At the Faculty of Archaeology, we investigate the development of human societies worldwide, from the earliest beginnings to modern times. We also study the heritage of mankind, which evokes this deep history, and which connects with, and informs, contemporary society.

Jed Wentz realized a unique concept: 19-th century melodramas for voice and piano.

ACPA researchers Ned McGowan and Guy Livingston perform The Speed of Silence at the Maastricht University 's digital symposium Towards 2040: Creating Classical Music Futures.

Between April 24th and June 19th Oxford University organises a weekly online seminar in Byzantine Studies.

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

Last year we organized a sustainability conference with much success together with the co-participation bodies of Leiden University.

The first phase of the construction of the new building for the Faculty of Science is finished. The Cell Observatory of the Institute of Biology Leiden will be moving to the new building on the 19th of May.

One of our LUCIS members, Karène Sanchez, has been granted the Internationalisation in the Humanities grant for her project 'Engaging Europe in the Arab World: European missionaries and humanitarianism in the Middle East (1850-1970)'. Sanchez is cooperating with researchers from IEG Mainz and IISMM…

On April 19th, well-known Indian singer and scholar Sumithra Vasudev will give a unique lecture and singing performance at the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden (National Antiquities Museum) in Leiden.

The oldest university in the Netherlands was founded on 8 February 1575 in the Pieterskerk in Leiden. This was at the time of the Eighty Years’ War with the uprising of the northern provinces against domination by the Spanish.

For a long time, the painful history of colonial slavery received too little attention. People whose ancestors lived in slavery are now asking critical questions about how we should address that past. Leiden University researchers study the history of colonialism and slavery and their long-term impact…

The research programme Language Use in Past and Present brings together linguists within LUCL whose central focus is both on actual language data, including language use in earlier stages of the language, and, taking a variationist perspective, on language change in various aspects.

In this project the already developed parcel based historical GIS (HISGIS) for the Dutch province of Friesland (Frisia) will be extended with a series of crucial datasets and map layers.

How humans and rats cohabit the cityscape and what consequences this has for both sides of the conflict?

At LUCIS we offer a varied programme of scholarly meetings (conferences, workshops) which reflect our multidisciplinary and comparative view on Islam and Muslim societies in past and present.

Around the world, there is a growing movement to decolonise university curricula, with both students and educators seeking to disrupt existing epistemic hierarchies within higher education. This research project aims to unravel what decolonising means in general and what it means for the International…

Update : March 2020 A.J. Mills

You can register for semester 1 courses (academic year 2026/2027) from the beginning of June 2026.

In the master’s programme in Archaeology, you can follow courses on the archaeology of the Mediterranean, deepening your understanding of this fascinating region. From the many faces of ‘Hellenism’ to the early rise of the Roman Republic, to the voyages of European Crusaders in medieval times. The archaeology…

On this page we have listed the most frequently asked questions about the Pre-University Classes for you. Is your question not listed? Then please send us an e-mail!

An overview of frequently asked questions

On this page you find all the ways through which the Institute of Psychology aims to foster Open Science.

With the unique programme in Global Archaeology at Leiden University you will explore the archaeological past of Europe, the Mediterranean and West Asia, or the Americas. You address the impact of global developments on the area of your choice. The courses prepare you for a career as a regional archaeologist…

On 4-5 December the Europa Institute and the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs of Leiden University organize a conference on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

Historical approaches to the performance of solo and chamber music by Johannes Brahms.

February 10th-12th & 16th-19th, Opening Thursday February 9th, 17:00.

Dr Amany Soliman, our postdoctoral fellow for the ERC project “Rethinking Disability” (led by professor Monika Baar of Leiden University), will present a lecture coming Thursday.

Anna Scott has been named as the inaugural artist-in-residence of the Institute of Austrian and German Music Research at the University of Surrey in 2022-2023.

The Belgian-Dutch Bookbindings Society and the Consortium for European Research Libraries cordially invite anyone with an interest in bookbindings to attend.

Seven researchers from Leiden University have been awarded an ERC Starting Grant. This will enable them to start their own project, build their research team and put their best ideas into action.

Students and staff members at the Faculty Campus The Hague are cordially invited by the JASON Institute to join a group discussion with the Dutch EMP Mr. Hans van Baalen and Lithuanian MEP Mr. Petras Auštrevičius, together with Mr. Bart Hogeveen from institute Clingendael as the moderator, at the Lithuanian…

Three cholera epidemics struck 19th-century Leiden. Today’s corona epidemic prompted Martijn Storms, curator of maps and atlases at the Leiden University Libraries, to scour the library for maps about these past epidemics.

Private collectors John Steegh and Harrie Teunissen from Dordrecht have donated their entire collection of maps, city plans and atlases to Leiden University Libraries (UBL). In almost 40 years they brought together circa 17,000 map sheets and 2,300 atlases and travel guides. Especially the thematic…

Nearly eight decades after the liberation of Auschwitz, we continue to learn more about how the Holocaust “happened” in central and eastern Europe. In Prof. dr. Sarah Cramsey’s History MA Research Seminar “New Approaches to the Holocaust in Central and Eastern Europe,” a dozen Leiden students read what…

Leiden University now offers almost 20 Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs). The enthusiasm displayed by participants makes it rewarding to develop and teach such courses, say MOOC lecturers Marlies Reinders and Edwin Bakker. But that is not all, ‘You bring together a global community.’

Symposium on the extraordinary excavations at Middenbeemster

Research by bioarchaeologists from Leiden and Canada has shown that 19th-century Dutch farmers regularly had bone defects. These may have been caused by wearing clogs. Publication in the International Journal of Paleopathology.

Put two single people in one place and what do you get? Science! Psychologists at Leiden University will be conducting research on human attraction at the Lowlands festival on the 19th of August.