Leiden University College The Hague
Visiting Research Fellows
Leiden University College welcomes researchers at all levels who wish to spend some time at our institution for a research project.
Leiden University College (LUC) has a strong profile in inter-disciplinary research and education under the broad heading of Global Challenges. The staff at the College engage in a range of research activities across the Humanities, Social and Natural Sciences, creating a vibrant environment where the exchange of ideas is central.
Visiting researchers are welcome to become a temporary member of staff in order to work on a research project or grant application. Each researcher needs to be sponsored by an LUC member of staff, who acts as the local host. Visiting scholars are welcome at all levels: PhD candidates, postdoc researchers and academic staff.
How to apply
The host member of staff needs to submit a statement to the Dean of the College outlining the goals for the research visit and a CV of the researcher. The number of positions for visiting scholars is limited and preference will be given to those whose research interests match most closely with staff at the institute. Research stays are generally only accepted during term-time.
Visiting scholars are fully responsible for their funding during their stay in The Hague. The College can assist with visa issues but all costs related to this are for the visitor. The visiting scholar is responsible for finding accommodation in the Netherlands. Visitors can apply for housing through the university’s Housing Office or can look for a place to live in the private sector.
What we offer visiting research fellows
Leiden University College offers a stimulating working environment. Amongst the benefits of being a visiting scholar at our Institute are:
- Office space (including Wi-Fi and email) at the Institute, depending on availability
- Use of the Library facilities of Leiden University
- Attending lectures and seminars at the College and other parts of Leiden university
- Invitations to events sponsored by the College
What we expect of visiting research fellows
Visiting scholars are expected to participate actively in the intellectual life of the College. We would expect each visitor to:
- Provide a guest lecture in a course run by the host member of staff (or in another relevant course at the College)
- Give a lunch seminar at the College to present their work
If the visit is funded by a research grant, we also request a small fee to be paid into the LUC Student Fund to support education at the College.
Visiting Research Fellows 2025 - 2026
Ilaria Sicari is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie post-doctoral research fellow at the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice with the project Transnational Book Diplomacy beyond the Cultural Cold War: Towards a Socio-Cultural History of the Tamizdat.
Sicari's project analyses book diplomacy from historical, socio-cultural and political perspectives, taking into account the agency of the many actors (state and non-state institutions and individuals) that cooperated in the production and circulation of tamizdat. Tamizdat is a Russian acronym which literally means ‘published over there’ and refers to Soviet and Eastern European texts which, censored or unpublished in the Eastern bloc, were clandestinely smuggled and published in the West. This study highlights the transnational, transsystemic and transgenerational dynamics of the production and circulation of culture across and beyond the permeable 'Nylon Curtain' that separated East and West. Ilaria is investigating the value and the position of tamizdat within the field of power and cultural production, focusing on the use of this alternative publishing practice as a tool of soft power during the Cold War.
Contact: ilaria.sicari@unive.it
More information
During Sicari's visiting period at Stanford (2023-2025), she was affiliated with the Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies (CREEES) and the Center for Spatial and Textual Analysis (CESTA, 2023-25), where she collected, analysed and extracted data from a corpus of archival sources stored at Hoover, in order to develop a structured model for mapping and visualizing the routes (GIS) and relational networks of tamizdat, with the broader aim to outline a comparative intellectual history of the cultural Cold War.
Ilaria earned a BA in Foreign Language and Literature (University of Bologna, 2008), a MA in Russian Studies (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, 2012) and a PhD in the Slavonic field (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, 2017). She was adjunct professor of Russian Literature at the University of Bologna (2022-23) and at the University of Florence (2018-20).
Dr. Romy Martínez is a Paraguayan singer and researcher specialising in the intersections of music, language, and cultural diplomacy. She received her Bachelor’s in Music Education from Santa Catarina State University in Brazil (2009), and a master’s degree in Communication and Culture with a focus on Latin American Integration from the University of São Paulo (2018). In 2023, she completed her PhD in Ethnomusicology at Royal Holloway, University of London, becoming the first Paraguayan woman to obtain a doctorate in the field. Her doctoral thesis explored the role of Guaraní–Spanish bilingualism in communication and in Paraguayan popular song.
Dr. Martínez’s current project focuses on intermusilingual theory, a framework she is developing to understand how musicians use their linguistic and musical abilities to learn, adapt, and perform across multiple languages and genres from different countries. The theory draws on applied sociolinguistics, ethnomusicology, and cultural diplomacy, as well as her own practice as a performer, to analyse how music and language can act as tools of intercultural communication and diplomacy. In 2025 she has been awarded a Latin Grammy Research Award for this project.
Contact: r.a.m.martinez.garay@luc.leidenuniv.nl
More information
Dr. Romy Martínez is currently based in the Netherlands, continuing her academic work as a visiting postdoctoral researcher at Leiden University College. Fluent in Spanish, English, Portuguese, and Guaraní, Dr. Martínez brings her multilingual and multicultural perspective into both her research and artistic practice.
Her research examines how singing in local languages - even those not one’s own - can build bridges across cultures, by creating moments of reciprocity between artists and audiences. As part of this work, she studies Guaraní, the indigenous language of Paraguay, in dialogue with Spanish and Portuguese in the Latin American context, and its interaction with English and other European languages in international settings. By combining performance, translation, and mediation practices, her project aims to highlight underrepresented repertoires like the guarania and to consider how these artistic practices might inform cultural diplomacy strategies and policies – thereby, contributing to broader debates on language and intangible cultural heritage in a globalised world.
Çağla Lüleci-Sula is a visiting postdoctoral researcher at Leiden University College, Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs. She completed her Ph.D. in International Relations at Bilkent University (2021). During her doctoral studies, she spent a year as a Fulbright researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Center for International Studies (2018-2019). She also holds an Assistant Professorship in International Relations at TED University (on leave).
Her current research project contributes to the broader field of politics of security by examining the agency of non-EU actors in the making of European security policies. It approaches this question through the case of Turkey, exploring the processes through which Turkey has become part of the EU’s migration governance and border externalisation framework, while also engaging with the tensions between its foreign policy discourse and practices.
Contact: c.luleci.sula@luc.leidenuniv.nl
More information
Çağla Lüleci-Sula’s research interests lie at the intersection of politics and theories of security, Euro/Western-centrism in IR, and Turkish foreign policy. She has published on the links between security and foreign policy, border politics and security, and theories of IR, most of which in various ways engage with the Western-centric nature of world politics and International Relations as a discipline.