‘Big Tech heeft de democratische staat op feodale wijze aan zich onderworpen’, schrijft universitair docent Reijer Passchier in zijn nieuw verschenen boek De vloek van Big Tech. In NRC waarschuwt de docent voor de groeiende macht van techgiganten.

Power and money are not enough for big tech entrepreneurs who are investing billions in digital nations. Reijer Passchier, Professor of Digitalisation and the Democratic Rule of Law (OU) and Assistant Professor of Constitutional Law, and Wim Voermans, Professor of Constitutional Law, share their concerns…

An international comparative study of the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States.

On 2 September 2021, Gert Jan Geertjes defended his thesis 'Staatsrecht en conventie in Nederland en het Verenigd Koninkrijk'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. L.F.M. Verhey and Prof. W.J.M. Voermans.

Following China and Italy, it appears that the United States is becoming the next epicentre of the coronacrisis. Can the US handle this crisis? Is president Trump dealing with the situation correctly? We asked Leiden America expert Sara Polak.

Bij Amsterdam University Press verschijnt 'Imams in Western Europe. Developments, Transformations and Institutional Challenges' onder redactie van Mohammed Hashas, Jan Jaap de Ruiter en Niels Valdemar Vinding, een publicatie waarin tal van zaken met betrekking tot imams in Europa behandeld worden. De…

How did colonial law work to turn people into property? This project argues that colonial ideas about households and domestic authority were critical to legal processes of enslavement in the early modern Dutch empire. Using colonial court records from Dutch Brazil, Suriname, and the Moluccas, the project…

Political games have existed throughout history, but what is the role of 'play' in the way the American political world has developed? University lecturer Sara Polak has received an ERC Starting Grant to investigate this.

University lecturer Lauren Lauret has been awarded the D.J. Veegens Prize 2022 for her dissertation on the meeting practices of the States General during the time of the Republic of the Seven United Provinces compared to those of the Lower House during the first half of the 19th century.

How did changes in the composition and exploitation of princely domains in various principalities of the Low Countries influence the development of ‘modern’ public finance systems, including the notion of public debt?

We would all like to live in a world in which individuals feel safe, conflicts are resolved peacefully and the interests of future generations are taken into consideration. At Leiden University legal scholars investigate to what extent public international law meets the needs of a globalised society.…

On 3 November 2022, Mariëlle Bruning, Professor of Children and the Law, spoke as an expert on child protection at a roundtable discussion with Dutch Lower House members of the Standing Committee on Justice and Security.

To mark the official launch of the network, Maartje Janse and Peter Stamatov have organized a roundtable on Global Abolitionisms at the Annual Meeting of the Social Science Historical Association, November 2015 in Baltimore.

Karwan Fatah-Black and Lauren Lauret are co-authors of Geketend voor Hollands Glorie (The Chains of Holland’s Glory) that studies the political and economic connections between South Holland and slavery. The findings of this research will be presented with Dr. Joris van den Tol (Radboud University)…

Osteoarchaeologists help forensic scientists solve crimes. They also study bone material from the Second World War in order to identify victims.

Leiden archaeologists investigate how people in the past impacted their environment. Together with scientists, environmental scientists, and humanities experts, they use this information to draw conclusions about the present – and show what we can learn from it for the future.

Promotores: S.F. Portegies Zwart, E. M. Rossi

Are you a British citizen currently studying at Leiden University? Find out about the effects of Brexit such as the transition period, residence permits, tuition fees and more.

Archaic and Classical architectural terracottas constituted an integral part of the architecture of monumental buildings at Akragas. These objects therefore provide unique insights into the built environment of sanctuaries at this important Greek colony in Sicily. This research's multi-disciplinary…

Morphometric and morphological differences have been used extensively in the past to study domestication of the wolf and the origin of dogs. Certainly before genetic testing was performed, these methods were the only means to diverge both groups. But still now, when aDNA cannot be extracted, morphometry…

Like any language, the natural sign languages of deaf communities differ from each other in their grammars and lexicons. A growing number of studies indicates that sign languages make use of the gestures of hearing speakers to build linguistic structure. This implies that variation and similarities…

A flood of news reports, push notifications and even extra news broadcasts: on Wednesday, the world was shocked by the storming of the Capitol in Washington. Americanist Sara Polak discusses the events.

Coming to and living in The Netherlands after Brexit.

Learning from small data sets in machine learning is a crucial challenge, especially when dealing with data imbalances and anomaly detection. This thesis delves into the challenges and methodologies of learning from small datasets in machine learning, with a particular focus on addressing data imbalances…

Like any language, the natural sign languages (henceforth: SLs) of deaf communities differ from each other in their grammars and lexicons. A growing number of studies indicates that SLs make use of the gestures of hearing speakers to build linguistic structure. This implies that variation and similarities…

Promotor: M. de Jong, Co-Promotor: Samtleben

Social science research helps us understand human behaviour and social structures. These are determined by various factors, which makes the research complex and increases the likelihood of drawing the wrong conclusions. The choice of research method and analysis is therefore extremely important. It…

Smart algorithms and powerful processors are just as essential for astronomy as big telescopes. Astronomers at Leiden University therefore constantly operate at the interface between astronomy and data science.

Organized by the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies, this programme enables students and professionals from all over the world to engage in discussions on the prospects and challenges of international criminal justice. Registration is now open!

One of the current research projects funded by the profile area Political Legitimacy is the research group From Disorder to Order: Conflict and the Resources of Legitimacy.

Isotopic insights on human diet from the later stone age to Neolithic in Northwest Africa, Morocco

Biological cells, the basic building blocks of all life forms, are surrounded by a lipid membrane. More than half of the membrane is occupied by membrane proteins, which can regulate the cell functionality through specific arrangements.

The Mycenaean civilization of ancient Greek times offers enormous potential for useful information: from innovative construction methods to ways of handling crisis situations as a society. Archaeologist Ann Brysbaert and her team analyse Mycenaean construction processes in the ERC Consolidator project…

During this course, specialists from Leiden University and beyond will provide instruction on issues of editing, paleography and conservation of oriental manuscripts. They will also speak about philology, literacy and orality and the transmission of knowledge in the Islamic manuscript culture, presenting…

Leiden University archaeologists are reconstructing houses from the Stone Age, using only resources available during that period. This method offers surprising insights into the ingenuity of our distant ancestors, and challenges existing archaeological views.

New Approaches to the Study of Textual Material from the Early Pharaonic to the Late Antique Period

Muslim scholars work in a long and rich tradition of knowledge-production in their own culture.

Promotor: J.N. Kok, Co-Promotor: A.J. Knobbe