Within the space of a few months, the Heritage Quest citizen science project, whereby volunteers scan elevation maps of the Veluwe area for burial mounds and other prehistoric remains, has already led to groundbreaking new insights. Hundreds of burial mounds have been found, as have a huge number of…

The European Union has awarded a COFUND grant to a consortium of researchers from the universities of Groningen and Leiden for a collective PhD programme called ‘Evolve’. The 7.1 M€ programme, which is co-financed by the participating universities, is recruiting and training 17 PhD students to conduct…

Our digital infrastructure brings new opportunities, but it also makes us vulnerable. The answer does not lie in technology alone. But how do we help organisations get to grips with the complex theme of digital security? Welcome to the world of cybersecurity governance, the world of Bibi van den Ber…

More than 80 percent of the EU’s agricultural subsidies go to the production of animals or animal feed. These products are responsible for 84 percent of the EU’s food-related greenhouse gas emissions. That is revealed in a new study by three Leiden researchers published in Nature Food. ‘If we continue…

On 17th December, the Global Compact on Refugees has been adopted at the UN General Assembly. One of the central goals of the Compact on Refugees is to improve the protection and resilience of refugees and to enhance trust and cooperation between refugees and host communities. With the new EU-funded…

Part Three: A Change of Course

Leiden University is involved in five new NWO Gravitation projects. Two relate to mental disorder and the remaining three to a healthy lifestyle, the combination of human and artificial intelligence, and the special relationship between plants and microbes.

The Countering Syndemic Vulnerability project supports communities by identifying and tackling clusters of social factors and health problems. The project works with residents and professionals in the Moerwijk district in The Hague and the Stevenshof district in Leiden.

Strengthening nature and at the same time investing in future-proof agriculture. That is the task of the Minister for Nature and Nitrogen, Christianne van der Wal. It is also the lifework of Leiden professor Jan Willem Erisman. He has been researching nitrogen for his entire career and has shown that…

An archaeologist as a modern-day shaman. An unexpected comparison Professor by Special Appointment of Public Archaeology Luc Amkreutz will make in his inaugural lecture.

Connecting scientific fields, enhancing research and teaching, and providing innovative solutions to complex social issues: that is the idea behind interdisciplinary research. What did the university achieve in 2024? A small sample.

On 28 June 2017 the Department of Child Law and the Van Vollenhoven Institute of Leiden Law School organized the colloquium ‘Minorities and The Criminal Justice System’, with James Bell as the keynote speaker.

It is the seventh year in a row that the Faculty of Archaeology is placed in the top ten of archaeological institutes worldwide. The QS World University Rankings by Subject looks at criteria like academic reputation and citation ratios.

It is the ninth year in a row that the Faculty of Archaeology is placed in the top ten of archaeological institutes worldwide. The QS World University Rankings by Subject looks at criteria like academic reputation and citation ratios.

The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) announced on 25 April that it has appointed 18 new members. These include Leiden professors Andrew Webb and Jos Raaijmakers.

Reijer Passchier, hoogleraar digitalisering en de democratische rechtsstaat aan de OU en universitair docent staatsrecht in Leiden, sprak op 26 mei voor de Commissie Digitalisering van de Eerste Kamer, tijdens een deskundigenbijeenkomst over de weerbaarheid van de democratische rechtstaat in tijden…

Academics are increasingly facing threats, harassment and hate speech following public appearances. The Dutch universities – united in the Association of Universities in the Netherlands (VSNU) – is now adopting a number of national measures, from a zero-tolerance policty to psychosocial help for vic…

Leiden Biology student Pam Engelberts received the annual award for being the best BSc-student in 2016 from the “Stichting Professor Dr. K. Bakker-fonds”.

From the Anthropology of discrimination to the history of Anthropology; from consumer finance in the digital age to techno-enterprise in Tanzania and positive change generated by critical heritage studies. This spring series of research seminars and workshops will be aspiring as well as practical.

The MOOC Terrorism and Counterterrorism: Comparing Theory & Practice was one of the first MOOCs of Leiden University to go live back in September 2013. More than three years have passed and the MOOC has attracted over 100,000 people coming from more than 100 countries.

On 20 & 21 April 2017 international researchers in the field of law and society and criminology presented their work in Brussels and shared ideas on discretion and decision-making.

On 26 June 2025, Melanie Fink delivered a presentation titled 'Good Administration in the Age of AI: Explanation Rights and Human Oversight under EU Law' at the European Ombudsman.

Most families were utterly overwhelmed when they found out that their son or daughter had suddenly left for Syria, that is what Daan Weggemans, Marieke van der Zwan and Marieke Liem observe in their research on family members of Dutch jihadists.

Mozambican politician and child rights activist Graça Machel speaks October 27 at Leiden University about her work.

It is the eighth year in a row that the Faculty of Archaeology is placed in the top ten of archaeological institutes worldwide. The QS World University Rankings by Subject looks at criteria like academic reputation and citation ratios.

On March 11, a travelling photo exposition on the Mayan archaeological site El Mirador, in Guatemala, saw its festive opening at the Van Steenis building. For the occasion a special Faculty Lecture was organised, entitled 'Water Legacy: Mayan World Meets the Netherlands'. We were honored to receive…

Emeritus Professor Ben Lugtenberg edited a book on “Principles of Plant-Microbe Interactions” together with Paul Hooykaas, Eddy van der Meijden and Jos Raaijmakers, all from the IBL.

Hans-Martien ten Napel recently published a volume with Routledge, Culture, Secularization, and Democracy; Lessons from Alexis de Tocqueville, co-edited with Prof. Sophie van Bijsterveld (Radboud University Nijmegen).

Geert Wilders wants a stricter asylum policy, but is this realistic? Maartje van der Woude, Professor of Law and Society, and Mark Klaassen, assistant professor, spoke to NRC newspaper about the legal feasibility of Wilders' plans.

The third Honours Academy Star was awarded to Jan Sleutels during the opening ceremony of the academic year of the Honours Academy on Tuesday 6 October. Sleutels is a lecturer in the Honours College Humanities Lab of the Faculty of Humanities and coordinator of the Pre-University College.

Nusantara Capital Authority (OIKN), which is in charge of developing Indonesia’s new capital city entered a Memorandum of Understanding with Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Universities on 18 March on knowledge sharing and joint research.

In this interview, Karlijn Hermans, the university's Open Science coordinator, introduces herself and the Academia in Motion programme.

In this blog post, Linda Slapakova discusses the various roles that AI plays in counter-disinformation efforts, the prevailing shortfalls of AI-based counter-disinformation tools and the technical, governance and regulatory barriers to their uptake, and how these could be addressed to foster the uptake…

The Sustainability Research Cluster fosters dialogue and collaboration among anthropologists and sociologists researching aspects of socio-cultural, ecological, and economic sustainability in and affiliated with the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology. It also seeks to stimulate…

Leiden University and Delft University of Technology are committed to providing you with a quality graduate education by scientists who bring their cutting-edge research into the classroom. For the Industrial Ecology MSc programme, both universities integrate the expertise of two internationally recognised…

Crises like climate change and loss of biodiversity threaten our planet. That’s why sustainability is an important topic in research and education across Leiden University. On this website you read how scientists from many disciplines work together in researching sustainability.

Who is Economic Man? Every economic paradigm presupposes an anthropology, a theory of human nature. This project explores the anthropologies presupposed and produced by ancient Greek economic texts, and the specific knowledge forms that shape these anthropologies.

The Leiden Leadership Programme (LLP) employs experts in the field of leadership. They equip LLP students with the necessary leadership knowledge, insights and skills to increase their social impact.

On this page the programme and sessions can be found.

By working together with external social partners, the knowledge of our scientists finds its way into society.

We enjoy working with a variety of partners: with other knowledge institutions, the business community, government, civil society organisations, NGOs, museums and charities. Close by, in our cities of Leiden and The Hague, but also regionally, nationally and internationally.

The receptor nomenclature committee of IUPHAR, the International Union of Pharmacology, has several subgroups. Among these are a few that our division is involved in, those for adenosine, nicotinic acid, and GnRH receptors.