This project focuses on a striking parallelism between two macro-groups of languages: southern Italian dialects and the so-called split-ergative languages, like Basque, Georgian, Dyirbal, Hindi/Urdu.

On the Master’s Open Day on 15 February Liza Vromen from Harlem arrives in Leiden to investigate the pre-master’s programme Psychology. As a matter of fact she will look beyond that programme for a master’s specialisation which fits her personal interest.

On 2 December, the Municipality of Leiden will apologise for the role previous administrations played in colonialism and slavery. A further study will be carried out.

On Tuesday 30 September 2025, PhD candidate Kathleen Brown will defend her dissertation 'Deception, Risk, and Evasion: The Politics of Sovereign Debt in Emerging Markets' in Leiden’s Academy Building. Her research sheds light on the hidden world of sovereign debt politics, revealing how governments…

Women In International Security (WIIS) is a global organisation dedicated to advancing the leadership and professional development of women in the field of international peace and security. As part of her research on women, peace and security, Dr. Vanessa Newby at the Institute for Security and Global…

Throughout the coming year, all attention in Leiden will be on Asia. This special year, featuring numerous Asian events, conferences, exhibitions and concerts, celebrates the new Asian Library at Leiden University. Come and read, watch, listen, taste or dance Bollywood style.

Ben Wielstra strives to unravel the evolution of balanced lethal systems. On 1 February he started his own lab at the Institute of Biology Leiden. Wielstra is one of five researchers at Leiden University who has been awarded an ERC Starting Grant in 2018 by the European Research Council. ERC Starting…

On Friday, 2 December 2022, PhD candidates connected to the Institutions for Conflict Resolution (COI) research group participated in a Skills Lab focusing on the skill of writing empirical legal research papers.

Ilze Bot wants to reduce the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases. Her research focuses on mast cells, which protect us from infections but can also make us ill.

The Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) is a short and intensive mobility programme funded by the European Union, that combines online learning with a short trip for in-person teaching.

Studying International Relations and Organisations (IRO) you will address transboundary issues from a social sciences point of view. It is an international 3-year programme with a strong focus on current global affairs.

The new interdisciplinary bachelor's program in Science for Sustainable Societies starts in the 2025-2026 academic year.

Campus The Hague gained a new facility. On Thursday 17 February, POPcorner was opened, helping students find their way during their studies and within the university buildings.

On 23 September, the Leiden alderman for the Management of Public Space was presented with a Ginkgo Biloba in the Blekerspark. This special 'Peace Tree' was grown from a seed from a tree that survived the atomic bomb that devastated Hiroshima. The Peace Tree is being temporarily housed in Leiden's Hortus…

CFP: Two-day PhD/ Research MA masterclass Feminist Theory with and around the work of Prof. dr. Lynne Huffer organised by the OZSW in cooperation with NOG

On the day that Leiden University celebrated its 444th birthday, we organised drinks for our alumni who live and work in the Brussels area.

Large numbers of Indonesians were active members of the resistance during the Second World War. One of them was Irawan Soejono, a student at Leiden University. He was shot dead on Boommarkt, during a raid on 13 January 1945. Seventy-five years later he was remembered in a small ceremony in the very…

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?

More than 40 years ago, a wrecked merchant ship was found in the Wadden Sea. PhD student Geke Burger looked at this archaeological find from a historical perspective.

Beatrice Penati is Assistant Professor of History at Nazarbayev University (Astana, Kazakhstan). Dr Penati will deliver a guest lecture on Monday, 10 October and a masterclass on Thursday, 13 October within the Central Asia Initiative at Leiden University.

For first-year bachelor’s students, it is a well-known phenomenon: student mentors. These older students help newcomers on their way in small groups. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this year the choice was made to set up a mentor programme for new master's students as well. We talked to three student…

Last month (February 5-8 2024), the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, Barbados, hosted a workshop entitled ‘Caribbean World Heritage Sites in the light of today’s global challenges: the case of Historic Bridgetown and Its Garrison’.

Winning a prestigious award for PhD researchers, even before you have your doctorate: that's what Yascha van den Berg managed to do with his research proposal on alternatively spliced tissue factor, a protein that may be involved in tumour growth. Van den Berg: ‘It all started as a Friday afternoon…

Harvesting rice from the same field, without planting new rice plants? A discovery may bring this scenario closer. Leiden scientists have discovered a gene that allows annual plants to grow after flowering, instead of dying. Publication on 13 April in Nature Plants.

The Dick Stufkens Prize 2021 for the best PhD thesis of the Holland Research School of Molecular Chemistry (HRSMC) has been awarded to Klaas van Leest for his thesis 'Open- Shell Cobalt Complexes with Redox-Active Ligands; Electronic Structure and Nitrene Transfer Reactivity'. Van Leest, who is now…

What influence do children’s upbringing and education have on their world view? This is the question Professor Judi Mesman is trying to answer. For her research and public outreach activities, she has just been awarded the prestigious Stevin Prize, the highest award in the Netherlands for a researcher…

PhD candidate Alex Tutwiler, from the Faculty of Archaeology, has received a grant from Archol, via the P.J.R. Modderman Foundation, to investigate how child labor shaped the bones of Dutch children between the 17th and 19th centuries. Using CT scans, she aims to build a more comprehensive picture of…

Antwoord op veelgestelde vragen over onderzoek met proefdieren bij de Universiteit Leiden. FAQ

Marijke Brouwer started as an archaeologist, excavating Iron Age settlements in the Dutch polder regions. Today she is the director of medieval Huis Bergh, one of the largest castles in the Netherlands. How did this unusual career development come about?

Science communication is a lot more than writing a column or giving a lecture now and then. The communication itself also has to be firmly based in sound scientific research, is the message of Professor Ionica Smeets in her inaugural lecture.

Sylvia van Beugen has won the Herman Musaph Literature award 2016 for the best publication about psychodermatology. Her publication describes the importance of body awareness in chronic skin conditions, such as psoriasis.

We do it every day but barely give it a thought: chewing our food. But the ‘simple’ process of masticating food may have played a crucial role in the evolution of our jaws, facial muscles and teeth.

How can The Netherlands, France and Germany cooperate more closely on issues such as European security and defence. Join the kick off of The European Strategic Dialogue Series, an initiative by the Institute of Security and Global Affairs and its partners in France and Germany. Joachim Koops tells more…

To be eligible for Translation at Leiden University, you must meet the following admission requirements.

Now the introduction weeks can go ahead as usual, the new students’ enthusiasm is overwhelming. It’s back to normal for the student associations too, having had a hard time of it during the pandemic.

Leiden researchers from different disciplines look together at complex social problems. What happens when they join forces with artists? The results could be seen on Tuesday 11 June during a unique exhibition. Take a look for yourself:

Anti-litter activist Dirk Groot photographed, tagged, and collected more than 400,000 pieces of litter in the Netherlands. Now, he and his data are included in a study on urban litter by researchers from Leiden University and Andrea Ballatore from Birkbeck, University of London.

Health psychologist Aleksandrina Skvortsova has made clever use of the Pavlov effect to link the ‘cuddle’ hormone oxytocin with the placebo effect. This effect can alter the level of oxytocin in the body, making it possible for people to reduce the amount of medicine they need while still feeling good.…

Twenty students and alumni from our faculty recently went on a working visit to NATO. Led by Leiden alumna Beaudine Verhoek (MA in International Relations), who is now Officer for Political Affairs and Security Policy at NATO, we were treated to an informative programme at the organisation’s brand-new…

So much has happened this year! 2023 was an eventful year in which several wars raged about which our experts could offer interpretation. It was also the year in which the government made apologies for the slavery past. Leiden humanities scholars were at the forefront of this with their research on…

A cultural delegation from Taiwan has presented 175 books and journals to Leiden University. The gift is meant as thanks for all the research carried out by the university on the subject of the indigenous peoples of Formosa, as Taiwan was called in the past.

Throughout this past year many students and staff at Leiden Law Staff received a prize or grant, were shortlisted for a prize or appointed to an academic body, or were honoured in some other way. All good reason to include them in our Hall of Fame 2020 to show how very proud we are of them!

Natalia Grincheva (2020). Museum Diplomacy in the Digital Age. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-8153-6999-8, 164 pp., £27.99 (paperback).

During adolescence, some young people have stable best-friend relationships, while others change best friends frequently. Developmental psychologist Lisa Schreuders has studied the brains of young adolescents: ‘It seems that friendships in your early years can have consequences for your friendships…

Senior lecturer Rick Honings has been appointed Scaliger professor with effect from 1 July 2020. In the coming years his focus will be on promoting teaching and research on the Special Collections of the Leiden University Library. Honings succeeds book historian Erik Kwakkel, who held this chair until…

Lecture, NGL lecture

Leiden's cultural anthropologist Anouk de Koning is receiving a Vici research grant for her project ‘Prototyping Welfare in Europe: Experiments in State and Society’ to study welfare experiments in four countries and to examine what they tell us about the futures of European welfare states.

Leiden researchers have found minute movements in the laccase enzyme. This discovery could lead to the development of much more efficient biofuel cells. Publication in Biophysical Journal.

Yliana Rodríguez was in the middle of a second fieldtrip in the Falklands researching Spanish-English language contact, when global lockdown measures were announced. Sit back, relax and enjoy reading about Yliana's research into a unique speech community.