Researchers from five different discplines work together in this interdisciplinary initiative.

The Leiden University Centre for Linguistics (LUCL) aims to demonstrate its relevance to society by means of high-quality research, excellent education and various outreach activities. A few highlights:

Bones hold a wealth of information about a person’s life, revealing details about where they came from, how old they were when they died and what diseases they may have had. Scientists can use this data to piece together aspects of an individual's life, offering valuable insights that can help address…

Everyone most obey the law. If you don’t, you will face the police and the courts. The application of national, European and international criminal law would seem to be a matter of following the letter of the law. But the reality is more nuanced. Criminal law scholars and criminologists from very different…

Humanities are needed to make sense of social issues. Watch or listen to the stories of our experts who tell about their research and the impact on society. Get to know the world at Humanities!

We are delighted to announce that Speech Prosody 2024 will be held in Leiden, The Netherlands (02–05 July 2024). The conference aims to showcase the facets of prosodic variation and their role in the production, comprehension, and acquisition of speech in order to obtain a better understanding of the…

The Faculty of Archaeology at Leiden University offers education in Human Osteoarchaeology. We offer a second-year Bachelor course in Human Osteoarchaeology and an extensive one-year track in the Master’s in Archaeological Science specialisation, resulting in a Master of Science degree after complet…

In the one-year Linguistics specialisation programme you will be able to focus on a specific thematic or disciplinary route, reflecting the linguistics expertise present at Leiden University.

A master's degree in Psychology at Leiden University combines theoretical knowledge with academic and professional skills, making you an attractive candidate for many employers.

A master's degree in Psychology at Leiden University combines theoretical knowledge with academic and professional skills, making you an attractive candidate for many employers. However, there are far more graduates than vacancies, especially in mental health care, and competition is therefore fierc…

The number of victims of child abuse is estimated to be higher during the first lockdown compared with a period without a lockdown. This is mainly due to an increase in the number of victims of emotional neglect, including educational neglect and witnessing domestic abuse. Families with children about…

How many children are born with the help of a surrogate mother in the Netherlands, and which legal obstacles can arise? Through a new interdisciplinary study, researchers at Leiden University are attempting to provide clarity about surrogacy processes.

The Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology’s ‘Vulnerable Groups and Inequality’ research project draws on a number of disciplines.

The Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology conducts extensive research on imprisonment. Sending a person to prison is the most severe form of punishment that can be applied in the criminal justice systems of European countries. In most countries, the number of prisoners has risen in recent decades.…

Types of supervision for prisoners on conditional release include the requirement to report regularly to a parole officer, electronic house arrest or community service. These are all serious measures for the person on whom they are imposed and for society. But it is a subject on which little research…

Willemijn Heeren has, together with dr. Lei He (Department of Linguistics, Tübingen & Center for Forensic Phonetics and Acoustics, Zürich), received a research grant from the International Association for Forensic Phonetics and Acoustics to start a pilot project on “Between-speaker variability in dynamic…

We make a distinction between the following types of previous education.

Professor of Criminalistics Charles Berger thinks miscarriages of justice can be avoided more often by clearer determination of the truth. He therefore not only wants to focus on the advancement of forensic science, but also on improving lawyers’ reasoning of the evidence. Inaugural address on 3 Feb…

De Raad van Advies bestaat uit leden die een binding hebben met de faculteit. Daarnaast zijn zij goed thuis in de wereld van de advocatuur, de rechterlijke macht, de overheid en het bedrijfsleven. Het faculteitsbestuur gebruikt de adviezen van de Raad van Advies bij de beleidsontwikkeling van de faculteit…

The European Registry of Exonerations database provides an overview of miscarriages of justice in Europe with a view to preventing future errors.

How do people develop and how do they learn? How does their environment affect them? How do we ensure that they develop in optimal fashion? And what can we do if problems occur? These are questions that the researchers at the Institute of Education and Child Studies try to answer.

In the Dutch healthcare system, only MHC psychologists (GZ-psychologen) are licensed to practice psychology unsupervised.

How do we decide on the long-term future of children placed in care in a valid, reliable, traceable and transparent way – together with parents and young people?

Experimental research

There are over 7,000 languages in the world and over half of the world’s population is bilingual. But how do all these people use their language? And how do these languages differ from one another? Under the slogan of ‘Interconnecting linguistic diversity,’ the researchers from the Leiden University…

The results of the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2019 were announced last week. Law at Leiden has achieved 26th place of this worldwide ranking. It is the highest ranking for law programmes in the Netherlands.

At the end of November/early December a delegation from Leiden Law School, led by Dean Joanne van der Leun, will a number of various partner universities and organisations in Indonesia.

Deze onderzoeksgroep richt zich op het thema ondermijning en financieel-economische criminaliteit, in het bijzonder de aanpak ervan op een aantal deelterreinen.

As part of the events to mark the 100th anniversary of the International Labour Organization, the Department of Labour Law of Leiden University has organized a film evening together with Kijkhuis cinema in Leiden.

Leiden Law School has climbed two places on the QS World University Rankings by Subject and is now listed 24th. Our faculty retains the highest ranking for law programmes in the Netherlands.

Since reintegration officer Bart Reedijk started work in Dordrecht three years ago, ex-convicts in that municipality have reoffended a lot less often. There is much interest in Reedijk's method throughout the Netherlands, but experts have reservations.

ELS lab member Helen Pluut concluded this year’s lecture series on Empirical Methods in Legal Research. Helen discussed diary studies as an example of multilevel research designs.

Frank van der Horst is per 1 februari 2026 benoemd tot bijzonder hoogleraar Pedagogische Wetenschappen.

Psychologist Ilse van de Groep found that people react more aggressively when receiving negative feedback. However, if people already exhibit persistent antisocial behavior they do not respond even more aggressively to negative feedback.This research earned her the Koningsheide Prize 2022 for the scientific…

In 2023, many of our students and staff won great prizes and secured important research grants.

Maaike Kempes believes more attention should be paid to non-congenital brain injuries in suspects. This may partly explain their criminal behaviour.

PhD candidate Rachel Schats was awarded the Eve Cockburn student prize for best podium presentation at the 19th European Meeting of the Paleopathology Association.

At the request of the Dutch Parliament, Professor Marielle Bruning, Dr Kartica van der Zon (Dept. of Child Law), Professor Lenneke Alink and Dr Sabine van der Asdonk (Education and Child Studies) have produced a fact sheet on the placement of children in care in the Netherlands.