In 2021 many of our students and staff won fantastic prizes and were awarded important research grants. This is our traditional review of these successes as the end of one year marks the beginning of another.

Receiving a PhD degree is considered the highest educational proof of possessing the research skills necessary to carry out independent academic research. PhD candidates are stimulated to present research results at international scientific meetings and publish in high-ranking scientific journals. Doing…

Many people in Asia and the West are attracted to Buddhism. This is because of this religion’s ‘image’ of being exotic and authentic.

Was the progressive colonial civil servant the precursor of the postcolonial development-aid worker?

Leiden University wants to create a safe and stimulating environment for everyone. However, you may experience issues at work that you cannot solve yourself. Your first point of contact for such situations is your supervisor. If you feel you cannot talk about it with your supervisor, you can turn to…

In the hunt for a vaccine against cervical cancer, fundamental knowledge about the immune system and organic chemistry have been brought together and have already resulted in a vaccine that is now being tested in clinical trials. Scientists are now working hard on an improved variant.

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…

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.

Serge Rombouts is a physicist whose PhD thesis was about functional MRI (fMRI). This visualises activity in regions of the brain. The appealing images of glowing brain regions that emerge from the computer are the result of calculations. According to Rombouts, this isn’t proper artificial intelligence.…

The Global Abolitionisms Network, established in 2015, is an international network of scholars working on antislavery activism and abolitionism. It is affiliated to the Leiden Slavery Studies Association.

Hegemony and World Order explores a key question for our tumultuous times of multiple global crises.

YAL organises young faculty lunches at all Leiden University faculties. Additionally, we organise young interfaculty lunches to bring together young academics from across the university.

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.

On 19 May 2016, Rosmarijn van Kleef is expected to defend her PhD thesis entitled ‘Liability of football clubs for supporters’ misconduct. A study into the interaction between disciplinary regulations of sports organisations and civil law’ in Leiden. Supervisors are Professor Alex Geert Castermans…

The Mathematical Institute offers a bachelor programme in Mathematics and master programmes in Mathematics and in Statistical Science. The institute also teaches many mathematics and statistics courses in other academic programmes of the university. About 65 PhD students work on a thesis in a small…

Dr. Joris Larik, Assistant Professor of Comparative, EU and International Law at LUC The Hague, has co-authored a report entitled 'UN 2.0: Ten Innovations for Global Governance 75 Years beyond San Francisco'.

‘I would never want to be treated by a computer,’ says Boudewijn Lelieveldt, Head of Radiology at the Laboratory for Clinical and Experimental Image Processing and Medical Delta professor in the Bioinformatics group at Delft University of Technology. No matter how intelligent a system, we have to continue…

A three-volume standard work on galls in Europe. Author Johannes C. (Hans) Roskam is associate professor emeritus in Evolutionary Biology and currently guest at Leiden University.

In the spring semester of each academic year, Visiting Professors from Austria visit Leiden University to teach about their specialisms (alternating between history, music, art, literature, often dealing with 19th and 20th century themes). They teach a lecture course and a seminar, usually at the bachelor…

Seven large reproductions of works by Rembrandt on seven University buildings in the centre of Leiden reveal the relationship between the painter and the University. Rembrandt van Rijn enrolled in the University in 1620 and painted the portraits of various alumni of the University. The exhibition runs…

In 2019 Leiden University will be 444 years old. This special birthday calls for a special celebration. We will be celebrating this milestone with the residents of Leiden and The Hague.

Molecular Physiology is a research group at the Leiden Institute of Chemistry dedicated to the design, synthesis and application of chemical tools to study important biological and biomedical questions. The group is headed by Prof. Dr. Mario van der Stelt and includes the research lines of Assistant…

Launched in 2017, The Importance and Power of Music in Our Society is an open online course, taught by Professor of Auditory Culture Marcel Cobussen and music philosopher Hafez Ismaïli M’hamdi and accessible to anyone with an internet connection.

TARA aims to accelerate research assessment reform through: Systematic review of new or innovative research assessment policies and practices at academic institutions, primarily in the United States and Europe Analysis & assessment of new or innovative research assessment policies and practices…

This study relates the vicissitudes of the Amerindian peoples who lived or still inhabit the islands of Trinidad and Tobago, from the earliest occupants, ca. 8000 BC, until at present.

You can ask virtual assistant Siri about the weather, but you can’t have a real conversation with it yet. You can’t refer to anything that’s been said before, or ask the system why it says what it says. Stephan Raaijmakers, Professor by Special Appointment from TNO, hopes to change this.

The minor Creative Strategies for a Society in Change (CSSC) makes a connection between gaining insight into creative processes and exploring social issues that characterize our time.

At Leiden University you can study Islam and Muslim societies within two Dutch-language BA and various MA programmes and specializations.

Profile Area Political Legitimacy, Leiden University

How did people in the latter part of the Late Bronze Age organize themselves in order to be able to erect massive structures such as tholos tombs, citadels and how did they interact with these materials and circumstances while constructing? What impact did such a changing landscape have on their day-to-day…

Indonesia’s labour law regime has changed profoundly since 1998, reflecting the sweeping social and political developments that followed Soeharto’s fall from power.

In this project Principles and Best Practices for Insolvency Office Holders (IOHs) for cross-border insolvency cases are developed.

The master's programme Comparative Criminal Justice at Leiden University focuses on criminology, criminal law and their mutual relationship. The programme offers an international comparative perspective, analysing criminal justice systems, legislation and policies in common law and civil law countri…

Within the Linguistics specialisation, you can choose one of the suggested thematic routes. Depending on the theme of your choice, the programme prepares you for a career in various fields, such as speech technology, artificial intelligence, education, language documentation and language policy.

The Academy of Creative and Performing Arts (ACPA) provides artistic research and education in the arts.

Thank you for your interest in doing PhD research at the Graduate School of Social and Behavioural Sciences of Leiden University. How to start your PhD at our Graduate School is explained on this webpage.

The research of the Mathematical Institute is driven by the curiosity of its members and has many internal and external connections. It can be characterised as fundamental but with an open attitude towards applications.

The EU fundamental right to ‘freedom of the arts and sciences’: exploring the limits on the commercialisation of academia (AFITE) AFITE is an interdisciplinary five-year research project. It is funded by the Netherlands Organization of Scientific Research (NWO), as part of its Vidi scheme. Its principal…

Interested in working with the Dutch Extract Library?

Underneath you will find more information on how the university works.

The Leiden University doctoral / PhD programme takes around four years of study and consists of independent and original research under the supervision of a professor.

This book celebrates Maarten Mous, professor of African Linguistics at Leiden University.

The transformation of the myriad of medieval kingdoms, principalities, local lordships, city-‘states’ and peasant ‘republics’ into ‘modern’ states, claiming some measure of sovereignty, remains one of the core themes of European history, because it gets down to the very root of the (idea on the) Europe…

Whispering Wind (Fluisterende wind), a sound artwork by Edwin van der Heide, is situated in the passage that cuts right under the P.J. Veth building of Leiden University.

Madeleine O. Hosli, Professor of International Relations, wrote this book in which she analyses the complex relations between the European Union (EU) as a regional organization and the United Nations (UN) as an international, global governance institution.

Working for a top faculty? Discover the vacancies at the Faculty of Science and apply immediately.