This thesis manuscript explores the use of video games as tools for conceptual exploration and academic research.

Can playing certain games decrease cognitive decline or even enhance cognitive performance in the aging population?

A defining fixture of our contemporary world, video games offer a rich spectrum of engagements with the past.

Academia and games. One is for serious people who only have time for research, the other is a pastime best avoided if you are or want to be one of these serious people, right? Not at all!

The newly opened Culture Arcade exhibition is a place where cultural heritage and video games come together. It is co-organized and curated by the VALUE Foundation of which Faculty staff members Aris Politopoulos and Csilla Ariese-Vandemeulebroucke are part of, together with the Prince Claus Fund.

VALUE (Videogames and Archaeology at Leiden UnivErsity) is publishing an edited volume on the intersection of archaeology, heritage and video games. In this volume, both scholars and game creators are collaboratively writing to raise academic awareness, address a variety of research opportunities and…

Seven years ago, Aris Politopoulos left Athens for a master’s programme at the Leiden Faculty of Archaeology. Now he has nearly finished his PhD dissertation. Furthermore, he has become a lecturer at the research group for the Archaeology of the Near East, and co-founded a foundation that deals with…

On 7 October 2021 Simone van der Hof participated in an online talk show as part of the Dutch Media Week. The theme was the research project she is working on with Tony van Rooij of the Trimbos Institute and Max Birk of TU Eindhoven: Behavioral Design in Video Games.

For the first time, a computer can compete with the very best human players in StarCraft II, a video game played by tens of thousands at a professional level and by millions just for fun. Mike Preuss, university lecturer at the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS) responds to the achievement…

Three years ago, on 13 October 2017, the Leiden Medievalists Blog was established. In their blogs, Leiden researchers from all disciplines talk about the Middle Ages in a fun and interesting way. Editors Jip Barreveld, Marlisa den Hartog and Thijs Porck talk about the blog and why the Middle Ages are…

Are you mad about board games? Then we’ve got good news for you: we’ve developed our very own University game, HORA EST! It’s a fun way to learn more about the University. Get your family and friends together for an evening of fun and games!

How do games work? How do you make them? And how do games make us and our societies and cultures? The minor Game Studies will provide you with both the perspective and practice to give your own answers to these questions.

The Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs of Leiden University in The Hague has developed two Serious Games, 'het Grote Migratiespel' and 'het Schipholspel' to introduce secondary school students to their study and research programmes.

The Game Research Lab (GRL) uses digital games as a medium for academic research, and consider ‘serious’ games and entertainment games equally valuable objects of study.

The Game Research Lab uses digital games as a medium for academic research. It considers entertainment games and 'serious’ games as objects of study, develops novel approaches for creating, playing, and analysing games, and studies the interactions between games and AI.

Having open conversations about diversity and inclusion is an important first step towards change. Yet, such conversation can be emotional and vulnerable, and at times uncomfortable to initiate and sustain. The 'What’s Your Story?' Card Game aims to enable participants to exchange and respond to stories…

How well children learn depends to a large extent on good teachers and effective learning materials. Wilfried Admiraal investigates such issues as gaming as a modern learning tool. He concludes that this tool has little to offer less talented students.

Promotor: F. Arbab, R. De Nicola, Co-Promotor: M. Tribastone

In what way can the qualities of an existing context be used as guiding and enriching principles rather than limiting factors in the process of spatial transformation?

PhD defence

Combinatorial games are games for two competing players, moving in a turn-by-turn fashion, in which there is no chance nor hidden information⁠. Chess, checkers and the simpler tic tac toe are well-known examples of this class of games, as well as game of go⁠.

Over the last decades, aviation safety has improved strongly. As a downside, airline pilots do not have as many opportunities to develop through experience the competencies that they need in critical situations.

Watch our video about the activity programme titled Beyond Content: materiality of text and image and the in depth video's with our curators. (with subtitles in English)

While it has traditionally been seen as a means of documenting an external reality or expressing an internal feeling, photography is now capable of actualizing never-existed pasts and never-lived experiences.

On this digital video wall, you can find the videos provided by several attendees of the XY workshop 2022.

View the aftermovies of the run here.

Want to get to know the master's programmes of Leiden University? Watch the video's of the master's programmes at Leiden University.

The Question of Medium Specificity in Contemporary Moving Images

Watch the introduction video's of the master's programmes at Leiden University. Every introduction video will provide you with the basic information of the master's programme, so after watching you are fully equipped to join the live in-depth presentations during the Master's Online Open Days.

How can video on professional practices in university courses be used in a valid and useful way for assessment and feedback?

LUCIS produces various video series and MOOCs to showcase the variety of expertise available at Leiden University.

Promotores: Prof.dr. J. Zaanen & Prof.dr. K.E. Schalm

The Academic Language Centre has developed 10 video clips on Academic Presenting. Watch them below for a good start to your studies!

The Academic Language Centre has developed 4 video clips on Literature Review. Watch them below for a good start to your studies!

In deep reinforcement learning, searching and learning techniques are two important components. They can be used independently and in combination to deal with different problems in AI, and have achieved impressive results in game playing and robotics. These results have inspired research into artificial…

How can video games be used as feminist tactical media to expose the root of exclusions (based on sex, gender, class, race, ability, etc.) pervasive to gaming communities?

The Academic Language Centre has developed 19 video clips on Academic Skills. The videos are divided into three categories. Watch them below for a good start to your studies!

On the 6th of December, Buurtlab 070 and the Leiden University Green Office (LUGO) hosted an event at the Spinozahof in the Stationsbuurt, bringing students and local residents together to explore energy (in)justice through the serious game Sunjust.

The project aims to develop an escape room-style game to teach students cyber crisis management and prepare them for real-world cybersecurity challenges

In his lectures Aris Politopoulos combines archaeology with video games. He is one of the three nominees for the 2020 LUS Teaching Prize. 'A good teacher is always open to feedback from students.'

Everything you need to know about the minor Game Studies and Cultural Analysis.

Three Leiden students will be sharing their knowledge of history while playing video games. The livestreams are part of the ‘Streaming the Past’ project and will be available on the popular streaming platform Twitch. The first livestream will be on Thursday 20 May.

How do games help shape our perception of the past? Associate Professor Angus Mol receives a Vidi grant to answer this question.

The development of smart cars, video games that adapt to your gaming behavior, law enforcement assigning your neighborhood a risk score, insurance rates determined by your behavior, finding your perfect match via an app: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly and radically transforming our interactions…