Rahul Gandhi, former president of the Indian National Congress, was on the Hague Campus on 10 September.

Organisation

The Chinese History chair has a long, rich history within Leiden University. Since 1 February, this position has been held by Ying Zhang. ‘Leiden University brings together a legendary range of Asian knowledge.’

A number of election debates will be taking place in the run-up to the municipal elections on 18 March 2026. Leiden University and its partners in The Hague are also organising several initiatives that give students and staff the chance to exchange ideas with local politicians about the city’s futur…

The acquittal of Richard de Mos and his fellow party member has caused quite a stir in the Netherlands. Can De Mos simply return to local politics now? And has the issue finally been settled?

For her research into migration policy under different political regimes, Katharina Natter has been awarded the Gratama Science Prize for young, talented researchers.

Democracy is under pressure all over the world. With the #DemocracyinAction project, university lecturers Sara Brandellero and Kamila Krakowska Rodrigues want to investigate how grassroots art projects manage to keep democracy alive.

Professor Edmund Amann will be the new Professor of Brazilian Studies. A short introduction.

Western countries still tend to view Africa as the periphery, says anthropologist Mayke Kaag. In her inaugural lecture, she calls for a shift in perspective: to see Africa as a mirror of global developments.

What can opera tell us about societies in the past and present? Leiden honours students went looking for an answer, together with students from the Dutch National Opera Academy. A final concert was, of course, part of the repertoire.

Carola Schoor, programme manager for Public Affairs at the Centre for Professional Learning (CPL), reflects on Politico on the State of the European Union speech by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen from a political strategy and messaging perspective.

On Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, Mr. Seán Ivory (VU) presented part of his prize-winning research in a lunch talk entitled Let Sleeping Dogs Lie: The Politics of Emotion in the Pamphlets of the De Hondt Affair During the Small Brabant Revolution (1787).

In a recent article for the magazine Public Seminar, Santino Regilme argues that democracy across continents is being quietly usurped by a transnational billionaire class.

Brandon Valeriano (Cato Institute) and Aleydis Nissen (Leiden University) publish an article on the soft power of K-pop in The Diplomat.

The speed at which science is changing our lives gives rise to tensions and concerns. In his talk at Leiden University, Minister Robbert Dijkgraaf (Education, Culture and Science) said we should talk more about science’s relationship with society and political decision-making.

Between 6 and 9 June, you’ll be able to vote in the European elections. But what can you expect from these elections? What are the most important topics on the European agenda? And why should you even vote? Students from the European Law master’s specialisation explain.

Just a stone’s throw from Binnenhof, the heart of Dutch politics, Spui Campus will open its doors in early 2026. Join us for a sneak preview.

Author and political scientist Mounir Samuel has spent recent years delving into the many ways that language can exclude people and bring them together.

The Ministry of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations (BZK) is establishing two new professor chairs for the Kingdom.

While the United States continues to carry out drone strikes, and China conducts large-scale cyber and information operations, Ukrainian and Russian soldiers live in trenches, and NATO sends tanks to the Donbas front to force a breakthrough. Has war changed dramatically in recent decades as a result…

An ICE agent fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis on 7 January, igniting nationwide fury over escalating federal violence. Could such an incident occur in the Netherlands?

Second-year MIRD students showcase their thesis research on global issues during the 2025 Thesis Symposium, bridging theory and diplomatic practice.

The new Students for Leiden party pulled off a stunning victory in the municipal elections. From nowhere, the party won two seats on Leiden Municipal Council. How are brand-new student councillors Mitchell Wiegand Bruss and Elianne Wijnands doing? ‘We’ve already asked questions about the quality of…

Tahir Abbas was named full professor of radicalization studies by the Executive Board. This chair, according to Abbas, is an excellent opportunity for ISGA to broaden its current focus on terrorism and political violence. Abbas was interviewed about his ambitions, writing as a form of relaxation, and…

Framing Poland through the lens of post-socialism, as is common in the social sciences, has become outdated. This label no longer captures the rapid changes that have taken place since the fall of the Iron Curtain. Ola Gracjasz's research shows that people are redefining their national identity, blending…

The Dutch polder model has provided stability and administrative calm for many years, but is it still resilient enough to withstand the dynamics of today, or is it ‘too rigid’?

An ICE agent fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis on 7 January, igniting nationwide fury over escalating federal violence. Could such an incident occur in the Netherlands?

Welcome to the Expertise Centre for Teaching and Learning (ECOLe). Here you will find information on didactics, teacher development, teaching innovation, assessment and the use of teaching tools at humanities. Have a question or need advice? E-mail ecole@hum.leidenuniv.nl.

Every year on or around International Women’s Day on 8 March, Leiden University holds its Annie Romein-Verschoor Lecture. This year’s lecture will be given by Sylvana Simons, MP and leader and parliamentary chair of the BIJ1 party. What does International Women’s Day mean to her and which challenges…

Roman philosopher and orator Marcus Tullius Cicero is still used as an intellectual example by politicians and speech writers today. But, he did not go unchallenged in his own day, as a statesman in particular. Classicist Leanne Jansen conducted research into how classical historians judged Cicero’s…

Call for Participation for the online workshop Interrogating Speculative Futures: A workshop on the politics of imagining a future with(out) chronic illness on 19 and 20 July 2021.

The International symposium on artistic research methods organized by ACPA and the Platform for Arts Research in Collaboration (PARC), in coordination with Fontys Tilburg and SAR– took place on 9th April, 2024 at the Textile Museum in Tilburg. The recordings are now online at whatmethodsdo.com.

Nu belastingsystemen over grenzen gaan, speelt de politiek een steeds grotere rol. Irma Mosquera Valderrama pleit voor een wereldwijd, inclusief systeem.

As part of the final project for the Islam in South and Southeast Asia course (taught by Dr Verena Meyer), students were tasked with creating podcasts that delve into significant cultural and historical topics related to the region. Two students, Roma Bhiekhemsing and Shaneeva Bean, have chosen to share…

More autocracies, less gender equality and growing anti-liberal sentiment. These are just some of the developments Professor Sarah Wolff will highlight in her inaugural lecture on the future of Europe. ‘The liberal world order as we know it in the West is at stake.’

Leiden University is known for its pioneering research and teaching. By offering education to professionals (lifelong learning), we want to bring this research and teaching expertise to the field and thus further increase our impact on society. With the aid of a grant from Leiden University Academy,…

The year 2023 saw the earthquake in Turkey and Syria, the Wagner Group rebellion and wildfires and floods as all the weather records were smashed. Our most-read stories were about the climate crisis and the elections: here’s the list.

On 15-16 June, Jos Gommans, Marieke Bloembergen, and Carolien Stolte will organize an international conference entitled “India in the Making of the Global Esoteric: 1200-2000”. The conference asks: why is it always India that has been imagined as a wonder, and what did that wonder mean, intellectually…

Education, Research

Maud Rijks recently joined the Institute for History as a PhD candidate within the starting grant project "You say security, I say crisis – Challenging Disciplinary Boundaries in Security Cooperation and Crisis Governance" under the supervision of Dario Fazzi. Below she introduces herself.

It is one of the most personal and simultaneously most universal experiences of human life: caring for a young child. Professor Sarah Cramsey has been awarded an ERC Starting Grant to investigate how factors such as nationality, political systems, and religion influence the first thousand days after…

Leiden University is expanding its educational offering in The Hague with two Dutch-taught bachelor's programmes: Economie & Samenleving and Cybersecurity & Cybercrime. These programmes address current societal issues and provide students with the opportunity to combine different disciplines to solve…

Matthew Broad recently joined the Institute for History as a lecturer in International Relations. He introduces himself.

Edmund Flett, alumnus of the International Relations master's programme, has won the 2023 J.C. Baak Prize for his thesis ‘Settlements now, settlement later. Land swaps, settler relocation, and the viability of the two-state solution in Israel-Palestine’.

Northern Yemen; a highland region often in the news as the center of the Houthi regime, has a political, social, and intellectual history spanning more than a millennium. This exhibition showcases some of the findings of the Early Modern State Development in Yemen project, based at Leiden University,…

On Tuesday 25 November, Leiden University is holding the first of four sessions on ‘Building Academic Freedom’. Students and staff are invited to a conversation about today’s hot-button issues.

Is your strategic vote actually strategic? How can the Netherlands form a stable government? And what should the next government do about migration, defence and the housing crisis? This is what our experts have to say.

Editors: Irene Hadiprayitno and Rizal Shidiq (Leiden Institute for Area Studies, Leiden University, the Netherlands)

In September 2022, Ruben Ros started working at the Institute for History as a PhD candidate. Below he introduces himself!

Tahir Abbas, Associate Professor in Terrorism and Political Violence at ISGA, explained how polarisation and social exclusion were at the root of radicalisation around the world. Papers ‘The News’ and ‘Dawn’ wrote articles about it.