In this project we looked at children and their relationships with peers. We wanted to learn more about the well-being of children and how this is linked to topics such as friendships, anxiety and social skills. By looking at these topics and their interplay, we can learn more about how children are…

Call for participation:

How does the medieval body of texts known as 'canon law' reflect social and moral ideas? With a combination of AI and an advanced dataset, can we reveal patterns in the transmission and alteration of these ideas over time? Join the SOLEMNE project as a research assistant to explore these questions and…

In the present-day United States, to what degree(s) are far-right men and women similar and/or dissimilar in their motivating factors for engaging in far-right social movement activism?

Our Winter School alumna Ginevra Montefusco defended her Master thesis this March with the title Food in the Margin: a feminist analysis of sense of place in Barriera di Milano, Turin (supervisors: Alessia Toldo and Egidio Dansero).

Illegal images spread fast via social media. That became painfully clear last week following incidents involving teenagers in Dutch towns. Bart Schermer, Professor of Law and Digital Technologies, spoke to NRC newspaper about the role and responsibility of social media platforms.

Thanks to the Preparatory Year Leiden, refugee students get the opportunity to start a new study or continue their current one. This joint programme of Leiden University and University of Applied Sciences Leiden enters its third year. In this video, participants talk about their experiences.

As humans we have a tendency to judge certain actions as either right or wrong. Where does our moral sense come from? We found evidence that infants who are only one year old prefer those who comfort as opposed to ignore another who is sad.

This article reflects on the lessons of COVID-19 five years on. The crisis exposed deep vulnerabilities in health systems, governance, and social cohesion.

How can business strategies help us solve social problems? This was researched by students of the Master Honours Class 'Social Innovation in Action' over the past twenty weeks. During the final seminar of the class they presented their creative enterprises to tackle child poverty in Leiden. ‘It’s not…

Social evaluative fears during adolescence

Social Information Processing in Children with and without Hearing Loss

The roles of shame, guilt and social access in adolescent aggression

How did persistent social inequalities first emerge? What cultural trajectories and institutions made this key development possible? How can archaeological inform us about the formation of class societies?

This project contests the assumption of criminologists that gender differences in recorded crime are static over time and that women are in general less likely to commit a crime than men.

Effects of age and social anxiety

Does the sitter have agency in the making of a photographic portrait? And if so how?

The corona crisis relates to not only the medical field but also the field of the social sciences and humanities. SSH Beraad, a consultation body that aims to improve the position of the social sciences and humanities in the Netherlands, has launched a website bringing together experts in the social…

This interdisciplinary study focuses on (trans)national ethnic and popular networks, combining historical-ethnographic and computational methods to understand the ‘workings’ of networked conflict interfering in the increasingly violent conflict in the Sahel (Africa) and beyond. The project focuses on…

What is emotion in human and nonhuman animals? How do emotions get to expression and how do they impact on our interactions, our decisions to trust, distrust or cooperate? Why do we mimic and synchronise affective processes?

Can a virtual character’s friendly non-verbal responses stimulate eye-contact in individuals with varying levels of social anxiety?

In this thesis,

It is often claimed that social media can contribute to democratic decision-making by bringing politicians and citizens into dialogue with one another. But is this potential always realised, and how? Most researchers look at politicians and their online communication strategies. In this New Media &…

Political scientist Rebekah Tromble (Leiden University) and computational sociolinguist Dirk Hovy (University of Copenhagen) analyse how much hostility and sexism Clinton faces on Twitter, as well as who seems to be behind such attacks.

This article introduces the special issue on ‘Digital Activism’ by exploring some of the trends in social media activism and scholarship thereof. The authors ask to what extent this literature helps us understand Asian forms of online activism, which forms of activism have relatively done well, and…

Investigating the emergence of complex societies in Chalcolithic Cyprus.

To easily take part in group decision-making research, Jörg Gross, Assistent Professor Social and Organisational Psychology, launched a platform that allows students at the social interaction lab. Sign up to receive invitations if you are interested in taking part in on-going scientific studies in the…

The Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences has become a lot healthier, thanks to the first Healthy Faculty event on 29 and 30 October, 2015. Health Psychology master’s students organised workshops for both students and staff. Many of them attended these inspiring workshops and already put the gained…

22 September 2017 the second biannual conference took place organised by IAAEU of the University of Trier and the Hugo Sinzheimer Institute of Frankfurt. The theme of the conference was the European Pillar of Social Rights. Under the heading of the conference’s title, International Labour Law as a stimulus…

In a joint letter, the Leiden student associations have appeal to students to practise 1.5m distancing and to only meet others if they are fit and well. They urge them to observe the corona rules to prevent a local spike.

Over the last decades, income inequality has increased globally. How do social policies affect this increasing trend? How do international trade and technological progress affect inequality? What is the profile of income inequality in China?

On 29 and 30 June, Ingrid Leijten participated in an international workshop held at the International Institute for the Sociology of Law (IISJ) in Oñati, Spain.

Children with hearing loss often fail to pick up on nuances in other people’s emotional responses. As a result, they do not always understand what is going on. Yung-Ting Tsou, a PhD student at Leiden University, found that having more knowledge of emotions and social conventions can help them in their…

On 9 and 10 November, the Institute of International and European Law of the University of Göttingen and the Minerva Center for Human Rights of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, organized a conference called ‘Unpacking Economic and Social Rights: International and Comparative Dimensions’.

What would happen if families with little money were to receive an extra amount every month with no conditions attached? Would it help with their worst financial problems? In order to find out, the municipality of Amsterdam will conduct an experiment with 300 families over the next two years. During…

Professor P.F. (Paul) Wouters has been appointed dean of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences with effect from 1 January 2019. Wouters has been appointed for a period of three years and succeeds Professor Hanna Swaab, whose second term of office as dean expires this year. Swaab will remain…

We are pleased to invite abstracts for a conference on ‘Advancing Social, Economic, and Cultural Rights in a Polarised, Digitalised, and Unequal World’ to be held at Leiden University on 4 and 5 September 2025, in collaboration with Netherlands Network for Human Rights Researh (NNHRR).

Eduard Fosch-Villaronga, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Researcher at eLaw- Center for Law and Digital Technologies, just published a book on Robots, Healthcare, and the Law. Regulating Automation in Personal Care.