Whereas when we started the first Project the chief aim was pure research, to find out more about the past in a region, now we see that the countries of Europe are faced with the great problem that there are far too many archaeological sites for them to deal with by excavation, but yet some kind of…

Do you have a project that will benefit from analytical skills or knowledge of science and business? Do you want to tap into talented graduate students and test-drive potential employees? Are you looking for temporary management support? Do you want to offer motivated science students the opportunity…

No matter where you come from, life in the Netherlands will be a little (or a lot) different to your home country.

Spontaneously helping one another, why do we bother? It is believed that lending a hand to others promotes social bonding, helping us to connect with each other and even build friendships. In our experiment, in which the adult researcher ‘accidentally’ dropped matches on the floor, most adolescents…

How to increase your impact in speeches, presentations or meetings

CREEA is a FP7 project on compiling and refining environmental and economic accounts. The project runs from April 2011 to March 2014.

As we are working very hard to make our University more green, it is of upmost importance that you join us in our battle and start increasing the local biodiversity from your own house! Every bit will help, it is beneficial for you own mental health and most importantly it is fun! We have created this…

Neural networks have a wide range of applications. In Leiden, psychologists use them to build robot brains, whereas archaeologists use them to hunt for prehistoric graves.

In 2022, local residents, businesses, students and other stakeholders were involved in discussions about the alternative plan for the Humanities Campus. Their feedback was given careful consideration in formulating the new urban development plan, which was made available for inspection at the municipality…

A computer can look at, and learn from, many more images than a human specialist. AI systems are rapidly becoming indispensable for medical and biological applications. But they still have to learn how to explain their decisions.

What is the Fine Mechanical Department?

The goal of the ANASTASIS project is the analysis and publication of early medieval (Merovingian) cemeteries in the Netherlands (c. 500 – 750 AD).

Leiden has one of the most petrified inner-cities of The Netherlands. This is not beneficial for the biodiversity crisis and Leiden University, with a significant number of buildings within the Singels, should be more proactive on this matter. Currently, LUGO is taking steps with internal departments…

Bachelor, Master

Charlotte Vrendenbarg is Assistant Professor intellectual property rights (IP) at Leiden University. She was recently sworn in as deputy judge at the District Court of The Hague, exactly 30 years after her mother was installed as a judge in Breda. ‘Following in her footsteps was not a goal in itself,…

The MA Translation at Leiden University offers a unique combination of translation theory, research and practice, preparing you for either a further academic career as a researcher or a professional career in the language industry as a translator, subtitler, terminologist, project manager or language…

Leidens's Classics and History rank 6th and 15th place in the QS World University Rankings by Subject. Every year, QS ranks universities all over the world on academic reputation and research impact, grouped by subject. Linguistics (23), Languages (39) and Religious Studies (40) also do well in the…

Children could do better at school if they exercise during their maths, English and science lessons, a study has suggested. Researchers reviewed 42 studies that looked at the benefits of physical activity in the classroom for youngsters.

The Dutch Data Protection Authority is concerned about the way in which businesses in the hospitality sector are registering contact details of customers.

Ninety young researchers who recently obtained a doctorate can apply for a post-doc position in the LEaDing Fellows Postdocs Programme from 1 February.

Leiden’s Religious Studies ranks 40th place in the QS World University Rankings by Subject.

Leiden University actively promotes diversity and inclusion. In the online magazine Diversity and Inclusion you can read all about the symposium, the exhibition and what the University is doing to make sure that all students and staff feel welcome at our University.

Special visit of seven ambassadors of the Arabic-speaking world to the University Library

The dismantling and demolition of the Wijnhaven complex is in full progress.

After three years of covid postponements, the time had finally come on Wednesday 29 June 2022: Carel Stolker’s last speech as Rector Magnificus was buried according to tradition under the ginkgo tree in the library at the Kamerlingh Onnes building.

Dr Quentin Bourgeois and a group of students are currently exploring the Veluwe. In 2019 and 2020 volunteers looked at altitude maps of the Veluwe and indicated potential burial mound locations. Now the team from Leiden is 'ground-truthing', checking on the spot whether we are dealing with an actual…

The faculty of Humanities scores well in the anual QS World Universities Ranking By Subject list. This year we have placed sixth in the category Classics and Ancient History.

Researchers from the Plant Ecology and Phytochemistry group at the Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL) received an STW (Stichting Technologische Wetenschappen) grant for applied studies in plant herbivore resistance with potential for a novel resistance test.

ESA’s Gaia mission has produced the richest star catalogue to date, including high-precision measurements of nearly 1.7 billion stars and revealing previously unseen details of our home Galaxy.

After years of lobbying by environmental activists, a deposit scheme for small plastic bottles is to be introduced on 1 July 2021. One of the leaders in the fight is alumnus Merijn Tinga. The university will have collection points for plastic bottles and is also supporting the Plastic Spotter citizen…

Large numbers of Indonesians were active members of the resistance during the Second World War. One of them was Irawan Soejono, a student at Leiden University. He was shot dead on Boommarkt, during a raid on 13 January 1945. Seventy-five years later he was remembered in a small ceremony in the very…

It may well be the best tradition in Leiden: immortalising your name in the ‘Sweat Room’ after receiving your diploma. But is it really immortalised? The names were at risk due to crumbling plaster. Fortunately, a crowdfunding project was able to save this beloved ritual.

Rigid materials break more easily than floppy ones. This simple observation allows to predict and control the width of cracks. Theoretical understanding of how materials break is useful in for example the production of cars or screens. Publication in PNAS.

Meet Thomas King, alumnus BA International Studies: ‘I’m currently living in London which is a really amazing experience! I’m a British citizen and I moved to the Netherlands to study BA International Studies back in 2017. I had the best three years ever living in The Hague and studying at Leiden.’

With the help of software that mimics a human brain, ESA’s Gaia satellite spotted six stars zipping at high speed from the centre of our Galaxy to its outskirts. This could provide key information about some of the most obscure regions of the Milky Way.

The International Studies and Urban studies study programmes have moved to a new address. After five years in the Wijnhaven building they have moved to the Schouwburgstraat. ‘It is nice to have our own place in The Hague as the Faculty of Humanities.’

After three (or four) years of hard study, there are every year a lot of Bachelor students that say goodbye to go and explore the wide world. Where are they going next? And what will they miss most about our beautiful city? For the coming weeks, we will tell the stories of 6 recent Bachelor graduates…

The objectives of the 2011 campaign Tell Balata Archaeological Park are to carry out excavations, promotion and awareness, community involvement, gathering oral histories and educating children. The objectives are described in a handout produced for the opening ceremony on June 21st 2011.

2020 will go down in the history books as an eventful year. The traces left by the coronavirus this year will remain, for students as well as staff at Leiden Law School. A review of the year in photos and videos.

On 11 May 2016, the Hazelhoff Centre for Financial Law welcomed Robert Pickel for the 11th Hazelhoff Guest Lecture titled ‘The Deadliest Sin of the Financial Crisis’.

Eleven Leiden researchers have been awarded an 800,000 euro Vidi grant by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). This will enable them to develop their own innovative line of research and start their own research group.

On the 3rd of November the first ever FGGA PhD Conference took place in the 'Wijnhaven' Building. Organized by the faculty Graduate School and of course intended for PhD candidates. About thirty of them were present.

More attention should be paid to juvenile idiopathic arthritis. An early diagnosis and robust treatment can prevent irreversible damage. This is what paediatric rheumatologist Rebecca ten Cate said in her inaugural lecture on Friday 22 November 2019.

A significant percentage of children who have spent a period in youth care institutions or foster homes since 1945 received inadequate protection from physical, psychological and sexual violence. Interventions by supervisory authorities in cases involving violence were inadequate.

The Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) has launched its first own scientific journal. The Journal of Security and Global Affairs (SGA) will focus on a wide array of security topics and issues, providing a platform for the analysis of key issues within security and global affairs. The first…

The editorial board of the Journal of the LUCAS Graduate Conference welcomes several new members. The coming months they will be preparing the journal's second issue, to be published in February 2014.

Physical chemist Rik Mom developed a revolutionary way to investigate catalysts in action in detail. For this work he received the distinction cum laude during his PhD defence on 29 June.