One of the effects of climate change is the phenomenon of desertification, a process that occurs in semi-arid and arid areas and causes land degradation as well as vegetation loss. Due to the lack of resources, vegetation self-organizes to sustain itself by forming large-scale spatial patterns.

Promotor: Arjen Doelman, Co-promotor: Vivi Rottschäfer

Promotor: A. Doelman, Co-promotores: P.J.A. van Heijster; A. Zagaris

Vast, often populated, areas in dryland ecosystems face the dangers of desertification.

This PhD project develops and applies a GIS procedure to use legacy survey data in settlement pattern analysis. As part of the research by the LERC project (NWO, Leiden University, KNIR), legacy data produced by surveys in central and southern Italy are examined in a comparative framework to investigate…

What are the global relationships between environmental conditions and abundance of distinct types of mycorrhizal fungi in soil and plant roots?

The bi-annual interactive seminars of the Platform for Postcolonial Readings are all about sharing our enthusiasm about our field of research and our eagerness to learn more about its theoretical intricacies. Our seminars, although informal, adopt a well-defined format. Each meeting is organized around…

The goal of the project is the development of stream mining techniques for complex patterns such as graphs. We will try to extend the existing state-of-the-art techniques into two, orthogonal directions: on the one hand, the mining of more complex patterns in streams, such as sequential patterns and…

Galaxies form and evolve through close interaction with their surroundings. As a result, the heavy elements ('metals') that are synthesized in stars, are found both inside and outside galaxies.

Multiple stars, that is two or more stars composing a gravitationally bound system, are common in the universe.

Promotor: J.N. Kok, Co-promotor: C.M. Soares, A.J. Knobbe

This thesis discusses the physical and chemical processes than influence the composition of forming planets.

This thesis describes how complex and real-world relevant analytical solutions can be found starting from a simple Nagumo problem posed on one or two-dimensional lattices.

In several Mediterranean regions archaeological sites have been mapped by fieldwalking surveys, producing large amounts of data. These legacy site-based survey data represent an important resource to study ancient settlement organization. Methodological procedures are necessary to cope with the limits…

This thesis investigates how galaxies form and what diversifies the evolutionary histories of galaxies.

Patterns of paleomobility in the Caribbean were studied through an inter-disciplinary approach using a combination of archaeological, osteological, mortuary, and isotopic data.

We consider the propagation of electrical signals through nerve fibres.

This part entails the analysis of an extensive sample of animal bone (c. 30,000 pieces) retrieved from well-defined archaeological contexts of the early period at Tell Sabi Abyad, c. 6800-6200 BC. It comprises aspects of taphonomy, ageing and osteometry, the reconstruction of the local spectrum of domestic…

One of the key quests in astronomy is to study the growth and evolution of galaxies across cosmic time. Radio observations provide a powerful means of studying the formation of stars and subsequent buildup of distant galaxies, in a way that is unbiased by the presence of dust.

To address the fundamental questions of how life on Earth emerged and how common life may be in the Universe, it is crucial to know the chemical composition of the planet-forming material.

Some species of proteins which can form liquid-like condensates, also exhibit growth into fibers (or fibrils). One particularly interesting set of such proteins are those that are associated with neurodegeneration in which the fiber growth may be related to the pathological fibrils observed in disea…

Thanks to data science, we can chart and search enormous quantities of related information. This generates all kinds of new insights, for example in complex global financial structures or such societal problems as loneliness.

Promotores: Prof.dr. J. Schaye, Prof.dr. S.D.M. White (MPA Garching)

Promotor: J. Schaye

At Leiden Observatory, researchers investigate the origin of stars and their planetary systems. They detect and characterize planets around other stars (exoplanets). They study how stars and planets form. And they follow molecules from interstellar clouds to nascent planet systems. This way they address…

What is the origin of solar systems?

The focus of this thesis is how stars like our Sun and planets like Jupiter, Saturn, and Earth are formed.

Promotor: Prof.dr. E.F. van Dishoeck, Co-promotor: S. Bruderer

On May 17th, Arthur Crucq succesfully defended his doctoral thesis and graduated. The Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Arthur on this great result.

Navarro Paredes

Promotor: E. Gittenberger, Co-promotor: B.W. Hoeksema

My PhD project studies how the temporally sequential Hox gene expression is regulated during head-tail patterning of the frog embryo.

Promotor: Prof.dr. E. F. van Dishoeck, Co-promotor: A. N. Heays

At Leiden Observatory, researchers investigate the origin of stars and their planetary systems. They detect and characterize planets around other stars, which are called exo-planets. They study how stars and planets form. And they follow molecules from interstellar clouds to nascent planet systems.…

The FOI project has a number of topics it aims to investigate. These are: State, Economy, Culture and Papyri. You will find links to bibliographies on this page.

How do macrophages and neutrophils contribute to metastatic onset?

Papers presented at a colloquium, held in honour of Professor Dr. P.J.R. Modderman, Leiden, 3-7 May 1982.

In this thesis, we study travelling waves in stochastic reaction-diffusion equations. We extend techniques from the deterministic theory for travelling waves to apply to the stochastic version, which allows us to compute the stochastic wave speed and shape, and draw conclusions on the stability of the…

Under what circumstances is politicization more likely to occur than others, and what impact does politicization have on government legitimacy and performance?

What happens to electrical waves that have to cross gaps in insulation material around nerves in the human body

People in Asia increasingly feel the need for a strong identity. This is the consequence of developments such as globalisation and the realisation that Asian countries such as China and India are becoming new world powers. Professor Hilde De Weerdt studies how political ideas and national identity spread…

Politically speaking, the Frisian coastal area constitutes a special case in late medieval Europe since it was not subject to an overlord as it withstood feudalization in the 13th century. Its many sub regions, which were dominated by elites of small noblemen and freeholders, long time succeeded in…

Promotor: Roeland M.H. Merks

Southern Africa has a rich tradition of social history, one inspired by the tumultuous changes that have regularly convulsed the region from the 1780s onwards. Scholars have always sought to understand what these changes meant for everyday life and emphasised a perspective of marginal groups, how these…

How did galaxies form? How did galaxies evolve?

In his groundbreaking Imagined Communities, first published in 1983, Benedict Anderson argued that members of a community experience a

Promotor: G.P. van Wezel

This thesis describes the use of the evolutionary approach in the study of language change, aiming to provide a better insight in the mechanisms that play a role in language change and to validate this approach in the field of language change.

What holds people together and what makes them willing to fit within larger political structures? Our project examines this question in the practices of dynastic rulership in Eurasia ca. 1300-1800.