From the very beginning, the Islam has known an oral tradition. It was only two hundred years ago that Muslims starting writing about the history of Islam, on rocks or other hard materials. Arabic epigraphy (study of inscriptions) turns out to be an essential tool in historical genealogy research. Abdullah…

I am a scholar whose research focuses on the modern and contemporary United States. Though a historian by training, my work engages with insights from other disciplines, particularly international relations and American politics. I am currently the principal investigator on the NWO Vidi-funded project…

Leonor Alvarez Francés is a PhD candidate at the Institute for History that specializes in transnational history and digital tools for research in cultural history.

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…

Jürgen Zangenberg is professor for the History and Culture of Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity.

The biographer of Leiden University, Willem Otterspeer, has a new book out. In ‘De stad, de dood en de dichters’ (The City, Death and the Poets) he combines his love for the University and poetry with autobiographical reflections. ‘With my magnifying glass I discovered yet more new details in the pr…

From Galileo Galilei to Albert Einstein and from Anna Maria van Schurman to Anton de Kom: only a selection of the 25 authors who's books and ideas had extraordinary historical impact, in some cases even to this day. Leiden University Libraries and the National Museum of Antiquities jointly present the…

Three new initiatives will provide a more diverse view of Leiden’s academic history, literally and figuratively: a historical study on the background of students and scientists, a new book about the Academy Building, and two new sculptures of female scientists, Ewine van Dishoek, Professor of Molecular…

Anyone who has taken a walk through the centre of Leiden before might have come across him, an attentive group of tourists gathered around. After studying history, Koen van Toen, or Koen Marijt, started his own business. He now organises historical walks, among other things.

Her part-time job as a city guide in Dordrecht opened Lotte Hamm's eyes: not business administration, but history was her dream study. This semester she starts her bachelor's degree.

Casper van Dijk is a PhD candidate researching the transformation of military as complex adaptive systems. His dissertation, Military Metamorphosis: Warfare in the Northern Netherlands, 1425–1560, reinterprets late medieval warfare through the lens of emergence and complex systems theory, offering an…

Remco Breuker is a historian of Korea and Northeast Asia, who works on medieval Korean and Northeast Asian history and on contemporary North Korean affairs. He published on the medieval state of Koryo, Korean historiography, Northeast Asia and North Korea, as well as literary translations from Korean…

On 1 January Minna Valjakka was appointed Professor of Contemporary Art History and Theory from a Global Perspective. Valjakka sees her appointment as 'extremely topical' because of the discussions about the decolonisation of the arts: 'Art teaches us not just about art, but also about contemporary…

Carola Hein is Professor Water, Ports and Historic Cities at the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology of Leiden University.

Master's student Vicente Fischer de Miranda Rodrigues is the winner of the KHMW Brewer Thesis Prize for History. He was awarded the prize for his research on donatism.

The underwater world around present-day Indonesia has changed greatly in recent centuries as a result of human activity. University lecturer Johannes Müller has been awarded an NWO XS grant to map the history of the Indonesian ecosystems.

Each research institute has its own dynamic. The Executive Board is visiting our institutes to find out what they are up to. On 24 June, it was the turn of the Institute for History. ‘History helps us make sense the present, whether through family stories, local issues or world politics.’

Marika Keblusek is an Associate Professor at the Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society.

Surya Suryadi is a Lecturer at the Leiden University Institute for Area Studies.

Nadia Bouras is a historian with a specialization in the history of Moroccan migration. Holding a PhD in history from Leiden University, she serves as an assistent professor in social and migration history at the same institution. Bouras is closely affiliated with NIMAR, the Netherlands Institute in…

Lecture, Ancient History Research Seminar

At the Dies Natalis Willem Otterspeer, Professor Emeritus of University History, presented the fourth and final volume of Groepsportret met Dame, his series on the history of Leiden University. De 'Strategie van de Aanpassing' covers the period 1876-1975. Otterspeer talked about his book in a podcast…

Matthew Broad is a Lecturer in the History of International Relations at Leiden. He has previously held positions as a Jean Monnet Scholar at the European Studies Centre, University of Pittsburgh, an EU-funded Horizon 2020 Marie Curie Fellow in the Department of Contemporary History and Political Science,…

Conference, L*CeSAR Research Workshop

Giles Scott Smith is Dean of Leiden University College The Hague.

Bram Caers is an Assistant Professor of Middle Dutch literature (up to 1600). His research interest include (urban) historiography in the vernacular, early modern manuscript culture and the interplay between manuscript and print, epic literature, rhetoricians, and medievalism. He teaches courses on…

PhD defence

Alumni who live and work in Brussels met on 18 February at the annual Leiden Alumni in Brussels Event. As well as celebrating Leiden University’s 450th anniversary, they also looked at the challenges Europe faces.

Together with students and local residents, historians Ariadne Schmidt and Alicia Schrikker researched the Leiden Transvaal neighbourhood. They will present their findings on Thursday 20 October, at a specially organised mini-festival in the neighbourhood.

Sarah Cramsey was appointed professor by special appointment of Central European Studies at the Institute of History on 14 September. 'I am keen to incorporate different scholarly approaches into my work and raise the profile of Central European Studies in Leiden.'

Leonor Faber-Jonker (1987) is a historian, author, and artist. She was the scientific curator of an exhibition on the Namibian genocide at the Mémorial de la Shoah, Paris (25 November 2016 - 12 March 2017).

Laurens van Apeldoorn is an assistant professor of tax law at Leiden University.

Fransiskus Widiyarso doesn't have a desk at the university. Please send an email if you want to contact him. The above mentioned telephone number is the number of the secretariat.

In the eighteenth century, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) housed its enslaved people on ‘Slave Island’ in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka. Today ‘Slave Island’ is under serious threat from property developers. Senior lecturer Alicia Schrikker, together with her Sri Lankan colleagues Iromi Perera…

Walter Gam Nkwi is Assistant Professor at the Institute for History.

Carel Smith is connected to the Legal history department as associate professor.