On November 12, dean prof. Willem J.H. Willems was elected as one of the twelve members of the European Union’s academic committee Joint Programming Initiative Cultural Heritage and Global Change.

This year, Leiden University will participate for the first time in the Cultural Talent to the Top monitor. This will provide insight into the University’s diversity policy with regard to staff from a non-western background. The ultimate aim is to promote ethnic and cultural diversity in certain rol…

From ca. 1540 to 1600, thousands fled the war-stricken Southern Low Countries to the British Isles, Germany, and the Northern Low Countries. Research on this displacement crisis, central to the formation of the Netherlands and Belgium, reflects 21st-century debates on migration and language: language…

This project will construct an inventory of possible conceptions of the resistance of the world to scientists’ claims and theories.

In collaboration with the The Hague Historical Museum and photographer Dagmar van Weeghel, Leiden University Libraries (UBL) is the first to present a retrospective exhibition of the photographic oeuvre of Alexine Tinne (1835 – 1869). New research into her life and work is the reason for a reappraisal…

Peter Pels, affiliated with the Institute of Cultural Anthropology of Leiden University, is one of the researchers. Together with Birgit Meyer (UU), he will lead the work package 'Heritage and the Question of Conversion'.

On 29 January, the Mayor of Leiden, Henri Lenferink, was awarded Leiden University’s Scaliger Medal. The longest-serving Mayor of Leiden was presented with the medal by the University’s longest-serving Rector Magnificus, Carel Stolker. Lenferink was awarded the medal in recognition of his achievements…

As one of the most influential ideas in modern European history, democracy has fundamentally reshaped not only the landscape of governance, but also social and political thought throughout the world.

This project aims to study the Aesopian fable from 1500 to the present day in its complex relationship between text, illustration and education, adopting a broad, transnational perspective.

Do you have a question about studying at Leiden University or student life in Leiden? Do you want more information about the Asian Studies master's programme? Chat with a current student for answers to your questions!

Are you thinking about studying Asian Studies (120 EC)? Learn more and watch the programme presentation.

Student organisation Teiresias organizes a lecture series on how to turn your master’s thesis into a publishable paper. In three days, experts from the world of academics and publishing will be presenting their advice on how to write your first publication. The aim is to cater specifically to the niche…

The NWO-funded research project ‘The Multilingual Dynamics of the Literary Culture of Medieval Flanders, c. 1200- c. 1500’ invites proposals for informal papers for a series of six e-workshops on the topic of ‘Multilingual Literary Cultures in the Middle Ages’. The e-workshops will take place in April…

A conversation about expanding the disciplinary boundaries of the study and teaching of pre-modern English literature, on the occasion of the publication of Sjoerd Levelt’s The Middle Dutch Brut: An Edition and Translation. With: Shamma Boyarin (University of Victoria), Shazia Jagot (University of York),…

A full-time tenure-track position in the field of the cultural history of the Middle Ages is vacant in the Department of History of the Faculty of Arts on KU Leuven Campus Kulak Kortrijk. The KU Leuven seeks applications from internationally oriented candidates with an excellent track record in research…

On 17-20 October 2023, the ERC-funded project PASSIM (Patristic Sermons in the Middle Ages), based at Radboud University Nijmegen, will organise an international conference on the medieval reception and transmission of patristic sermons and the collections in which they are compiled. The conference…

This one-day conference, organised by the Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society (LUCAS), invites you to share your research ideas and results in practices of comparative medievalism in arts and culture. We therefore invite contributions of papers that analyse cultural representations of the…

ReMA and PhD students attached to the Research School for Medieval Studies can obtain 1 ECTS by actively attending the international conference "City, Citizen & Citizenship. New Perspectives on the Middle Ages, AD 400-1600" (16-18 June 2021). To this end, they will have to submit a written reflection…

The chair of Ancient and Medieval History at Radboud University Nijmegen is organizing a new lecture series. In the RAM-lectures, a great variety of scholars in the fields of Antiquity and the Middle Ages will discuss their research. Students, PhD’s and staff are most welcome to attend. The lectures…

Archaeologist Dr Gerrit Dusseldorp's research project was covered by a South African newspaper. Dusseldorp and his team investigate the evolution of human behaviour through artefacts dug up in South African caves.

The International Reynard Society studies the role of animals in the European literature of the Middle Ages and its afterlife. It focuses especially on beast epics, fables, and fabliaux. The 24th international colloquium of the Society – Of Foxes and Fish: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Medieval Animal…

The Yearbook for Dutch Book History publishes Dutch and English articles on the book history of the Low Countries, in all time periods (including the Middle Ages). For the 30th Yearbook, to be published in 2023, they welcome in particular contributions for the theme ‘Technology and Transformation’.…

The "Cognitive Turn" and the Middle Ages - There is an increasing interest in the cognitive sciences and how knowledge from this area influences literary studies, history, art history, and studies in material culture. This meeting seeks to discuss the possibilities, but also the limitations of incorporating…

Radboud University Nijmegen is advertising a position for a Postdoctoral Researcher in Medieval Manuscript Studies (0.8 FTE) to be part of the research team of the ERC-funded project "Patristic Sermons in the Middle Ages. The Dissemination, Manipulation, and Interpretation of Late-Antique Sermons in…

The Department of Art & Archaeology at Princeton University, with additional support from the Committee for the Study of Late Antiquity (CSLA) and the Center for Collaborative History (CCH), organizes a virtual conference on Syriac Iconography. This conference gathers diverse scholars from across the…

Scientists have long assumed Neanderthals simply lost the evolutionary race against humans. But their disappearance may be a bit more complex. In Discover Magazine, Gerrit Dusseldorp sheds light on this illusive question.

Debate, BookTalk

Leiden University celebrated the annual prize ceremony of the World Cultural Council (WCC) on 8 November with lectures by leading scientists in a festively decorated Pieterskerk.

Asian Studies at Leiden University is unparalleled in the Netherlands and combines the very best of Asia-related research in North-West Europe.

China is a one-party regime, yet elections are held for the local congresses. PhD candidate Wang Zhongyuan investigated how the Communist Party uses this democratic instrument to strengthen the authoritarian regime. PhD defence 31 January.

And there you are. A couple of suitcases with you, in a new (unknown) country. You've arranged a room in advance. You know which university you're attending. But other than that ... Evert-Jan, master's student in Encyclopaedia and Philosophy of Law, studied at the Université Paris Panthéon-Assas in…

On the 11th of March, our students of Arabic/Islam and of Middle East studies traveled to Alexandria for their five-day trip to explore this fascinating Mediterranean city.

PhD defence

For many centuries, news about catastrophic events has been disseminated via media such as pamphlets, chronicles, poems, and prints. This conference welcomes contributions that engage with the cultural dimensions of disasters and reflect on representations of catastrophes in different media.

Svetlana Gorshenina, Associate Lecturer at Collège de France, Paris, will be the Central Asia Visiting Scholar from 17 February until 25 February 2018. Svetlana Gorshenina will deliver a guest lecture on Tuesday, 20 February and a masterclass on Friday, 23 February within the Central Asia Initiative…

Globalisation is shaping the world in which we live. In the BA International Studies, you have the opportunity to study one of eight world regions within the context of global interactions. At the same time, you will learn a key language of your chosen region and acquire skills that will prove to be…

Leiden Asia Departments

To be eligible for Culture and Politics at Leiden University, you must meet the following admission requirements.

To be eligible for Global Political Economy at Leiden University, you must meet the following admission requirements.

To be eligible for Global Order in Historical Perspective at Leiden University, you must meet the following admission requirements.

To be eligible for Global Conflict in the Modern Era at Leiden University, you must meet the following admission requirements.

This project will study the cultural meaning of the mythological figure of Orestes within the ancient Greek imagination, as it emerges from various literary sources from the archaic and classical periods.

Based on interviews with feminist Instagram users, this article studies emergent feminist visibilities on Instagram through the concept of filtering.

Claire van den Helder (fourth-year Cultural Anthropology student) and Orestes Kyrgiakis (second-year Cultural Anthropology student) won the Pieter de la Court Medal 2021. The Pieter de la Court Medal is an initiative for students by students and is awarded annually to students who voluntarily contribute…

Hans-Martien ten Napel recently published a volume with Routledge, Culture, Secularization, and Democracy; Lessons from Alexis de Tocqueville, co-edited with Prof. Sophie van Bijsterveld (Radboud University Nijmegen).

The Faculty of Archaeology used to be involved in several excavations in Syria, before the outbreak of civil war made travel to the region impossible. One of these excavations is the one of tell Hammam al-Turkman, which started in 1981. Student Ruben Hartman, together with archaeologist Dr Diederik…