is increasing, but at a modest rate. At 34.2%, Leiden University is in the top three. These are the results of the Women Professors Monitor for 2025.

On 14 May, curator and professor Ruurd Halbertsma will be leaving the National Museum of Antiquities (RMO) after forty years of dedicated service. In fact, it will be a double farewell: Venusval (‘Venus trap’), the last part of his trilogy about Tjalling Kingma, the fictional curator of the classical…

On 8 and 9 May 2018 the Workshop 'Challenging the Liberal World Order: The History of the Global South, Decolonization and the United Nations, 1955-2000' takes place at Leiden University.

From 13 to 15 October, first-year students of the Advanced MSc in International Relations and Diplomacy (MIRD) travelled to Brussels, the heart of the European Union, to visit key EU and UN institutions.

Talking about suicide is important, but anything but comfortable. To make this difficult subject easier for students and staff to discuss, the university is organising a campaign week in line with the national campaign ‘1K Z1E J3’ (I see you) being run by Stichting 113 Zelfmoordpreventie (113 is the…

In the National Think Tank (NDT) 20 young academics spend four months reflecting on how to solve a societal problem. Four participants from Leiden told us about their experience.

On 1 September 2022 Afke van Ewijk successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

Lecture, European Union Seminar

Wrenching poverty, global inequality, violent political and ethnic strife, deadlocked, unresponsive or even collapsing governments, growing dissatisfaction with democracy and missed opportunities for innovation – these are merely some of the challenges of governance and development with which our programme…

A team of researchers based at Leiden has taken over the editorship of the journal Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Organizations. For the first time, the journal will now be based outside the United States. The new Editor-in-Chief, Associate Professor Alanna O'Malley…

On 12 May, Joachim Koops, Professor of Security Studies and Scientific Director of the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA), was invited to brief the United Nations Department of Peace Operations in New York on the situation in Ukraine, options for the protection of civilians and lessons…

Rising geopolitical tensions are causing states and national elites to innovate their use of the past for present-day political ends. This is certainly true for the People’s Republic of China, which celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2024 amid mounting superpower rivalry, ideological tensions with the…

The last names for the future European Commissioners were made public at the beginning of September 2019 and also which candidates have been put forward for the new European Commission by the different member states.

With the exodus of departing parliamentarians, which seems to have gained momentum this summer, the loss of experience in parliament after the upcoming general election in the Netherlands will be considerable. A cause for concern according to Wim van De Camp, former CDA MP, and Wim Voermans, Professor…