This thesis aims to enhance our understanding of galaxies by testing theoretical models of galaxy formation against observations, particularly in the cases of extreme systems which have been found to have an excess of baryonic mass in their central regions, in the form of either supermassive black holes…

The Middle Ages are becoming increasingly more popular: just look at the popularity of such ‘medievalist’ TV series as Game of Thrones and Vikings, and let’s not forget popular re-enactments of medieval battles. Leiden University is home to many specialists of this fascinating period and this new blog…

Spycraft, by professor Nadine Akkerman and Pete Langman has been selected by History Today and The Economist as one of 2024’s best books

Utrecht University has a vacancy for a professor Middle Dutch literature and culture. Deadline for applications: 6 November 2021.

Frans Preumayr's nineteenth century virtuosic bassoon repertoire - An approach with a fine Grenser & Wiesner bassoon from Dresden: Issues of material and technique. What techniques and tools must be developed by period bassoonists in order to successfully approach the performance of Frans Preumayr's…

From 16 to 19 September 2021 a hybrid conference will take place on animation in the Middle Ages. This conference is a cooperation between the University of Bergen (Norway) and the A. Zelwerowicz National Academy of Dramatic Art in Warsaw, Branch Campus in Bialystok (Poland).

Chaider Bamualim defended his thesis on 9 September 2015

On Thursday 28 March 2024 Said Reza Huseini successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

This PhD research sets out to unravel and explain the socio-structural and cultural impacts of oil-industrialization on the local Bakhtiari community in general and the industrial laborers it provided in specific.

Following the success of The Middle Period Chinese Studies Conference held in 2014 at Harvard University, we welcome paper proposals for the second conference of this kind to be held at Leiden University, September 14-17, 2017.

This book is a celebration of the work of Professor Frans Theuws and was published in conjunction with the symposium held at the University of Leiden on June 29, 2018.

This project compares and contrasts how and why several Turkish and Iranian women were compelled to participate in leftist guerilla movements in the 1960s and 1970s.

On Wednesday 20 November 2024 Sara Mirahmadi successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

Please note that if you haven’t done so already and wish to make use of the Early Bird Registration for the conference, that it closes on 1 March.

Arab Identity and the Rise of Islam

Political scientist Nicolas Blarel (Leiden University) analyses the background and implications of India’s prime minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel.

On the 2nd of September Jiyan Qiao successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

Huda Abi-Fares defended her thesis on 10 January 2017.

Online Book Launch

Lucas den Boer defended his thesis on 23 April 2020

Workshop

This study offers a new view on public services in the early modern Low Countries and answers the following questions: who provided public facilities in urban communities and in which ways did public amenities change in the period between 1500 and 1800?

India’s prime minister Narendra Modi admires Israel’s achievements, but structural differences between Indian and Israeli national security situations, differences in the leaders’ worldviews and the absence of a common enemy inhibits stronger strategic rapprochement, argues political scientist Nicolas…

In a series of six lectures, Jed Wentz, the Utrecht Early Music Festival’s artistic adviser, will acquaint you with subjects central to the developments in early music worldwide. First lecture starts 15 October!

In the study of West-East relations, difference often takes centre stage. This holds for both culturalist and postcolonial perspectives. By contrast, in my investigation of Netherlands-Iran political relations in the 1960s and 1970s, I will focus on the role of SIMILARITY. What lay at the root of the…

The routine assumption that Upper Palaeolithic early modern humans in Europe were regular fire users who produced fire at will has never been tested against the archaeological record. Utilizing literature, database and microwear analytical approaches, this project seeks to establish the role and forms…

How did “free agents” (entrepreneurs operating outside of the myriad of interests of the centralized, state-sponsored monopolies) in Western Europe and the Ottoman Empire react to the creation of colonial monopolies (royal monopolies and chartered companies) by the central states in the Early Modern…

How have Muslims imagined the world before Muhammad? Stories about pre-Islamic times feature across all genres and periods of Arabic literature, and while many writers have derided the pre-Islamic past as disorderly paganism, others celebrate its memory as a time of Arab nobility and fine literature.…

On 25 and 26 October 2024, the first biennial symposium Environmental History in the Medieval and Early Modern Low Countries, is scheduled to take place at Leiden University.

The Eberhard-Karls Universität Tübingen organises a Winter school on the theme of Gender, Emotion and Monstrosity in the Middle Ages. Deadline for proposals: 1 August.

The University of Limerick (Ierland) is looking for a postdoctoral researcher to explore aspects of nonconformity and deviance in the early modern world of learning. Deadline for proposals: May 11.

NWO honoured Leiden psychologist Jeffrey Durieux with a Research Talent Grant for early dementia detection by identifying differences in resting-state networks.

From films, video games and historical novels to Nordic folk bands, Old English from the early Middle Ages is experiencing a revival in the 21st century. Together with international colleagues, university lecturer Thijs Porck (LUCAS) made a book about the 'resurrection' of this dead language.

In the context of the summer school "Medieval Religon" prof. Christopher M. Bellitto (Kean University) will give a keynote lecture on June 26th: "Politics and Religion in the Middle Ages and Today: Thoughts of an American Medievalist". This lecture is also open to those interested who do not participate…

The Research Training Group “Byzantium and the Euro-Mediterranean Cultures of War” invites scholars to submit paper proposals for a series of sessions on “Perceptions of Just War in the Middle Ages” at the IMC 2025. These sessions aim to explore the diverse theological, philosophical, legal, and cultural…

Carolien Stolte has received an Early Career Award from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). She received this award for her research into the role of informal Afro-Asian networks in the Cold War. For this innovative research she received the award, an amount of 15,000 euros, and…

Debates about the ‘end’ of the Roman era, how, when, and even if it ended, are still very much alive and raging. However, what happened after the (long) late antique period is a lesser-known and lesser-studied subject. The post-Roman past needs, however, as much energetic investigation and discussion.…