The rise and fall of Dutch Brazil (1624-1654) was a major news story in early modern Europe, and marked the emergence of a

In the last two decades, there have been heated public and scholarly debates in France, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands on the violent end of empire. Nevertheless, the broader comparative investigations into colonial counterinsurgency tend to leave atrocities such as torture, execution, and…

Discover the MSc The Politics of Artificial Intelligence at Leiden University: analyse who designs, controls and benefits from AI while using core Political Science theories to address regulation, ethics and global impact.

How do mycobacteria subvert the defenses of host immune cells?

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is among the cancers with the highest mortality rate, despite a relatively low incidence.

This article, by Sara Perlstein, explores how perceived social acceptability shapes whether people talk about risks, showing that risk perceptions and conversations are socially negotiated rather than purely individual.

Our university is part of Una Europa: an alliance of 11 leading European research universities.

Are you curious about how economics, law and governance shape our society? At Leiden University, you’ll explore financial systems, public administration, international relations and legal frameworks. From international law to public policy, from global diplomacy to financial regulation: you’ll learn…

Are you curious about how economics, law and governance shape our society? At Leiden University, you’ll explore financial systems, public administration, international relations and legal frameworks. From international law to public policy, from global diplomacy to financial regulation: you’ll learn…

What roles does music play within our society? How does current society influence music? And vice versa: how does music influence, for instance, politics, media and technology? The minor Music Studies offers you a different way of thinking about music. Music is more than just a form of art, more than…

Understand how the economy works and shapes today’s challenges

Global health governance is at a crossroads. As the world reckons with the existential threat of planetary crises (climate change, loss of biodiversity and pollution), international policy frameworks struggle to keep pace with a rapidly changing landscape in global health and public health.

The Young Academy Leiden (YAL) organises listening sessions across faculties. The aim of these listening sessions is to learn more about the wants and needs of (post-PhD) Early Career Researchers at Leiden University.

How do different emotional expressions influence the behavior of other people in negotiations?

This study of the Gamtoos River floodplain in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province traces its transformation from an eighteenth-century natural landscape of thick bush into an agricultural zone now threatened by climate change.

Moderne oorlogsvoering kent geen grenzen. Dreigingen zijn steeds vaker digitaal. Promovendus Annelies van Vark stelt dat Scandinavië beter voorbereid is op gevaar. Zij pleit voor een sterkere rol van de krijgsmacht, herinvoering van de dienstplicht en paraatheid – óók bij burgers.

Lecture, Global Questions Seminar

What is the nature and scope of violence? Who offends, and in what context? Who are the victims? And how can we design suitable intervention and prevention strategies? In this track, you will be familiarised with the many faces of violent offending, to provide the knowledge and tools to understand,…

Lecture

As Lila Abu Lughod pointed out in 1989, North Africa has been one of the geographical ‘zones of prestige’ for the development of canonical approaches and crucial theoretical debates regarding the comparative study of Islam.

This dissertation examines the European Union’s response to the growing problem of disinformation. It uses this case to critically analyse how societies interpret and manage information challenges such as ‘fake news’ and propaganda.

Promotores: A.H. Meijer, H.P. Spaink

On 25 January 2024 H.J. Pak successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

Cryptocurrencies have exploded onto global financial markets, with the value of a single bitcoin growing from around 800 USD in 2016 to 67,000 USD in 2021.

Moving Romans offers an analysis of Roman migration by applying general insights, models and theories from the field of migration history.

Article by Ana Dragojlovic and Annemarie Samuels in the Open Encyclopedia of Anthropology.

Stella Morgana defended her thesis on 31 March 2021

This dissertation provides a formal description of the relationship between diatopic/diachronic micro-variation and phonologization through analysis of the phonetic/phonological properties of unstressed vowel reduction and vowel insertion in two Northern Italian dialects.

This book examines the history of The Netherlands in a way that connects global processes to local developments.

We are interested in understanding the mechanics of soft materials, of which biological materials are prominent examples.

Mechanical metamaterials are man-made materials which derive their unusual properties from their structure rather than their composition.

The Khoesan were the first people in Africa to undergo the full rigours of European colonisation. By the early nineteenth century, they had largely been brought under colonial rule, dispossessed of their land and stock, and forced to work as labourers for farmers of European descent.

The Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS) is a centre of excellence for multidisciplinary research and education in computer science and artificial intelligence (AI).

On 2 Juni 2021, Maarten Manse defended his thesis 'Promise, Pretence and Pragmatism: Governance and Taxation in Colonial Indonesia, 1870-1940'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. R. Arendsen.

Reconfigurations of Practice, Community and Authority in Contemporary Aceh

On Wednesday 25 June 2025 Dechun Zhang successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

Intrigued by the way cells autonomously regulate their fate, we strive to understand and visualize cellular processes as the basis of Cell Signaling.

The BOCA project explores new forms of communicating academic knowledge as a way to strengthen the connection between the university and society. The project was awarded a Kiem seed grant and is led by Daniela Vicherat Mattar (FGGA/LUC) and Nanne Timmer (FGw/LUCAS).

Day-to-day activities are important in the development of social identities, the establishment of social standing, and the communal understanding of societal rules. This perspective is broadly referred to as practice theory and relates to the power of an overarching social structure and the individual…

How do humans construct their self?

The Centre for Indigenous America Studies (CIAS) at Leiden University is designed to coordinate and promote the teaching and research of Indigenous languages, literatures, cultures and cultural heritage.

How do Central African refugees navigate through uncertainty in a new and hostile environment in the DR Congo?

‘It became very clear that Brazilian legislative policy was frail, obsolete and unreliable,’ says Felipe de Paula. He defended his dissertation on the limits and possibilities of legislative policy in Brazil on Tuesday 27 March 2018.

This thesis attempts to interrogate post-1991-2015 political development in Ethiopia, focusing on the political discourses espoused by the government and opposition, using the discourse analysis method and securitization theory.

On 21 January 2021, Fachrizal Afandi defended his thesis 'Maintaining Order: Public Prosecutors in Post-Authoritarian Countries, the case of Indonesia'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. A.W. Bedner and Prof. J.H. Crijns.

How was anti-communism organized in the West? New volume edited by Giles Scott-Smith, Luc van Dongen and Stephanie Roulin on the aims, arguments and associations of a range of transnational anti-communist activists during the Cold War.

This research evaluates the Youth Act. It will provide an overview of how the transition takes place, whether the transformation process develops in the right direction and whether the legal safeguards are functioning properly.