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.

From a powerful documentary to a heartwarming classic: four Leiden alumni have chosen their favourite films and will introduce them at Leiden International Film Festival.

It is sufficiently plausible that the professor from the Faculty of Archaeology exhibited the ‘inappropriate and unacceptable behaviour’ detailed in the advice of the investigating committee. That is is unless the professor provides counter-evidence. This is the conclusion of the Subdistrict Court…

For thousands of years, the prehistoric communities of the Low Countries followed their own path, compared with the rest of Europe. An international research team has now published these findings in Nature.

Rosalien van der Poel has worked in every nook and cranny of the university over the past thirty years. Now she is stepping down as institute manager of the Academy of Creative and Performing Arts (ACPA) to enjoy her retirement. Last year, we spoke with Rosalien about her career.

Dutch universities have responded positively to the new coalition plans. Investments in education, research and innovation will be prioritised, and the stringent cutbacks proposed by the previous cabinet will be reversed. Optimism is the order of the day in Leiden, though caution is advised.

This February, Leiden University honors two scholars who have responded to the challenges of modern society in important, innovative and exemplary ways. Catherine Malabou and Safiya Umoja Noble will receive honorary doctorates for their ground breaking research in philosophy and internet/media studies…

In collaboration with: Leiden University Institute for Area Studies, the Netherlands & Mar Chrysostom Chair, Mahatma Gandhi University, India

The perception of the Middle East is riddled with stereotypes that have had dire consequences on its people. What is myth and what is reality? How did these stereotypes come about? What consequences have they had? All of these questions and more are answered within this reading list.

‘Jelena Prokic, university lecturer and researcher at the Leiden University Centre for Digital Humanities, will be preparing students for the challenges and opportunities of the digital world. In September, six modules will start on subjects such as statistics and digitally searching through texts.…

Three enormous maps of China, created during the reign of three different emperors of the Qing dynasty, have now been made available in open access and are downloadable via Leiden University Libraries’ (UBL) Digital Collections. The rich maps are an early example of academic collaboration between the…

When we think of unethical medical experiments, we tend to think first of Nazi Germany. What is less well known is that experiments were also carried out in colonised areas without the explicit consent of the test subject. University lecturer Fenneke Sysling has received a European grant to research…

On average, the residents of The Hague Southwest (Zuidwest) are poorer, have more health problems and a lower level of education than the residents of other districts in The Hague. With the Southwest Pact, the municipality, the state, residents, entrepreneurs and professional parties are joining forces…

The whole world gets raw materials from Latin America, but at the expense of nature. Håvar Solheim researches the role of organised crime in this environmental crime and Soledad Valdivia researches sustainable urban initiatives in Latin America. What do these university lecturers think the future of…

Ruim twintig nieuwsgierige medewerkers en studenten kregen een rondleiding in het nieuwe universiteitsgebouw van de Universiteit Leiden aan de Grote Marktstraat en het Spui in Den Haag dat in september 2025 de nieuwste locatie van de Campus Den Haag gaat worden. Nu is het vooral een kwestie van door…

How can we view societal challenges from a different perspective? At the EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF), Robert Zwijnenberg, Emeritus Professor of Art and Science Interactions, will call for more collaboration between artists and scientists.

Are international courts effective? Dr Fatou Bensouda, a former Lead Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague (ICC), will discuss this issue during her lecture at the Owada Symposium 2025. The ICC’s efficacy depends on the actions of its member states, she says.

Taking a Bachelor’s in Security Studies while starting and running two businesses: student Mohamed Sulaiman never stops. But he wouldn’t have it any other way. PLNT The Hague entrepreneurs’ hub is a source of help and inspiration.

It’s Circular Economy Week, from 1 to 6 February. But what is it that makes an economy circular? And just how circular is our university? René Kleijn, lecturer on the honours class Circular Economy: from challenge to opportunity, explains.

Alumnus Nick Hortensius started volunteering at the Leiden International Film Festival (LIFF) in his student days. He has since grown with the festival to become head of programming. How does he look back on his student days? And what can we expect from the festival this year?

To underline the urgency: Our faculty faces a significant financial challenge. With a structural reduction of €5 to €6 million in annual income, dark clouds are gathering on the horizon. Added to this are the uncertain consequences of budget cuts from The Hague, including the Balanced Internationalisation…

In many Central and Eastern European countries, a period of greater openness emerged in the late 1980s. How did this affect the future perspective of residents? And can we learn anything from this period for our current times? University lecturer Dorine Schellens delves into the literature to investigate…

One more week, then the Teaching Fair will start. For a whole afternoon, all the Faculty of Humanities teaching staff will be able to gain inspiration from their colleagues. Three participants speak about what we can expect.

Four lecturers from Leiden University will receive a 50,000-euro Comenius Teaching Fellow grant. This will enable them and their team to realise an educational innovation within their own teaching.

The League of European Research Universities (LERU) was launched in Leiden 20 years ago. This anniversary will be celebrated with a major conference (19 – 21 May) on an urgent theme: How does science contribute to sustainable and resilient societies? We put this question to Kurt Deketelaere, Secretary-General…

A shepherd, but also a comparativist and historian with very broad interests. That is how Professor Philippe Buc describes himself. As of 1 August 2021, he will hold the chair of professor of Medieval History at the university. In an introductory interview, Buc introduces himself, his research and his…

In the short term, no reorganisation is foreseen within the Faculty of Humanities, nor are any compulsory redundancies expected. Nonetheless, structural changes remain necessary. This is evident from the faculty’s draft budget for 2026 and the accompanying financial multi-year outlook.

Eight scientists from Leiden University have been awarded a grant by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). With this Vidi funding, the researchers can set up an innovative line of research and further expand their own research group over the next five years.

Most people think of waste as something dirty that needs to be disposed of as soon as possible, but Olivia Yun-An Dung's dissertation aims to show that this does not always have to be the case. For this purpose, she focuses on Tzu Chi recycling in Taiwan. There, an army of elderly volunteers has been…

In 2018, the undergraduate programme Dutch Language and Culture embarked on sweeping programme innovations to educate its students ‘in a way that focusses more on the challenges of Dutch Studies in a 21st century society’. What does this entail and what was the approach? Esther Op de Beek, university…

Dear Sir or Madam? Many colleagues think that sounds out of date. That is why the hundreds of thousands of automated messages sent by university help desks every year will now include a gender-neutral salutation. This change is an extensive but important ICT job, says product owner Julian van der Kr…

The fifth Leiden Research Support Network Conference, on Monday 16 June, was about the future of research support. A great opportunity for the 100 support professionals present to join interactive workshops and to network with colleagues from other faculties and the LUMC.

Stories of resistance in the Second World War are widely covered in Dutch historiography: Hannie Schaft, Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema, and Professor Cleveringa are some of the best known. But these accounts largely focus on the Dutch domestic perspective. On the other side of the world, a complex colonial…

Two Leiden students stand a chance of winning the ECHO Award for Higher Education. Deniz Rana Kuseyri (Rana for short) and Ruşen Koç are two of the six finalists for this annual national prize that is awarded to students who promote diversity and inclusion in their own discipline.

How do you achieve the structural change needed for a more inclusive university community? What challenges do female staff face in their careers and what does it take to be a woman in a leadership role? This is what over 40 female staff members from the university discussed on International Women’s…

A knowledge-sharing session was held on Thursday 25 March for members of boards of examiners. Good reason to give one of them a call. We spoke to Jan Jansen, Chair of the Board of Examiners for Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences) and an external…

It’s Saturday and electric minibuses ride back and forth bringing prospective students to Leiden University’s various faculties. They want to see for themselves whether that interesting-looking programme will suit them.

How can the Netherlands help secure a peaceful future for Israel and Palestine? At a recent meeting at the university, two remarkable speakers shared their perspectives: Somaya Bashir, a Palestinian woman living in Israel, and Palestinian journalist, Houssam Khadra, who fled Gaza over a decade ago.

Indira Huliselan recently joined the Institute for History as a PhD candidate within the research project 'Roman Fake News? Documentary Fictions in the Roman Empire'. Below, she introduces herself.

Today marks the launch of the LDE Bachelor Honours Programme Sustainability. Students from Leiden University, TU Delft and Erasmus University will work together on concrete sustainability issues of organisations. Interest in the new programme turned out to be overwhelming. Two lecturers involved share…

‘What if we switch off all the lights one evening? That idea crossed my mind from time to time. And when I mentioned it to a taxi driver one day, he said: “Oh, you mean: lights out, stars on!” That’s not completely true, of course, because the stars are always on, but his phrase summed up the idea n…

On 12 April the Humanities Campus Think Tank held its second meeting in the Lipsius Building. In a Q&A session with Elisa Meijer, the Facilities project leader, the members asked about the context and room for manoeuvre in the development of the new Humanities Campus work environment.

Bringing the community together, doing up the community centre or researching how to make gardens greener. Students now have a base in Leiden-Noord where they can work with local residents and partner organisations to make the city a better place to live. It was the official opening of ‘Learning with…

How do you make niche subjects interesting and accessible? Benjamin Suchard, historical linguist and researcher, seems to have created the perfect recipe, which consists of his various projects alongside his regular research, including a Twitter account and a major international film.

Wat gebeurt er op het schoolplein? Sensoren op kleding openbaren pijnlijke patronen

It was long thought that the early development of Japanese children's books served mainly as a propaganda tool of the state: the literature was supposed to have been written to shape children into perfect citizens. PhD student Aafke van Ewijk nuances this image. Children's book writers wanted to have…

University lecturer Laurie Cosmo, having grown up in New York, came to the Hague from Rome, Italy, where she fell under the spell of the Kunstmuseum. ‘I loved the building even before I worked at Leiden University.’

Six Leiden University members of staff recently received the Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility grant for exchange projects with non-European partner universities. The total award of around 357,000 euros is used for approximately 50 international mobilities.

Minerva, which calls itself the oldest student association of the Netherlands, has the reputation of being an impenetrable bastion. A lustrum exhibition shows the turbulent history and points to a diversity of contacts: from close bonds with Leiden ‘coffee ladies’ to the visit of Sir Winston Churchi…

Sacrificing yourself for the greater good: in China, martyrdom and hero worship have been strongly encouraged by the Communist Party for the past decade or so. University lecturer Vincent Chang tells us more about this far-reaching development.