Within the Graduate School you can conduct your PhD research in a wide range of subjects across the Social and Behavioural Sciences, with five distinct research areas offered by its Institutes.

In July 2022, Leiden hosted the ESOF conference.

Polarisation in our society is on the rise. What makes people increasingly radical? How do we protect ourselves from extremist, terrorist or criminal threats, be they physical or in the cyber world? And what role do intelligence services play in this?

Every year, the World Cultural Council grants special acknowledgements to five to ten young researchers or scholars of the host country who have achieved outstanding performance in the fields of science, education or arts.

Didactics

To maximise your personal development, we ensure tutorials are small-scale and staff members extremely accessible. In year one, you’ll have an average of 12 contact hours, half of which comprise lectures (in English) and the remainder tutorials (optionally Dutch or English).

The university is making its campuses future-proof with measures for climate adaptation and biodiversity. You can read in the Sustainability Implementation Agenda 2023–2026 how we harvest rainwater, limit heat stress and make more room for greenery.

Living systems scale from unicellular microbes to complex multispecies communities that constantly change over time. Within the theme Development & Disease, we enhance our fundamental understanding of development and homeostasis of living cells and systems. We analyze the normal situation and how stresses…

The methodology helping us to prepare for and shape preferred futures.

This 3-year EU Erasmus+ co-funded project focuses on the strengthening and improvement of teaching qualitative research methods across a range of disciplines in the Social Sciences and Humanities in Bhutan.

Are you ready to tackle the most pressing sustainability challenges of our time? Do you want to contribute to a sustainable future while respecting the limits of our planet, but don't quite know how to do that yet? Our interdisciplinary Minor in Sustainable Development invites you to explore sustainability…

The Ancient Worlds Network brings together staff and graduate students in LIAS working on the ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern world.

Conference

The debate on migration and criminalisation concerns everyone from citizens and policymakers to academics. The Crimmigration in an Age of Authoritarian Drift conference in Leiden in July aims to offer new insights and encourage collaboration. Artists are playing a key role.

The Psychology Research Seminars are organised by and for institute staff. They offer an opportunity to share knowledge, gain new insights, and meet colleagues from various disciplines.

Leiden University is announcing its approach to sensitive collaboration with external partners.

The League of European Research Universities (LERU) makes recommendations for the future of the Social Sciences and Humanities research in Europe. Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) research is vital to build an innovative and resilient Europe.

Ahead of the new Multi-Annual Financial Framework (MFF), the entire European academic world is calling upon Brussels to double the budget for education, research and innovation.

Moritz Jesse presented a paper titled “The Resilience of Implicit Exclusion in EU Migration Law – How the Law Helps Those Who Separate ‘Them’ from ‘Us’” at 23rd International Conference of Europeanists organized by the Council for European Studies in April 2016 in Philadelphia.

Eight scientists from Leiden University have been awarded a grant by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). With this Vidi funding, the researchers can set up an innovative line of research and further expand their own research group over the next five years.

In the academic world interest in interdisciplinary research is growing. It can help to solve the big challenges of our times. But starting a research project that covers several disciplines is not always easy. This was one of the conclusions at a Young Academy Leiden (YAL) symposium. What are the c…

The League of European Research Universities (LERU) was launched in Leiden 20 years ago. This anniversary will be celebrated with a major conference (19 – 21 May) on an urgent theme: How does science contribute to sustainable and resilient societies? We put this question to Kurt Deketelaere, Secretary-General…

The research conducted at the Health, Medical and Neuropsychology unit investigates the psychological factors of health and disease, which allows for the development of innovative treatments.

The Faculties of Leiden University have developed several themes for research cooperation between Leiden University and its Indonesian partners.

Developmental psychologist Anne Miers of Leiden University is involved in a large-scale research project investigating the efficacy of interventions regarding social skills, resilience and insecurity. The project is funded by a grant from The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research - Health…

Brexit has been a kind of shock therapy for the EU and has eventually led to more appreciation for European cooperation. That is what Professor Luuk van Middelaar claimed on 30 November at the conference ‘Brexit and the future of the European Union’ which marked the 60th anniversary of the Europa Institute…

On 8-10 July, 2024, public law scholars from around the world gathered in Madrid for the annual conference of the International Society of Public Law – the ICON-S, hosted this year by IE University. The theme of the conference “The Future of Public Law: Resilience, Sustainability, and Artificial Intelligence,”…

Interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary collaboration can be tricky. We don’t all speak the same ‘language’ or know how to find each other. At the Knowledge Orchard anniversary event on 28 November, academics made and strengthened connections.

Hoogleraar Encyclopedie van de Rechtwetenschap Bastiaan Rijpkema roept met een opiniestuk in NRC op tot een weerbare democratie in 2025: ‘Democratisch ethos vraagt meer dan een gloedvol betoog.’

There are frequent calls from society for heavier prison sentences, but the question is whether longer sentences result in a safer society. Judges are seeing more and more offenders with social and psychological problems and they therefore often prescribe a programme of treatment and monitoring for…

Professor of Law and Society Maartje van der Woude (Van Vollenhoven Institute) will be visiting scholar at the Center for the Study of Law & Society at the University of California in Berkeley for the next 6 months.

Elian Yahye was chosen on 26 October as the youth representative for the United Nations. Yahye is a bachelor's student of International Relations and Organisations at Leiden University.

On 23 November 2023, the Caribbean Forum, a subgroup of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States, joined forces with the EU to launch the Food Security Programme in Guyana. The implementation of this project started in December 2023 and is expected to last for four years.

Living in China and want to meet other Leiden Alumni? Read about the new Leiden Alumni Chapter in China and join them on LinkedIn and the upcoming events.

We deeply cherish our natural and cultural World Heritage, so it seems; when historical monuments and sites are destroyed by war or natural disaster, we are mourning collectively. But what if this World Heritage status is not just a preservation label, but a smokescreen for social and political conflicts…

Professor of Law and Society Maartje van der Woude (Van Vollenhoven Institute) will give a lecture at the Institute of European Studies of the University of California in Berkeley on 4 March 2019.

Prof. dr. mr. Maartje van der Woude (Van Vollenhoven Institute) has received funding from the National Police to carry out a phenomenon research on the extent to which, and how, human trafficking and human smuggling are intertwined phenomena in intra-Schengen border areas.

Last week, Professor of Law and Society Maartje van der Woude (Van Vollenhoven Institute) gave a lecture at the Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome.

Maartje van der Woude, Professor of Law and Society, organises the House of Misconceptions on 6 and 26 September 2021, together with art collective Liquid Society.

This summer, the COST action

Between July 13 and 16, 2022, Leiden University will host the ESOF conference. The EuroScience Open Forum is the largest multidisciplinary scientific conference in Europe. Artists can attend the conference with a reduced entry rate.