To bring the academic field closer to the professionals working in the field of Vitality and Ageing, the master’s Vitality and Ageing organises its first network event on November 22nd at the Boerhaave Plein of the LUMC.

Want to find out more about our master’s programme? Or are you wondering what questions are asked during the Q&A about the content or careers of Vitality and Ageing? Than watching our webinar would suit your curiosity!

Farming practices, food production, and the agricultural potential of the Late Bronze Age (1600-1200 BCE) Argive Plain, Greece

Master Vitality and Ageing’s (V&A) alumnus Willeke Ravensbergen conducted for her master’s thesis research on the impact of combinations of future trends on healthcare utilisation of older people in collaboration with the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (Rijksinstituut voor…

The Faculty of Archaeology has appointed Dr Marie Louise Sørensen as Professor in Bronze Age Studies in the European Prehistory research group from 1st September 2012. Prof. Sørensen is a Reader in Archaeology at the University of Cambridge (Fellow of Jesus College).

The Middle Ages are becoming increasingly more popular: just look at the popularity of such ‘medievalist’ TV series as Game of Thrones and Vikings, and let’s not forget popular re-enactments of medieval battles. Leiden University is home to many specialists of this fascinating period and this new blog…

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

Doctoral Thesis

Eva Michaels & Monika Sus examine strategic autonomy in EU foreign policy, tracing evolution from the 1998 Saint-Malo Declaration to its current focus.

The kidneys play a major role in the elimination of drugs. In children, the exact age-related physiological changes underlying kidney function remain largely unknown.

Bronze Age settlement sites in the Dutch river area (c. 2000-800 BC)

In August 2010 the Faculty of Archaeology conducted an excavation in the Maashorst-area, situated in the northeastern part of Brabant.

From 16 to 19 September 2021 a hybrid conference will take place on animation in the Middle Ages. This conference is a cooperation between the University of Bergen (Norway) and the A. Zelwerowicz National Academy of Dramatic Art in Warsaw, Branch Campus in Bialystok (Poland).

In 2017 Sasja van der Vaart-Verschoof defended her dissertation on Early Iron Age elite burials of the Low Countries at the Faculty of Archaeology. Out of 36 applications from ten different countries, her dissertation was awarded the Prix Européen D’Archéologie Joseph Déchelette on June 15th.

Early cave paintings of hunting scenes may give the impression our Stone Age ancestors lived mainly on chunks of meat, but plants were just as key to their survival. Plants rich in starch helped early humans to thrive even at the height of the last Ice Age, Leiden archaeologist Amanda Henry tells Horizon…

The call for a social media ban for children is louder than ever. Professor of Children's Rights Ton Liefaard argues in ‘Trouw’ newspaper that this would be unwise. 'For children, online and offline aren't different worlds'.

How the systematic destruction of valuables created value in Bronze Age Europe, c. 2300-500 BC

At the end of 2020, the Advisory Committee on Aliens Affairs issued the report 'Nadeel van de twijfel' (The Doubt) on the way the (age) registration of asylum seekers in another EU member state is dealt with.

What kinds of vocal music were not typically transmitted in written musical notation? Can specific ‘lost’ song forms - siciliane, giustiniane, le Grechesche, gli stili “regionali“ nel canto del quattrocento - be more precisely identified than they have been until now, both in musicological research…

Cultural biographies of persons, objects and 'natural' places in the Bronze Age of the Southern Netherlands, c. 2300-600 BC.

In this blog post, authors Corneliu Bjola, Jennifer Cassidy and Ilan Manor discuss their article for the Special Issues on Debating Public Diplomacy: Now and Next (Vol. 14, 1-2).

Natalia Grincheva (2020). Museum Diplomacy in the Digital Age. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-8153-6999-8, 164 pp., £27.99 (paperback).

Joanita Vroom, Associate Professor Archaeology, regularly tries out old recipes, together with a group of Archaeology students. 'You really need to love garlic.'

What do a novel anti-ageing ingredient for cosmetics and a new type of chicken feed have in common? They were both produced using a new solvent developed by Leiden biologists in 2011. The medium is neither solid nor liquid, and the industry is now starting to see it’s many possibilities.

What do you build with when trees are scarce and winters are brutal? For hunter-gatherers living in current-day Ukraine some 18,000 years ago, the answer was simple: mammoth bones.

This volume brings together experts on the history of the various revolutionary Sister Republics.

From 1 September, the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) will be offering a fully funded regular Master’s programme in Vitality and Ageing.

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.’

David van Bodegom, Professor of Vitality in an Ageing Population, will give his inaugural lecture on 11 November, also titled Vitality in an Ageing Population. According to Van Bodegom the key to healthy ageing is the lived environment. In the fight against lifestyle-related conditions, he therefore…

A comparative study on the spatial origin and development of towns in the northern Netherlands, 700-1400.

"To see, to hear, to touch, to kiss, and so on: Dealing with charters in the early Middle Ages." Guest lecture by Prof. Dr. Philippe Depreux (University of Hamburg): Tuesday 9 May 2023, 15.00-16.30

The Eberhard-Karls Universität Tübingen organises a Winter school on the theme of Gender, Emotion and Monstrosity in the Middle Ages. Deadline for proposals: 1 August.

A major new study of ancient DNA has traced the movement of people into southern Britain during the Bronze Age. In the largest such analysis published to date, scientists examined the DNA of nearly 800 ancient individuals. Publication in Nature on December 22, 2021.

In this video, Jennifer Cassidy discusses the article "Public Diplomacy in the Digital Age", authored by Corneliu Bjola, Jennifer Cassidy and Ilan Manor.

The Research Training Group “Byzantium and the Euro-Mediterranean Cultures of War” invites scholars to submit paper proposals for a series of sessions on “Perceptions of Just War in the Middle Ages” at the IMC 2025. These sessions aim to explore the diverse theological, philosophical, legal, and cultural…

In the context of the summer school "Medieval Religon" prof. Christopher M. Bellitto (Kean University) will give a keynote lecture on June 26th: "Politics and Religion in the Middle Ages and Today: Thoughts of an American Medievalist". This lecture is also open to those interested who do not participate…

The volume Vernacular Books and Their Readers in the Early Age of Print (c. 1450–1600), edited by Anna Dlabačová (Leiden University), Andrea van Leerdam (Utrecht University), and John Thompson (Queen’s University, Belfast), explores approaches to study vernacular books and reading practices across Europe…

How can we hack prejudice about age and ageing out of the recruitment process? That was the question data scientists, psychologists and HR professionals tackled during the AnyAge.AI hackathon. 'AI can actually be used to increase fairness in recruitment.