The African Studies Centre Leiden presented the last book by its renowned colleague Prof. Stephen Ellis (1953-2015), This Present Darkness: A history of Nigerian organised crime, on 9 June. The book was published posthumously. Former colleagues and friends paid tribute to Ellis, who was regarded as…

A very special occasion for the Dual PhD Centre. Vasileios P. Karakasis is the 25th PhD candidate in the history of the Dual PhD Centre, combining work with PhD research at Leiden University. Karakasis will defend his dissertation: ‘Adding Fuel to the Conflict’ on 15 October. In this interview, he discusses…

Archaeologist Hayley Mickleburgh has already appeared in the Dutch papers a few times already due to her unusual work: the study of decomposing bodies. She studied at Leiden University, where she is now a researcher.

In the past half a century, China has transformed from an underdeveloped and inward-looking country to a major player in world politics. The country asserts itself more boldly on the world stage; not only in relation to nearby countries and places such as Taiwan, Japan, and other countries that share…

In a landmark ruling, the International Court of Justice says that states are obliged to protect the climate. Jolein Holtz, a climate and human rights expert, believes the Court is too vague about the impact for future generations: ‘A missed opportunity’.

The projects of nine researchers at Leiden University have received funding through the new NWO Science Diplomacy Fund. The Fund is for scientific activities that will improve relations between the Netherlands and other countries.

As of 1 September 2019, Prof. Pieter ter Keurs will assume the position of Scientific Director at the Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Centre for Global Heritage and Development as well as that of Professor of Museums, Collections and Society at the Faculties of Humanities and Archaeology at Leiden University.…

The Faculty of Humanities wants to take a stand in the middle of society with its research and education. That’s why last year, in the middle of a pandemic, the Societal Advisory Board was founded. What are the members’ plans?

From Caspar Reuvens to the royal grave in Oss, and from ancient images in the Hortus to a table from Naturalis. The National Museum of Antiquities is 200 years old, and throughout this whole period there have been close contacts between museum and university. Curator Annemarieke Willemsen explains this…

On Tuesday 30 September 2025, PhD candidate Kathleen Brown will defend her dissertation 'Deception, Risk, and Evasion: The Politics of Sovereign Debt in Emerging Markets' in Leiden’s Academy Building. Her research sheds light on the hidden world of sovereign debt politics, revealing how governments…

Photographer and Visual Ethnography alumna Wilke Geurds captured special encounters during her travels. As an anthropologist, Wilke is always curious about other countries, people and cultural customs. That curiosity forms the core of her new photo exhibition, which can be seen during the Kunstroute…

Recently, archeologists of Leiden University made an excavation in Oegstgeest, where they found a unique silver bowl from the first half of the seventh century as well as imported pottery and winebarrels. Thijs Porck, lecturer in Old English language and culture at Leiden University, places the Oegstgeest…

On Thursday 25 and Friday 26 October 2018, the Europa Institute organized a conference within the framework of ‘Interaction between Legal Systems (ILS): Policing the High Seas’ and in cooperation with four Interest Groups of the European Society of International Law. The event brought together representatives…

How do you co-create with researchers in other parts of the world? LDE wants to gather and share knowledge on the grand challenges and to do so across national borders. A delegation of 27 researchers will therefore travel to Indonesia at the end of October to take part in the LDE-BRIN Academy.

It was his thesis supervisor during his master's in Film and Photographic Studies who encouraged Shivan Shazad to pursue a second master's in diversity policy at Ghent. He is now Manager of Diversity and Inclusion at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

Throughout the coming year, all attention in Leiden will be on Asia. This special year, featuring numerous Asian events, conferences, exhibitions and concerts, celebrates the new Asian Library at Leiden University. Come and read, watch, listen, taste or dance Bollywood style.

Asma Mehan is one of the researchers involved in this project since June 2020 and works at CADS. What exactly is PCF and why is research in port areas important? An introduction to Asma Mehan and PCF.

On Monday 23 January 2023 J.T.P. (Hans) de Bruijn passed away at the age of 91. Until 1995 he held the Chair of New Persian Language and Culture at Leiden University.

Describing almost 1400 maps of Africa in three months. It’s no small task that student assistants Artemis Mantheakis and Beatriz Veiga have been working on within the joint ASCL-UBL Africa Maps Project. The project’s aim is to describe and catalogue a 20th-century map collection of the library of the…

Harriet Zurndorfer passed away on 18 March 2026 in Leiden.

Lecture, Book Roundtable

Lecture, Lunch Research Seminar

Debate, Book Launch

Lecture, Research Seminar Medieval and Early Modern History

Career and apply for jobs

PhD defence

Study information

Lecture, Global Questions Seminar

Weekly Workshop

Research impact is measured in different ways. However, these indicators are often based on dubious calculations, says Ludo Waltman. Inaugural lecture on 21 June.

Prof.Dr. Ioannis Pallikaris, Director of the Eye clinic, University Hospital of the University of Crete, Greece in Heraklion visited the LEAD Programme in November 2015 and January 2016.

Anthropologist Sander Hölsgens explores how skateboarding philosophy can revolutionise education by embracing failure, fostering creativity, and building supportive learning communities. Read his research on The Conversation.

On 18 March 2019, Gökmen Tanis shot three people in a tram in Utrecht. He shot a fourth victim after exiting the tram on the 24 Oktoberplein. On 1 July, the criminal trial against Tanis started with presumably only one possible outcome: a life sentence.

Nicolette Heijkant is our guest on the latest episode of Leiden Lawcast. Heijkant is an experienced lawyer who won her spurs working in the legal profession in Amsterdam’s business district, the Zuidas, and is now working for a legal-aid practice in Brabant. In this episode, we speak to her about her…

At the beginning of the Academic Year in September 2015, the Dean of the Faculty of Science of Universitas Padjadjaran in Bandung, Indonesia, Mrs. Prof.Dr. Budi Nurani visited the LEAD Programme in Leiden.

In October 2015, Director of the Master Course on Integrated Microfinance Management (M.IMM) of the Faculty of Economics & Business of Universitas Padjadjaran in Bandung, Indonesia came to visit the LEAD Programme in Leiden

Ady Roxburgh has been awarded a two-year grant to continue his research into the choices behind the composition of Roman, copper-alloy artefacts. The Estonian Research Council has awarded him a fully funded Mobilitas Pluss postdoctoral grant. The Evaluation Committee decided to fund the first 5 applications…

Centre for Innovation launched the Venture Academy on 22 February 2017. The Venture Academy helps students of The Hague to create their own job. The aim of the Venture Academy is to bridge the gap between student entrepreneurship and small and medium sized enterprises. It offers a 5 month programme…

On Monday, 25 April 2019, a video appeared on the Internet where IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was seen and heard. The Islamic terror group IS has distributed this video on the internet. Baghadadi has not appeared in public since 2014.

Carlotta Rigotti, post-doc researcher at eLaw – Center for Law and Digital Technologies, and Professor Clare McGlynn , Durham University, have co-authored a new article in the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, introducing the concept of meta-rape and exploring its potential treatment under criminal l…

On Friday 30 November 2018 more than 70 students became acquainted with the large range of companies that Leiden Bio Science Park has to offer. In addition to the companies with eye-catching façade names along the cycling route to the faculty, like CHDR, BaseClear and Astellas, there is much more to…

On Wednesday the 30th of November, International Business Law celebrated its fifth anniversary together with students of the study association SBR (also celebrating their fifth anniversary), lecturers, alumni and staff members. The event mainly revolved around the question of what Brexit will imply…

Covid year 2021 might have felt somewhat less strange than the year before, but the virus still left its mark on University life and our students and staff. Fortunately there was also room for research, visiting dignitaries and in-person classes. And our social media accounts weren’t only about covid…

The Dutch Minister of Justice and Security is about to turn the entire volunteer fire brigade upside down. Not because it is good, but because it is assumed that it has to be done under EU law. This is tragic and unnecessary: there are strong legal arguments to defend the current set-up of the volunteer…

On Friday 24 February Prof. Judith Masson, professor of Socio-legal Studies at Bristol University and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Science in the U.K., will deliver a lecture within the Leiden Socio-Legal Series.

In their third year, students of International Studies get their teeth into difficult issues put forward by government and businesses such as Unilever and the World Food Programme. Students who take part gain valuable experience.

The development of new environmentally sound technologies is seen as a key route towards achieving sustainability.