The spectacular “density” of artworks and architecture in Florence, a designated UNESCO World Heritage site (1982, 2015), reflects a nucleus of some of the most important collecting histories and museums in the world, ranging from the unparalleled Renaissance acquisitions of the Medici dynasty to the…

The Museum enjoys the highest reputation internationally

Research truly comes to life when it contributes meaningfully to society. By sharing our findings, advising policymakers or contributing to community projects – we can make a real impact. Scroll down and discover how Science and society can mutually benefit from each other.

The States, Markets, and Civil Society department of the Institute of Public Administration examines how politics and governance, businesses, citizens, and societal organisations collaborate to address major societal challenges. This includes issues such as inequality, migration, and sustainability.

How can we connect quantum technology and society for an open debate on its future implications and applications?

This project aims to provide evidence-based knowledge on the conditions for successful anti-corruption activism in Ukraine.

Our own Dr. Martin Berger has been accepted as a member of the Young Academy Leiden! He is thrilled with his appointment. ‘I am honored to be accepted as a member of the Young Academy Leiden and am looking forward to working together with other scholars from across the University.’

Maartje van der Woude, Professor of Law and Society at the Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance and Society, has been elected, after a vote among the members of the Law and Society Association (LSA), as one of the eight ‘elected trustees’ to join the ‘Board of Trustees’ of the LSA.

Four different astronomical societies are active in the Old Observatory. We are very proud of the commitment these associations show to organize activities.

Having encountered a series of shocks that pose an existential threat to our livelihoods, our societies have become increasingly polarized.

Alumnus Jelte Liemburg, aged 29, aims to visit every single one of the 500 museums in the Netherlands that take part in the national museum pass scheme.

De tentoonstelling 'Vrijheid, Vetes, Vagevuur' is tot en met 7 mei 2023 te zien in het Fries Museum. De tentoonstelling en de bijbehorende publicatie worden samengesteld door Diana Spiekhout, conservator terpencultuur en middeleeuwen. Spiekhout promoveerde in 2020 aan de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen…

How can heritage institutions make their organisations, collections and exhibitions more inclusive and accessible? University lecturer Eliza Steinbock will investigate this using a NWO Smart Culture grant.

Are you passionate about our planet? Are you keen to find solutions to environmental problems that make a real impact? Do you feel that either natural sciences or social sciences by themselves are not enough to tackle today’s complex sustainability issues? Then Science for Sustainable Societies at Leiden…

The development of smart cars, video games that adapt to your gaming behaviour, law enforcement assigning your neighbourhood a risk score, insurance rates determined by your behaviour, finding your perfect match via an app: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly and radically transforming our interactions…

Mariana de Campos Françoso and Amy Strecker published a new article in the International Journal of Cultural Property last week entitled 'Caribbean Collections in European Museums and the Question of Returns'.

Nine staff members of the Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance, and Society participated in the Law and Society Association’s (LSA) annual conference from 27-30 May. VVI staff presented ten conference papers, organised multiple sessions, as well as served as chairs and discussants for numerous…

Imagine: you walk into a museum, see something that catches your eye and before you know it, you have an internship. This is what happened to history student Davey Verhoeven, who went on to work on the exhibition about the unique Japanese folding screen by Kawahara Keiga (approx. 1786 – approx. 1860)…

Microwear and starch grain analysis on experimental and archaeological grinding tools from Central

Nine museums in eight days, and an average of 25,000 steps a day? You must be talking about a trip with the Leiden Art History Association! In July, 20 students and a lecturer travelled to New York to take in all the art, architecture and other high points the city has to offer. We spoke to Joëlle Daems,…

How is law shaped by and shaping social, political and economic change in Indonesia?

Leiden University opened its doors on Leiden Museum Night, with a whole host of things to see and do at the Academy Building, Hortus botanicus and Old Observatory. Take a look at the photos and see.

In Leiden University’s master’s programme Literature in Society. Europe and Beyond you will develop your knowledge of the interactive relationship between literature and society, focusing on key political and social issues from a transnational perspective.

Most people would not even consider it, starting a PhD at the age of 62. However, for the former Teylers Museum curator Bert Sliggers it was like a dream that came true: ‘The opportunity I was given felt like a gift, it brought me and Teylers Museum a lot.’

This study examines recovery planning committees across Japan's Tohoku region.

In this article, Lianne Visser contributed to the understanding of why collaborative governance is a challenging response to wicked problems.

By carrying out fundamental research and providing excellent education, universities become a breeding ground for innovation and entrepreneurship.

The film Blade Runner as part of the law curriculum? It’s not that weird to Maartje van der Woude, Professor of Law and Society, and Frans-Willem Korsten, Professor of Literature, Culture and Law. ‘The film raises a fundamental question: what’s a human and what’s not?’ From the next academic year onwards,…

The speed at which science is changing our lives gives rise to tensions and concerns. In his talk at Leiden University, Minister Robbert Dijkgraaf (Education, Culture and Science) said we should talk more about science’s relationship with society and political decision-making.

Children are generally not drawn to abstract art, research shows. But how exactly does abstract art affect our emotions? Through empirical research, psychologists from Leiden University are investigating at the Josef Albers Museum in Germany how this form of art can be made more relatable to the world…

Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society (LUCAS) is dedicated to ground-breaking and interdisciplinary research dealing with the relations between culture and society.

Bringing Dominican indigenous collections back to the community

As of 1 September 2019, Prof. Pieter ter Keurs will assume the position of Scientific Director at the Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Centre for Global Heritage and Development as well as that of Professor of Museums, Collections and Society at the Faculties of Humanities and Archaeology at Leiden University.…

Risk has become one of the defining features of modern society. This course examines various types of safety and security risks, and how these are perceived and dealt with in a wide array of professional and academic fields, ranging from criminology, counter-terrorism and cyber security, to philosophy,…

Are you a great photographer? Or not at all, but you do have a brilliant photo that captures the relationship between food and people? Join the photo contest ‘Food & Society’ of our Faculty and send in your best photo before 3 April 2018!

With regard to governance, policies and law, many Muslims and Muslim countries recognise the possibility that Islam has something important to say about the way society is to be ordered, governed, and regulated.

Categories of gender and sexuality are the subject of heated debates in our everyday lives. To understand how systems of gender and sexuality operate, and why these are such contested areas we need to study these categories came about historically.

On 10 October 2019, Janneke Vink defended her thesis 'The Open Society and Its Animals'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. P.B. Cliteur.

Do you practice public engagement? The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has just released a unique set of open-source materials designed to be used in public engagement training workshops.

We are happy that the Media Technology staff and students will together again visit the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz (Austria). The five-day study trip offers a shared source of inspiration and a basis for discussion to students and lecturers.

Professor Pieter ter Keurs has spent his entire career studying collecting. Now, he is retiring. ‘I hope the focus on collections will carry on.’

This dissertations studies state-society relations in 1930s Turkey, focusing on the anti-veiling campaigns in the mid-1930s and aiming to understand the ways in which the Kemalist policies were received, interpreted, negotiated, compromised and/or resisted by various actors in the provinces.

The University of Oslo and Leiden University have joined forces to organise a Tutorial on Robots and Society: Ethical, Legal, and Technical Perspectives on Integrating Robots in the Home and Healthcare Systems and Services at the IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communica…