Filipino anthropologists Andrea Malaya M. Ragragio and Myfel D. Paluga look back at the groundbreaking Netflix show Trese and what it missed about the stories of Indigenous peoples. They published the article 'What Netflix Got Wrong About Indigenous Storytelling' in the digital Anthropology magazine…

At Leiden University College, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer urged Europe to show unity and strength in a world defined by fear, power politics, and uncertainty.

We need to dispel the arrogant and misguided idea that modern humans are superior to earlier human species. It is thanks in part to all our predecessors such as Neanderthals that we are who we are today. This is what Marie Soressi, Professor of Hominin Diversity Archaeology, will argue in her inaugural…

Doctoral Thesis

On NPO radio programme 1op1 about nuclear weapons negotiations, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Professor of International Relations and Diplomatic Affairs at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, says that ‘all nuclear treaties must be scrutinised afresh.’

On 22 June 2018, Prime Minister Rutte announced that Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Professor of International Relations and Diplomatic Practices at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA), together with former ministers Sybilla Dekker and Winnie Sorgdrager, will become Minister of State.

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Professor of International Relations and Diplomatic Affairs at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, says we must block and expel Putin wherever possible.

Professor Meta Roestenberg has been awarded the Mercator Sapiens Stimulus 2025 by the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities (KHMW). The prize of EUR 1 million will allow Roestenberg and her team to further develop an innovative malaria vaccine.

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Professor of International Relations and Diplomatic Practice at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA), was interviewed by the NRC on 6 February about the government's warning words.

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Professor International Relations and Diplomatic Practice at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs at Leiden University spoke to Belgian (Flemish) news magazine Knack about the position of Europe in relation to the United States and China. ‘Europe has to be careful to avoid…

During the official opening of the 2018-2019 Academic Year on Monday 3 September, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer will talk about Europe and the future of our continent in a turbulent and unpredictable world. He will do this in the form of a lecture and a discussion with Imane Maghrani, an alumna of World Politics…

The Southwestern part of Finland isn’t exactly known as a great place for archeologists to go and find anything than the sturdiest of remains. The conditions in this part of Finland make artifacts crumble quickly over time. Therefore, two archeologists decided to look in an unexpected place: between…

The transition from Middle to Upper Paleolithic is a major biological and cultural threshold in the construction of our common humanity. Technological and behavioral changes happened simultaneously to a major climatic cooling, forcing human populations to develop new strategies for the exploitation…

Arts and leisure, Arts and leisure

Modern humans and Neanderthals may have co-existed in France and Northern Spain for up to 2,900 years until the Neanderthals disappeared. This is what archaeologists from Leiden University and Cambridge University write in a new publication in Scientific Reports.

Lecture, Award ceremony

Distinguished Fellows of Leiden University College The Hague are acknowledged for their extensive and outstanding expertise in the private or public sector, and for their intellectual contributions to LUC’s academic programme and scholarly community.

Check out our varied programme!

La Grande Roche is one of the rare archaeological sites that preserved a long sequence of deposits formed at the time of contact between late Neandertals and early Homo sapiens.

In 2018, Sorensen’s research into the fire-making habits of the Neanderthals reached the headlines all over the world. Now, a Veni grant will enable him to continue his fire-related investigation, focusing more on our own distant ancestors.

A study by a Leiden-Wageningen group shows that present-day humans are biologically poorly equipped to deal with the toxins they are regularly exposed to in smoky environments: compared to earlier hominins, we modern humans are probably even worse off. The study appeared in Molecular Biology and Evolution.…

Imitation is, perhaps more than ever, constitutive of human originality.

The Iberian Peninsula has been central to the discussion as it was considered to be a 'last refuge' for the species at a time when H. sapiens occupation spread throughout Europe. Much speculation has centred around the idea that extreme climate fluctuations during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 like Heinrich…

This multidisciplinary minor provides students with knowledge on how and why humans became the way they are. The minor focuses on the evolution of the species Homo sapiens from other hominin lineages and animal ancestors, and on the various factors shaping this process. Not only is human evolution of…

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Policymakers and Academics Speaking with Each Other

Archaeological heritage management is concerned with the identification, protection, management and preservation of the material remains of human activity in the past (of whatever period and in whichever region of the world) and with the interaction that this involves with all kinds of stakeholders.

The research that is united in the Liveable Planet programme, touches upon a wide range of aspects of human life. The goal is to deepen and expand the scope and to connect more researchers. The following case studies are examples of current research projects.

Doctoral Thesis

According to Thomson Reuters’ 2014 Journal Citation Reports® (JCR) and the Washington & Lee University School of Law 2014 Journal Rankings, 22 journals published by the University of Chicago Press rank at the top of their subject categories.

The student debate in Leiden’s Stadsgehoorzaal promised to be ‘the key to your vote’. That may sound hyperbolic, but what this well-attended debate did achieve was increased trust in politics. ‘They even let each other finish their sentences’, the flabbergasted students concluded at the end.

This research project of the Catholic University of Leuven was created in 1976 by Professor Dr Pierre Vermeersch, who assumed its direction until 2003. The present director is Professor Dr Philip Van Peer.

PhD defence

How do processes of coalition-formation influence patterns of decision-making in the European Union?

Do you choose to study at Leiden University? Then you choose interesting bachelor's programmes with top-quality education and excellent career prospects. A study that suits who you are, at a university where you can really be yourself. Discover it in the nicest student cities in the Netherlands: Leiden…

In a new article in the journal Scientific Reports, Leiden archaeologist Wei Chu and colleagues report on recent excavations in Western Romania at the site of Româneşti, one of the most important sites in southeastern Europe associated with the earliest Homo sapiens. The site gives an important glimpse…

In 2024, many of our students and staff won great prizes and secured important research grants.

In zoos, at festivals and in a mobile lab at the market: everywhere, Mariska Kret tries to understand human and animal emotions with her distinctive behavioural research. Now she has received the Mercator Sapiens Stimulus of €1 million for her efforts.

On the 15th of March, the radio program “The World of BNR Nieuwsradio” was live broadcasted from the Spanish Steps at the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs in The Hague. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, associated with the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, was one of the radio show’s guests. Following…

Onderzoek van de onderzoeksgroep 'War, Peace and Justice'

During the guest lecture on 9 February, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Rob de Wijk and Frans Osinga discussed the situation in Ukraine and Taiwan. The crises in eastern Ukraine and the increasing tensions around Taiwan highlight the challenges the West faces in deterring aggression in the new era of key dynamics…

With an off-the-charts number of downloads, outstanding media coverage, and more than 300 tweets, a small team behind the Scientific Reports article led by a Leiden PhD Igor Djakovic is living every researcher’s dream.

Amazing discoveries by Jean Jacques Hublin of Early modern Humans in Morocco.

PhD defence

Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary-General of NATO, gave a guest lecture at Leiden University on 19 April. His message was clear: increased international tensions call for greater investments in defence. According to Stoltenberg, the Netherlands is not one of the big spenders in this area.

It is still unclear how the Neanderthals died out. For long, one theory seemed most likely: the emergence of the highly intelligent Homo sapiens, or modern humans. This competition hypothesis is no longer the dominant theory among scientists, research among archaeologists and anthropologists has shown.…

On Wednesday 21 March 2018 Jeroen Dijsselbloem, former Minister of Finance, and former President of the Euro Group and the Board of Governors of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), gave a guest lecture at the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs.