Are you curious about why people are the way they are – and how they change? At Leiden University, you’ll explore social behaviour, ideas and cultures, from the past to the present and from local to global. From major cities to world religions, from philosophical questions to education and upbringing…

How do young people pursue their interests in and across multiple contexts while participating in tailor-made programs in vocational education and training (VET) and social enterprises to regain perspective in school and work?

Vol. V, Sections 1-2

This book concerns cultural production in contemporary Latin American cities: chaotic cities where the ideal of order has become fragmented and the walls of the lettered city have become porous. New and multifarious urban trajectories—intersecting, colliding, superimposing—trace the image of the postmodern…

This PhD project investigates how nationalist ideas are expressed, shaped, and negotiated in Moroccan Malhun poetry in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

In this dissertation, Dutch secondary school teachers’ attitudes, knowledge, noticing skills and reasoned practices regarding culturally responsive teaching in a multicultural classroom context, were examined.

Political protest is often at least partially about the question of legitimacy. How can we distinguish whether a regime is legitimate, or merely purports to be so?

In art history, performance is categorized as performance art and defined as live-act. However, performance is no longer conceived of by artists as live-act only.

Electoral Systems and Turnout: Evidence From a Regression Discontinuity Design. In this article, published on the website SAGE research methods, authors Jaroslaw Kantorowicz and Tobias M. Hlobil discuss how a Regression Discontinuity Design can be executed.

ASLU 29 Maarten E.R.G.N. Jansen, Valentina Raffa (2015)

On the 6th of January, Kefan Bao successfully defended a doctoral thesis. Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Kefan on this achievement!

This book reveals how one publishing firm's editorial strategy helped to legitimate European colonialism in the early modern era.

Wim Klooster and Gert Oostindie present a fresh look at the Dutch Atlantic in the period following the imperial moment of the seventeenth century. This epoch (1680–1815), the authors argue, marked a distinct and significant era in which Dutch military power declined and Dutch colonies began to chart…

For early modern Europeans, the past was a measure of most things, good and bad. For that reason it was also hotly contested, manipulated, and far too important to be left to historians alone.

The pre-master’s programme helps students remove deficiencies to meet the admission requirements to the History master’s programme.

From Apartheid in South-Africa to 9/11 in the United States: there is not a single culture that is not shaped by the memory of war or conflict. The minor Cultural Memory of War and Conflict focuses on how such memory cultures influence and shape societies today.

Students from the Advanced Master in Law and Digital Technologies completed a successful work experience programme at Privacy Company in The Hague.

Students from eLaw completed a successful work experience programme researching contact tracing apps at Privacy Company in The Hague.

PhD defence

This page features an overview of relevant lectures, publications and conference papers.

Pastoralist Societies, Rock Art and Literacy in Jordan’s Black Desert (200 BC to 800 AD)

Imagine: you’re seeking asylum in the Netherlands due to your sexual orientation or gender identity. The immigration authorities might question you about your sexuality. PhD candidate Elias Tissandier-Nasom, who is researching asylum applications submitted by LGBTQI+ children, explains that the process…

While health data is essential for scientific research, that data also needs to be protected. In her doctoral thesis, Irith Kist found a balance between protecting the individual and exchanging health data.

How did disability become a global concern? In this project we will identify the contribution of international agencies, governmental and non-governmental organizations and, just as importantly, disabled people themselves, to the IYDP and by showing the connections, interactions and entanglements between…

Find out more about the impact of Brexit on research projects.

Leiden University’s new ‘Europe Hub’ is an interdisciplinary platform that showcases the university’s research and teaching expertise and capacities on Europe’s societal and governance challenges.

IT lawyer Eduard Fosch Villaronga wants to promote diversity and inclusiveness in AI research. And that's really important, because he has observed how artificial intelligence - from Twitter to walking robots - is prejudice in terms of race, gender and sexual orientation.

De Leiden Law Academy, voorheen JPAO, verzorgt geaccrediteerde juridische post academische opleidingen en nascholingen in samenwerking met de rechtenfaculteit Leiden en staat garant voor een leven lang ontwikkelen op juridisch gebied. Wij helpen u graag bij het actueel houden van uw kennis en vaardi…

Interest groups play an important role in democratic society.

We welcome visiting scholars whose research aligns with our diverse areas of expertise.

On 10 november 2021, Carmel van Niekerk-Jacobs defended the thesis 'Realising the right to reproduce with assistance in South Africa'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. J.J. Sloth-Nielsen and Prof. T. Liefaard.

How safe do you feel walking on the street in Leiden? Do you feel safe, or are there situations that make you feel unsafe in the city? These are questions that city criminologist Marianne Franken of Leiden University wants to find answers to. In collaboration with the municipality of Leiden and the…

Applications for the 2025–2026 academic year are now closed. Registration for 2026–2027 will be open from 1 September to 30 September 2026. Further information about the application procedure for the coming year can be found below.

Organisations such as the EU are of enormous benefit to the member states, but the inhabitants of the member states are often unaware of this. Leiden researchers investigate whether international organisations such as the EU or ASEAN are able to influence global politics.

In December 2024, the book Redressing Fundamental Rights Violations by the EU: The Promise of the ‘Complete System of Remedies', edited by Melanie Fink, was published fully open access with Cambridge University Press. The EU prides itself on having created a legal system that puts the individual at…

RESOCIAL ('User vulnerabilities and Resilience on SOCIAL media platforms and the metaverse: a sociolegal and design perspective', an NWO-NWA Synergy Grant Project) seeks to identify, measure, and thereby mitigate human vulnerabilities on social media platforms (including the metaverse and immersive…

Through this research, we aim to gain a clear understanding of perceptions of safety in Leiden. The results will provide us with information about current perceptions. As Leiden’s City Criminologist Marianne Franken explains: ‘This research really focuses on Leiden’s residents. That’s why want to ask…

As we think it is important for you to choose a programme that truly suits you, matching is a compulsory part of your application.

As we think it is important for you to choose a programme that truly suits you, matching is a compulsory part of your application.

As we think it is important for you to choose a programme that truly suits you, matching is a compulsory part of your application.

As we think it is important for you to choose a programme that truly suits you, matching is a compulsory part of your application.

We study the structure, dynamics and physics of complex networks emerging from the intricate interconnectedness of the constituents of large systems.

In the track Intelligence and National Security you will be introduced to intelligence and security services in their political, societal, and bureaucratic contexts. The track will give you a thorough understanding of the modus operandi of these agencies, their interaction with the surrounding world,…

As we think it is important for you to choose a programme that truly suits you, matching is a compulsory part of your application.

Engagement between Asia and Europe is increasing. If these continents want to build a lasting relationship, they need to understand each other better in the economic, socio-cultural, historical and legal arena. Researchers from Leiden have already contributed to the body of knowledge on past and present…

The research in the framework of the Jean Monnet Chair is focused on the following points.

How has landscape and land use changed in these two case studies since independence? What has caused these changes, whether anthropogenic or natural? How do local communities in the areas of study perceive these changes? How can community knowledge be integrated with mapping tools (GIS) to contribute…

Within the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences (FSW), D&I translates as the diversity of backgrounds, perspectives, and identities among both students and staff.