This interdisciplinary study focuses on (trans)national ethnic and popular networks, combining historical-ethnographic and computational methods to understand the ‘workings’ of networked conflict interfering in the increasingly violent conflict in the Sahel (Africa) and beyond. The project focuses on…

To develop a new generation of brain science (and train scientists) focused on explaining complex real-world behavioural patterns.

On 5 September, Elize de Mul defended the thesis 'Digital Döppelgangers: identity in the Culture of Imagination'. The doctoral research was supervised by Simone van der Hof and Esther Keymolen.

The Digital Humanities and Artificial Intelligence minor in the 2024-2025 academic year with options of 15 EC or 30 EC packages.

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We are delighted to announce that the Digital Humanities and Artificial Intelligence minor will be offered in the 2025-2026 academic year.

This inaugural lecture discusses the question: How to cooperate in the digital era?

Audiovisual and Digital Ethnography is a state-of-the-art introduction to this dynamic and growing subject. The authors explain its fundamental aspects in a clear and systematic way.

Get to know us through our online and in-person events for prospective students!

While self-driving cars and autonomous weapon systems have received a great deal of attention in media and research, the general requirements of ethical life in today’s digitalizing reality have not been made sufficiently visible and evaluable.

In this article, Barrie Sander together with his colleagues explore whether fairness in digital governance inadvertently entrenches structural inequalities

Intelligence of the crowd, or in other words, intelligence of a large, random collective, exists mostly in social media platforms such as twitter. The collective does not comprise (at least not necessarily) experts on crises, just regular people mostly. Nevertheless, there is valuable intelligence to…

The abundance of images in our everyday lives-and the speed at which they are consumed-seems to have left us unable to critique them. To rectify this situation, artists such as Daniel Richter, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, and Artur Zmijewski have demonstrated that painting is brilliantly equipped to produce…

On 9 May 2018, Roy van Keulen defended his doctoral thesis 'Digital Force: Life, Liberty & Livelihood in the Information Age'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. dr. A. Ellian.

One-size-fits-all digital gamification sometimes hinders students’ learning due to the ignorance of individual differences. This project aims to explore how tailored digital gamification can be used in higher education and its effects on university students’ motivation and learning outcomes.

What are the impacts of digital educational resources on rural teachers and their teaching in China?

Chapter by Fabio Cristiano and Emilio Distretti for the volume The Aesthetics and Politics of the Online Self, edited by Donatella Della Ratta, Geert Lovink, Teresa Numerico, and Peter Sarram for Palgrave Macmillan.

With the help of quantum mechanics, digital quantum hardware may be able to tackle some of the problems that are too difficult for ordinary computers. But despite these expectations and the ongoing effort of the research community, reliable quantum computers are not yet realized in a lab setting.

Workshops, lectures

Galikyan’s dissertation examines how the multidimensionality of learner­learner interaction data and the multifacetedness of learner-learner interaction itself impact the measurement of learner-learner interaction in digital learning environments.

MaDiTraCe’s main goal is to enlarge and integrate the portfolio of technological solutions reinforcing the reliability of critical raw material (CRM) tracing and the transparency of complex supply chains.

A new publication on changes in the relationship between news and their public in Chile

The Hague Program for Cyber Norms, a research program at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, published its first policy brief, in which Dennis Broeders, Sergei Boeke and Ilina Georgieva explore the role of intelligence agencies in cyberspace and the (im)possibilities of oversight and regulation…

Despite a lack of specific legislation on this issue, Dutch Minister of Justice and Security Dilan Yeşilgöz is allowing the national police force to experiment with facial recognition technology.

Law, Institute for the Interdisciplinary Study of the Law, Van Vollenhoven Institute

On 11 June 2020, Sabine Witting defended her thesis 'Child Sexual Abuse in the Digital Era: Rethinking Legal Frameworks and Transnational Law Enforcement Collaboration'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. J.J. Sloth-Nielsen and Prof. S. van der Hof.

Webinar, Q&A, discussion

This project aims at recording and safeguarding parts of the intangible cultural heritage of the Dogon in central Mali. A major song cycle, the baja ni, forms an integral part of Dogon funeral traditions. The song cycle is attributed to Abirè, a blind Dogon poet/prophet, probably from the 19th c., who…

On Wednesday 25 June 2025 Dechun Zhang successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

A brief review essay on some of the work that has been recently published in the emergent field of digital ethnography.

This special issue of the peer-reviewed journal Amsterdamer Beiträge zur älteren Germanistik (Brill, 2021) brings together articles that explore new digital ways of analyzing and annotating Old English vocabulary.

On the 9th of April, Manolis Fragkiadakis successfully defended a doctoral thesis. The Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Manolis on this achievement!

The article offers a comparative systematic literature review of the principles, norms, and strategies associated with Security by Design and Privacy by Design

The Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University is a partner in the new university-wide Data Science research programme that advocates the use of data science in various fields of research.