Leiden Institute for Area Studies (LIAS)
The staff of the Leiden Institute for Area Studies (LIAS) conduct interdisciplinary research on Asia and the Middle East, from ancient times to the present day. In our research, we aim for a constructive interaction between historical and contemporary approaches, focusing particularly on languages and cultures, heritage, AI and digital humanities, and migration.
The research takes place in a context of intensive national and international collaboration, and gives explicit attention to colonial roots and postcolonial perspectives, which are an integral part of both our research and our education.
Expertise in the spotlight
News
-
Conference: Ruins and Memory in the Muslim World: Typologies and Motifs (622-1800 CE) -
Archaeologists discover 3,000-year-old Egyptian tomb -
The forgotten deaths of fifteen Chinese workers during the Second World War -
Students tackle the issue of a sense of purpose among young people -
Two professors of the Hebrew bible offered a seminar “The Biblical Covenant and its Afterlife” sponsored by the Leiden Jewish Studies Network -
Prof. Stephen Russell meets with the CareCentury Team to discuss “Maternal Care in the Ancient Near East”
In the media
-
Maurits Berger on Al Jazeera: ‘Little change in the Dutch-Israeli relation’ -
Rogier Creemers on France 24 about China’s new supercomputer -
Christopher Green: ‘Kim feels emboldened to expand North Korea's nuclear arsenal as long as he doesn't create outright instability’ -
Willemijn Waal in Hecho en California: Greek alphabet may be older than we think -
Frank Pieke on BBC: ‘Corruption charges have become Xi's main basis of power’ -
Willemijn Waal in National Geographic Portugal: ‘Hittites were very pragmatic’
Events
-
Opening Lecture LUCSoR
-
Pop-Cultural Representation of Non-Conforming Genders and Sexualities on Chinese Social Media
-
Shaping the Indo-Pacific: Japan’s Grand Strategy and Competition with China
-
Curating Feminist Knowledge: Feminist Influencers and Young Womanhood in Indonesia
-
Epigraphy in Context: Inscriptions, Mobility, and the Landscapes of Travel in the Early Islamic Milieu
-
Tokugawa Ieyasu as Medicine King