Histories, Philosophies, and Communities

With her Veni research, investigator Rosanne Baars from the Institute of History aims to demonstrate that women played a role in the eighteenth-century diplomatic circles of the Ottoman Empire. ‘We already know that one woman led the entire embassy.'

Bachelor's students Larissa van Beckhoven, Eeke Brussee and Mirjam de Haan were granted the Speckmann award for their Fieldwork NL report ‘Een Tastbaar Mysterie’ (supervisor: Bregje ter Meer). Alumnus Markus Enk received the Master's Speckmann award for his innovative thesis called ‘Do spirits resist…

Debate, Fireside Peace Chats

By examining the impact of Islam on the daily life of those living under its rule, the goal of this project is to understand the striking newness of Islamic society and its debt to the diverse cultures it superseded. Questions will be the extent, character, and ambition of Muslim state competency at…

Point of departure of this meditation on the ethical role of sounds and silences within Christian rites and other religious practices is the documentary Into Great Silence. It is an intimate portrayal of the everyday lives of Carthusian monks of the Grande Chartreuse, a monastery high in the French…

As of 27 October Catia Antunes has been appointed as full member of the Young Academy of Europe.

Leiden’s Religious Studies ranks 40th place in the QS World University Rankings by Subject.

Two books that recently appeared in the Debates on Islam and Society series at Leiden University Press are now available in Open Access through the Knowledge Unlatched initiative.

In the media, we hear a lot of worrying news from Africa: refugees, attacks, Ebola, starvation, corruption... But Africa is much more than that: it is a continent in transition, with developments occurring at breakneck speed. African Studies scholars from different academic disciplines in Leiden conduct…

Professor of Contemporary History Wim van den Doel has won the 2024 Boerhaave Biography Prize. Van den Doel receives the prize for his book 'Snouck: Het volkomen geleerdenleven van Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje'.

On 14 and 15 November, the LUCIS Annual Conference takes place in Leiden. Scholars from diverse backgrounds will come together to share their research on all branches of Shiʿi Islam.

At 1 January 2019 NISIS will move from Leiden University to Utrecht University. Dutch research schools have to change host universities after a certain period and now it is time for NISIS to move.

Tolerance and democracy are not our European values

On 29 November 2019, Christa Tobler gave a lecture in Brussels on the new case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union in the field of gender discrimination.

Dr. Sarah Cramsey, University Lecturer Judaism & Diaspora Studies, has been awarded an Early Career Partnership by the KNAW.

The deadline for applications for the NISIS Autumn School has been extended until Monday 24 September 2018, 9.00 hours (CET)!!

History and Religious Studies in Leiden rank # 17 and #32 in the QS World University Rankings by Subject. With this, History in Leiden ranks as the best in The Netherlands and Religious Studies ranks as second best.

In 2023, many of our students and staff won great prizes and secured important research grants.

Episode 1: The Golden Horde in a Global Perspective: Imperial Strategies. This project intends to challenge the conventional way of considering the nomadic state organizations and the role of Nomads in world history.

The Urban Studies bachelor’s programme is based on two learning trajectories. One is dedicated to knowledge related to urban issues, while the other focuses on a wide range of practical and academic skills.

This section contains information on:

How were Spanish commanders fighting in the Low Countries between 1567 and 1577 portrayed in Spanish and Dutch narrative sources during the Eighty Years War?

Study all aspects of human life in the past and take on a broad, historic perspective.

PhD

Ali Al Tuma, PhD candidate at the Leiden University Institute for History, has won the Sharjah Award for Arab Creativity for his play ‘Yusuf Melik Espanya’ (Yusuf King of Spain), that tells the story of a young Moroccan whose brothers conspire to send him off, against his will, to the Spanish Civil…

Sarah is the latest addition to our team...

What inspires scholars who study the history, cultures, religions and languages of the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia? LUCIS interviewed scholars about their work and research in the video project “Passion in Profession”. The videos are available online now.

Caroline van Eck has been awarded the Descartes-Huygens Prize. She will receive the award in March 2014. The prize includes a period as a guest researcher in France. Van Eck has been awarded the prize for her excellent research and her contribution to French-Dutch collaboration.

Immediately after the Dutch government’s press conference about the new coronavirus measures, a shopkeeper in Eindhoven hung up a notice in his window saying ‘No vaccination: no entry’. Even though he is not enforcing his own rule, he is receiving threats.

VVD party members last week voted in favour of the new distribution law, which could oblige municipalities to accommodate asylum seekers. This happened after Prime Minister Rutte pledged to work on curbing the influx of asylum seekers. To what extent can he deliver on that promise?

The research project 'when patients don't want to know everything: guide and training for culturally sensitive information in palliative care' investigates how healthcare providers can offer inclusive palliative care.

On Friday November 10th, the Master's Information Day took place. Students from The Netherlands and abroad came to Leiden to see which Humanities master's programme was for them.

Before coming to Leiden, Dr. Stökl was Reader in Hebrew Bible / Old Testament at Kings College London.

The New Scholar, an interdisciplinary peer-reviewed journal at the Faculty of Humanities of Leiden University, is launching its first issue, and how? With a double issue!

Umberto Selva, a Leiden graduate of the Research MA program of Linguistics, has received for his thesis the international award for best MA thesis in the field of Comparative Indo-European Linguistics of the year 2015.

Maarten Jansen, professor emeritus at the Faculty of Archaeology, was appointed as Distinguished Emeritus Professor for two years at the University of Bonn. In this position, Jansen, a world-renowned specialist on ancient Mexican pictorial manuscripts, will further expand upon the long-standing collaboration…

They might not have had Twitter, but they did have brochures (pamphlets), the Roman Catholics and ‘modern’ Protestants between 1840 and 1870. In these, they launched a passionate attack on each other’s ideas. Ineke Smit has catalogued the brochures from the collection of the University Library and outlined…

PhDArts candidate Ruchama Noorda will graduate on Wednesday 9 December 2015

Assyriologists in Leiden have been conducting research into ancient clay tablets from the Middle East for 100 years already. What exactly do these clay tablets tell us? And why is Leiden such a good place to study them?

Eleven talented Leiden researchers with several years of research experience have been awarded a Vidi subsidy to set up or expand their own line of research.

‘Realising we have shared ancestors and that our past is dynamic makes us more accepting of others.’ Sada Mire is an archaeologist at Leiden University and a former refugee – she fled from the civil war in Somalia. At the HagueTalks night during the Just Peace Festival, she will share her thoughts on…

The Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance and Society (VVI), in collaboration with the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV), will organize a two day conference on the continued importance of adat law in present day Indonesia on 22 and 23 May 2017.

From Monday 15 until Thursday 18 October 2018, the eighth annual NISIS Autumn School will take place at the University of Groningen. This year’s Autumn School is organised by NISIS and the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies of the University of Groningen in cooperation with the Netherlands Organisation…

No less than seven scholars of the Faculty of Humanities were awarded a Veni grant. Veni grants are aimed at excellent researcher who recently obtained their doctorate. With a maximum grant of 250.000 euros, the laureates can develop their research ideas in the coming three years.

Two courses on Central Asia will be offered within the Leiden Central Asia Initiative, funded by the research profile area Asian Modernities and Traditions. 'History of Central Asia & Afghanistan' will be open to BA students of Middle Eastern Studies and 'Material Culture, Memory and Commemoration along…