Plants, algae and cyanobacteria have the amazing capacity to perform delicate photophysical and photochemical processes of light capture, excitation transfer, charge separation and catalysis in fluctuating living environments. As a consequence, photosynthetic proteins and membranes form dynamic architectures.…

In 2023, many of our students and staff won great prizes and secured important research grants.

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

Our research deals with the deep history of Europe and Eurasia, from the inception of farming up until the beginning of the Roman Period. This was a period in which key developments took place that had a profound impact on European landscapes and society until the present day. Our research and teaching…

We aim to create an innovative e-learning and virtual reality training that helps healthcare providers to optimize placebo effects and minimizes nocebo effects via their communication.

The conquest by Rome brought profound changes to large parts of Europe. Unprecedented infrastructural works were created, towns sprang up, a ribbon of fortresses was laid out along the frontiers.

Research into the evolutionary backgrounds of our diets can help us make the right choices in diet, health and lifestyle.

This study relates the vicissitudes of the Amerindian peoples who lived or still inhabit the islands of Trinidad and Tobago, from the earliest occupants, ca. 8000 BC, until at present.

Nowadays, most Europeans speak a language belonging to the Indo-European language family. However, very different languages were spoken on our continent before the arrival of the Indo-Europeans. The EUROLITHIC project tries to find answers to the question which languages these were and where they came…

The CMCB brings together microbial cell biology expertise in Leiden. It aims at optimal resonance between the groups and maximal exploitation of the available infrastructure and to develop innovative cross-boundary technology platforms.

ASLU 28 Michalis Karambinis (2015)

Read more about working at the Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society (LUCAS).

Heritage knowledge that offers insight into identity and cultural diversity.

Engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) are widely used, and nanotechnological innovations grow with rapid pace. Studies on nanotoxicology have demonstrated that chemical toxicology as well as particle toxicology should be accounted for in predicting the safety of ENMs.

Our group explores the larger domain of quantum measurement. In particular we investigate two themes that are closely connected: The detection of specially prepared quantum states of light and understanding and characterizing quantum photon detectors.

The CIGR comprises research groups from the Leiden Institute of Chemistry (LIC), the Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research (LACDR) and the Leiden Institue of Physics (LION).

Research in and through art is an inseparable part of the artistic or design practice of the researcher. Consequently, research-in-art (as opposed to research-about-art, such as art history) does not have a set goal or expected result, nor are there predetermined general procedures. The outcome of the…

Macromolecular Biochemistry is a section of the Leiden Institute of Chemistry at Leiden University, comprising the PIs Marcellus Ubbink, Remus Dame, Lars Jeuken, Anne Wentink, Sebastian Geibel, Anjali Pandit, René Olsthoorn, Alia, and Steffen Brünle.

From the microscope to publication, OMERO handles all your images in a secure central repository. You can view, organize, analyze and share your data from anywhere you have internet access. Work with your images from a desktop app (Windows, Mac or Linux), from the web or from 3rd party software. Over…

The programme will give you the opportunity to choose from a broad range of topics to study. You will be part of an international multidisciplinary research team at the LION.

Within the two-year Astronomy master’s programme, you can choose from seven specialisations, ranging from fundamental or applied astronomy research in cosmology, instrumentation or data science, to combinations of astronomy research with education, management or science communication.

Research at Leiden Observatory spans the full width of modern astrophysical enquiry. It is based on observation, theory, simulation, and experiment. Two broad clusters characterize the ongoing research. Within each theme, researchers carry out their personal and specialized research programme. The two…

Are you interested in taking up an extra challenge during your master’s programme? Have you thought about applying for our Summer School programme or are you interested in developing your personal leadership style?

Japanese was not always the language spoken in Japan. Researchers link the arrival of the language in Japan with the migration of farmers around 400 BC. Linguist Elisabeth de Boer has been awarded an ERC Starting Grant to carry out research on the further spread of the language in Japan.

An overview of awards and prizes granted to our staff and students in 2020, as well as special appointments at Leiden University and other institutions.

Academic staff and students blog about their research and teaching.

The following maps show institutional collaborations and with indigenous communities (scroll down).

Research on the morality of life insurance. What issues are raised when insurance companies define responsibility and solidarity? Has insurance changed since the crisis of 2007?

Onderzoek van de onderzoeksgroep 'War, Peace and Justice'

This project investigates the full ecosystem of Middle Dutch prayerbooks in order to answer questions about their role in – and impact on – religion, culture, and society in the late medieval Low Countries.

Dr Mariana Françozo has been awarded a prestigious NWO Vici grant for a five year research project that brings together Indigenous communities, museum collections and interdisciplinary scholarship. Her project focuses on the histories and contemporary challenges of two Indigenous peoples in South America:…

We are cosmologists, in other words we use physics to study the Universe, how it started and evolved into the structure that we observe around us.

Through his project we will unravel the global regulatory networks that control gene expression in Streptomyces bacteria and allow them to properly respond to major changes in the environment; we will then harness this knowledge to activate and identify novel antibiotics

In this dossier you can read about Leiden University’s commitment to sustainability.

By effectively integrating word-class scientific research in astronomy and excellent teacher education, you will become a professional astronomer with an internationally recognized MSc degree and teaching qualification.

Twelve researchers of our Law School have been awarded an ILS seed money grant. This grant enables researchers to create space for preparing a grant proposal for NWO, ERC or otherwise.

North, Middle and South America together constitute the single largest area in World Archaeology that is taught as a single focus. It is also the only major world area that saw societies develop from hunter-gatherers to early empires entirely independent from developments in Eurasia & Africa. It is,…

In early modern Europe, as today, men and women with expertise in languages were indispensable to the functioning of societies and economies. The LangPro project will shed new light on these early modern language professionals and on the field that employed them: the language sector.

A linguistic prehistory of the Tarim Basin in Northwest China

How did people in the latter part of the Late Bronze Age organize themselves in order to be able to erect massive structures such as tholos tombs, citadels and how did they interact with these materials and circumstances while constructing? What impact did such a changing landscape have on their day-to-day…

In an age before GoogleDocs and LinkedIn, 19th-century scholars relied on letter-writing for collaboration, peer-feedback and the building and sustaining of academic networks. Letters were a quick, efficient way to share insights, data and discoveries. Scholarly correspondence thus allows a vital behind-the-scenes…

Workshop

Workshop

Astronomers want to understand the Universe, from the Big Bang to the present day, and what the future will hold. In Leiden they focus on two key questions: ‘How did stars and planets originate’ and ‘How were galaxies and black holes formed in the young Universe?’ A new generation of telescopes – just…

In our lab, we investigate the physics and material properties of low-dimensional systems.

To be eligible for Research in Physics, Quantum Matter and Optics at Leiden University, you must meet the following admission requirements.