The emergence of new players on the world market such as India, Brazil, China, Turkey and the Gulf States gives Africans more choice in who they work with and under which terms. At the same time, African multinationals are choosing to work with regional partners and are thus furnishing old political…

The physical features of twelfth-century manuscripts from the Flemish abbey of Ter Duinen – such as script, page layout, and reading aids – show how their readers organized, interpreted, and transmitted knowledge.

The energy transition is a complex transformation process that is not only about technology -moving towards renewable energy sources-, but even more so about societal and institutional change. The energy transition requires and provides opportunities for actors to take on new roles.

The main research objective is to map the cities of Roman Asia Minor in terms of location, size, urban amenities and juridical status, with the specific aim to understand the reasons how this urban settlement pattern arose.

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…

Larissa Mendoza Straffon and colleagues investigated visual attentional biases toward self-made artworks, which tend to be favoured, remembered, valued, and ranked above and beyond objects that are not related to the self. Their findings confirm that attention and preference are higher for self-made…

Radiation can be used to determine the isotope ratio of a skeleton. This provides information about where our ancestors lived and what they consumed. Dr Andrea Waters has developed a revolutionary method that can trace patterns of consumption from tens of thousands of years ago.

This seminal volume covers the entire global history of urbanization since the rise of cities in Mesopotamia in the 6th millennium BC. Leiden historians Wim Blockmans, Leonard Blussé, Luuk de Ligt and Leo Lucassen contributed survey and thematic chapters.

The current migration flow into Europa demands effective measures. Leiden experts examine whether these measures are legal and hold up a mirror to policy-makers.

Which plants are depicted, described or collected in these century-old objects? Who made these objects, where and for what purpose? What is their scientific and societal relevance today?

The European Law Master’s specialisation is founded on the Europa Institute’s research programme, The progression of EU law: Accommodating change and upholding values. The programme distinguishes itself by its broad intra-disciplinary approach, covering institutional, constitutional as well as substantive…

Do you want to become an expert in South and Southeast Asia as a region, or in one of its countries? Do you want to learn one of its major languages? Come to Leiden! You are welcome in our ambitious bachelor’s programme, where you will benefit from Leiden university’s long-standing expertise on the…

What place does Dutch literature hold in the world? Why are Rembrandt, Van Gogh and Mondriaan world-famous artists? Is it possible to have a knack for language – and is that a special talent the Dutch have? The BA Dutch Studies gives you the unique chance to find the answers to questions like these…

Leiden University enjoys an excellent worldwide reputation, built on over four centuries of outstanding teaching and research. The university is located in the historic city of Leiden, with easy access to many museums and art institutions.

The new cabinet threatens to cut nearly a billion euros from higher education. This not only endangers academic work, it is a disaster for the Netherlands itself. The proposed penalty on study extensions and other financial measures will heavily impact students and will reduce education accessibility.…

The European Law Master’s specialisation distinguishes itself by its broad intra-disciplinary approach, covering institutional, constitutional as well as substantive law of the EU in addition to human rights from an EU perspective.

Master International Relations specialisation Culture and Politics.

This 4-year research project focuses on vernacular and unacknowledged heritages of the highlands of Bhutan. It seeks to make a major contribution to the preservation of these heritages, to create a cultural resource for current and future generations.

Leiden’s Institute for History has an exceptionally strong expertise in premodern European history in its global context, with specialists whose interests cover virtually the whole continent. We have a strong track record in leading larger research teams and work together with colleagues across Europe…

The International Institute of Air and Space Law, founded in 1985, collaborates with many world-class academic institutions.

In the research master Cities, Migration and Global Interdependence at Leiden University you will study processes of migration, urbanisation, economic development and global interaction over time.

The programme provides you for a succesful career. As a graduate, you will be qualified for positions within organisations such as international courts.

The Colonial and Global History (research) programme at Leiden University offers the most in-depth and comprehensive programme of European expansion and globalisation currently available in Europe.

The English language and Culture bachelor’s programme at Leiden University will help you develop an excellent command of both spoken and written English and immerse you in the rich global culture of English literature at a high academic level.

Recent publications

Gianclaudio Malgieri's paper entitled 'The unfair side of Privacy Enhancing Technologies: addressing the trade-offs between PETs and fairness', coauthored with Alessandra Calvi from Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Dimitris Kotzinos from Paris Cergy University, is set to be presented at this week's prestigious…

An interesting Ottoman History podcast that deals with the slave trade and the African Diaspora in Ottoman Izmir.

In otherwise energetic desserts at the bottom of the sea, researchers have found oases where microbes can harvest energy. Remarkably, the microbes first have to be buried under starving conditions for 80,000 years. An international group of researchers, amongst them José Mogollón from the Insitute of…

The transatlantic slave trade between the 15th and 19th centuries represents one of the most traumatic chapters in history and is now widely recognised as a crime against humanity. EUROTAST is a new European-funded research network that will bring together an unprecedented range of researchers to examine…

On Wednesday 27 March, 17.00 - 18.30, Andrew Pettegree and Arthur der Weduwen will present their book: 'The Bookshop of the World. Searching for markets in the Dutch Golden Age’ at the Lipsius-Building (Cleveringaplaats 1, room 11). Anton van der Lem, curator at the Leiden University Library will introduce…

As part of the GTGC Lunch Seminars, Chris Wensink and Midas van Dijk presented their book 'Regionalizing Eurasia'. The COVID-19 pandemic restricted travel and placed free trade under scrutiny. Then, the war in Ukraine triggered unprecedented economic sanctions and severing of trade ties. By contrast,…

On 1 July 2019, the radio programme

USMCA (North American Free Trade Agreement) is the successor to NAFTA – a free trade zone covering Canada, the United States and Mexico. This Agreement includes a new procedure to ensure compliance with fundamental labour rights.

Modern optimization algorithms offer solutions for architectural decisions like spatial, structural and energy efficiency. A young computer scientist from Leiden University co-authored a paper that won the Best Paper Award at a leading conference in Krakow during the summer.

The national dietary guidelines in Australia, Brazil, Ireland, Japan, Portugal, and Slovenia benefit nutrition, environment and animal welfare, Leiden environmental scientists write in the journal One Earth. However, the national guidelines of other countries face trade-offs, negatively impacting at…

Last week, the Ravenna School of Law hosted the UNESCO conference on World Heritage between Education and Economy: A Legal Analysis, at which Freya Baetens presented her paper entitled The new generation of EU Free Trade Agreements: heralding the end of public financial support to maintain cultural…

Julie Svalastog is one of the four PhDs in Cátia Antunes’ ERC Research Project 'Fighting Monopolies'.

Global Interactions sponsors a number of research projects of Leiden University researchers.

The powerful Dutch East India Company and West India Company were summoned before the High Court more often than historians have assumed. The complainants varied from competitors, to the Companies' own staff and even poor citizens. This is what Leiden historian Kate Ekama has discovered. PhD defence…

Alexandre Genest will defend his PhD dissertation ‘Performance Requirement Prohibitions in International Investment Law’ as part of a double PhD programme at the Universities of Leiden and Ottawa.

One of the objections to the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between Canada and Europe (Ceta) is that countries would be surrendering national sovereignty to multinationals which will obstruct effective climate policy. But compared to other trade agreements, CETA is an improvement.

Six students of archaeology, history and art history are to follow the Silk Route in Central Asia, looking for evidence from ancient history for the enormous cultural exchange brought about by this trade route. They are conducting their research for the exhibition on the Silk Route that opened in the…

Archaeology can help us reflect critically on our European identity. This is what David Fontijn will claim in his inaugural lecture on 18 March.

Behavioural biologist Wouter Halfwerk has been awarded a 2-year outgoing Rubicon-grant from NWO. He will be working at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute with bats and frogs to understand the evolution of multimodal communication.

On 10 May Maarten Aalbers, PhD-fellow and research staff member at the Europa Institute, participated in the “State Aid Compliance Seminar”, hosted by Europa decentraal, the EU law center for local and regional authorities in the Netherlands. Maarten Aalbers presented on the interaction between EU competition…

Dennis Braekmans receives funding from the Byvanckfonds for the research

Following ASEAN Customs Transit System pilots in Cambodia, Lao, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, the ASEAN Customs Transit System (ACTS) system has now been formally launched for general use.