PhD defence

PhD defence

Leiden University is awarding an honorary doctorate to virologist Marc van Ranst. Van Ranst has been one of the main advisers of the Belgian government during the Covid pandemic. German Arabist Beatrice Gründler will also receive an honorary doctorate for her work in the field of Oriental Manuscript…

Cecilia-Louise von Ilsemann is a scholarship PhD candidate at the History and International Studies Section, Institute for History, Leiden University. Her research focus is on Southeast Asian state’s foreign policy behavior in the contemporary American-Chinese great power rivalry. She researches foreign…

Gitta Veldt has been a member of the Civil Law Department of the Institute for Private Law since December 2012, first as PhD-fellow and assistant professor, and currently as associate professor.

Dick Smakman is a University Lecturer at the Centre for Linguistics.

Charlotte van der Voort is a lecturer and PhD candidate at the Leiden University Centre for Linguistics. Her research interests revolve around the interface between ancient and modern rhetoric, argumentation theory and philosophy (of language).

Hanneke Palmen is Associate Professor (ius promovendi) at the Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology.

On August 18, 2022, Henk Bodewitz, distinguished Indologist and emeritus professor of Sanskrit at Leiden University, passed away in his hometown of Utrecht.

Two thousand years ago, the Middle East found itself caught between the rise of the Roman Empire in the west and the Parthian Empire in the east. PhD candidate Nolke Tasma has been awarded an NWO grant to investigate how local inhabitants experienced these changes.

The Security Studies bachelor's programme has received a bronze medal in EW Best Studies 2023. Every year, EW Best Studies selects the top programmes in Dutch higher education.

Ornately decorated head pieces and jewellery, images of imposing mosques and photos of local people. The 'Splendours of the Silk Roads' exhibition depicts life and different cultures along this important trade route.

Niels van Willigen is Professor by Special Appointment in Strategic Studies at the Institute of Political Science.

Susana Valdez is an Assistant Professor of Translation Studies at Leiden University Centre for Linguistics and a Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Study at the University of Warwick. With a PhD in medical translation, her research intersects machine translation, AI, health communication, and migration.…

Frans Theuws is Professor of Medieval Archaeology of Europe. He is the Principle investigator of the ERC funded project Rural Riches.

On Friday 23 June, the Austrian Studies Fund was established with a festive gathering in the Faculty Club. This fund is the successor of the Austrian Studies Foundation and will continue and expand the program of activities of the Central European Studies chair at Leiden University, which was established…

On Friday 29 August, the Wijnhaven was filled with a special mix of first-year students just beginning their academic journey, and students who, after 1,089 days of intensive study, were awarded their Bachelor’s degree in Security Studies. In two festive sessions, a total of 223 students received their…

The Leiden Jewish Studies Association is pleased to announce a call for nominations for the "Best Thesis in Jewish Studies" produced at Leiden University in 2022 and 2023.

Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade is a Professor emeritus of English Sociohistorical Linguistics at the Leiden University Centre for Linguistics.

Nathalie Brusgaard is an Assistant professor at the Faculty of Archaeology.

Virgilio Urbina Lazardi is a lecturer at the Institute of Political Science.

Dusan Maczek is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Archaeology.

On Friday 29 August 2025, 370 students received their Bachelor's degree in International Studies. The diplomas were awarded in the historic setting of the Pieterskerk in Leiden. Family members, friends, and staff gathered to celebrate this joyous occasion with the graduates in a packed Pieterskerk.

On Monday 26 August, students were warmly welcomed at the Wijnhaven location with a blue carpet and live music. Accompanied by their friends and family, they gathered to receive their BSc Security Studies diploma.

Book Launch

Gert Oostindie is Professor Emeritus of Colonial and Postcolonial History at Leiden University and former Director of the KITLV / Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies.

Sarah Cramsey's first book, Uprooting the Diaspora: Jewish Belonging and the "Ethnic Revolution" in Poland and Czechoslovakia, 1936-1946, has won the 2024 Kulczycki Book Prize in Polish Studies.