Humour, science and creativity. During the Humanities Lab Film Festival this came all together in the short films that the students of the Honours College Humanities have made in the last few weeks. “Working together with people of different studies is inspiring.”

In our rapidly evolving and interconnected world, the study of International Relations has expanded beyond conventional disciplinary boundaries. Leiden University’s MAIR program, with its emphasis on humanities-oriented and multidisciplinary perspectives, contends that understanding the complexities…

Playing a game, picking a cutting for your room or just having a cup of coffee: it is all possible in the new Humanities Living Room in the Matthias de Vrieshof. From Wednesday 17 May, staff and students will be able to meet informally and socialise here.

The human dimension must be brought back to the fore, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said in response to the child benefits scandal. But how? A group of researchers – including Leiden psychologist Sandra van Dijk – have written a book offering practical suggestions. They presented the book to Rutte on 28…

Research

The Faculty of Humanities has been ranked 17th Arts and humanities faculty in the Times Higher Education world ranking 2015-16. This makes it the top non-Anglo-Saxon institution on the list. The position is 7 places up in comparison with last year's list.

Rapid developments in DNA techniques allow researchers to find out more and more about human genetics. An international group of scientists has drawn up five ethical guidelines to ensure that this DNA research is better regulated. Leiden archaeologist Marie Soressi – one of the signatories - explains…

The bachelor programmes German Language and Culture, Classics, Dutch Language and Culture, Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Religious studies and Linguistics have received the predicate top rated programme from the Keuzegids.

Education, Research

A consortium made up of Leiden University (Institute of Public Administration/Digitalisation & Public Policy, Bram Klievink, Sarah Giest, Bart Schermer), VU (Professor Fabio Massacci), TU Delft, TNO, and Thales has been awarded a NWO grant of 1.5 million euros. This research project looks into the ‘metadata…

What rules should regulate AI, who should make them, and how will they be enforced in the digital arena?

The Faculty of Humanities' Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) Fund provides small grants to initiatives in support of diversity and inclusion, with specific emphasis on creating an inclusive learning environment.

Social activity

On February 29 2024, the Humanities Career Service of Leiden University organised a career day to the European Union institutions in Brussels. Natalia Papageorgiou, student of the MA History (Politics, Culture and National Identities), talks about how the day went.

As part of Leiden University’s aim to be a safe and healthy environment for all staff and students, several activities and lectures were organised in an action week around suicide prevention. Dedicated benches were also placed at several university buildings, including at the Faculty of Humanities.

In the academic year 2018 - 2019, the Faculty of Humanities established the Educational Innovation Programme. In this way, the faculty wants to realise the ambitions from the educational vision of Leiden University in education. How is the programme currently doing? We talked to project manager Sanne…

Can humans sense where north is, using what is known as magnetoreception? This question had master’s student Björn Keyser (Media Technology) so intrigued that he started crowdfunding to be able to study this together with the California Institute of Technology.

Dr Nathalie Brusgaard both studied and finished her PhD at the Faculty of Archaeology in Leiden. After a few years spreading her wings, she is now back. As the new Assistant Professor in the World Archaeology department, she will continue her research on the relationship between prehistoric humans and…

LUNHA strives to redefine global health by prioritizing justice, fairness, and inclusion in Africa. Through collaboration with diverse stakeholders, LUNHA aims to reshape global health research and foster a broader engagement with social sciences and humanities.

Education

The history of the LGTBI+ collective, deeply marked by episodes of violence, repression, and discrimination, is also the history of the struggle for social change and the conquest of civil rights, advances without which contemporary Western democracies could not be explained. More recently, the implementation…

So much has happened this year! 2023 was an eventful year in which several wars raged about which our experts could offer interpretation. It was also the year in which the government made apologies for the slavery past. Leiden humanities scholars were at the forefront of this with their research on…

Online, hybrid, on campus... It was an unpredictable year, also for the Faculty of Humanities. Luckily, there were also non-corona related stories. Let's review 2021 with this list of the most-read news articles per month.

Every year, an NWO PhD in the Humanities grant is awarded to a prospective PhD candidate at the Faculty of Archaeology. This year, the grant went to Maia Casna, enabling her to study respiratory disease in the past. ‘My hypothesis is that the rapid formation of cities in the medieval Netherlands, must…

Leiden University has a new professor. On 1 June Nadine Akkerman became Professor of Early Modern Literature and Culture, a position she feels is designed to help her help others.

After two years of corona restrictions, it was ‘back to normal’ in 2022. Migration, elections, the history of slavery, Russia, and Ukraine were much-discussed topics. We compiled an overview of the most-read news items and other events of the past year.

On 3 July, students of the Leiden Leadership Programme received their certificates in the Marekerk church in Leiden. During the festive closing ceremony, it became clear that humanity and leadership go hand in hand. ‘As a leader, you have to listen, observe and acknowledge problems.’