Tim van de Meerendonk explores how farmers, insurance advisors and local politicians in India try to make sense of insurance figures through their moral convictions.

Maria Vasile's ethnographic fieldwork in Turin reveals that volunteering and citizen engagement may not empower residents or allow them to shape their cities. Her analysis of urban gardens, food markets, and food aid initiatives calls for a broader perspective on urban peripheral areas and a shift away…

Food production in the Netherlands is an economic success but has led to many environmental issues, including nitrogen pollution. Recently, the policy to allow economic growth while reducing nitrogen losses was disapproved by the highest court in the Netherlands, casting the country into a nitrogen…

A radical reduction in the amount of meat, dairy and other products sourced from animals is possible in the coming decades, as people turn to an increasing variety of alternatives. This would unlock vast amounts of land that we could use to produce energy and remove carbon from the atmosphere. Leiden…

In supermarkets, consumers are drowning in a sea of sustainability labels. Confusing for them, but also farmers can't see the forest for the trees. Obtaining these labels demands an enormous amount of time and effort. Berent Baris is investigating ways to simplify this process, benefiting both farmers…

The Dutch National Research Agenda announced today that it will provide 17 research projects with a total of 61 million euros in funding. Researchers from Leiden University or the Leiden University Medical Center are involved in five of the projects. All of the projects are interdisciplinary partnerships…

Erik Bähre has been elected to the board of the Society of Economic Anthropology of the American Anthropology Association. On top of this he has joined the scientific advisory board of the NIAS-Lorentz Program.

On Sunday September 2, the Museu Nacional of Brazil was destroyed by fire. It is estimated that 90 percent of the collection is lost. National Geographic interviewed Brazilian heritage expert Mariana de Campos Françozo about the disaster.

On 8, 9 and 10 October 2021 'Share the LUVE' takes place. During this graduation show the works of this year's graduates of the Visual Ethnography master of Leiden University will be screened. So mark your agenda and enjoy three days full of film, photo, artwork, exhibitions, good conversations and…

Writing with Light Magazine. Issue no.1 is now available for download as a open access pdf/interactive edition or purchase as limited-run print edition. The magazine builds on our prior work with the journals Cultural Anthropology and Visual Anthropology Review and the editorial collective consists…

William Pestle and Jason Laffoon recently published a new article entitled 'Quantitative paleodietary reconstruction with complex foodwebs: An isotopic case study from the Caribbean' in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.

On Monday 14 December the yearly research colloquium of the research programme ‘Effective Protection of Fundamental Rights in a Pluralist World’ (EPFR) took place.

How does the management of Elephant Marsh Fishery in Malawi relate to wider contexts of policies, theories and regions? And how can the current management system be adapted to achieve long-term sustainability of the fishery?

In 2015 the division ‘Migration and Crime’ of the Dutch Society for Criminology has been established to bring together academic researchers that are active in this diverse field with each other and relevant persons and organisations. On March 10 it will organise its first seminar on labour exploitation,…

This subproject, carried out by post-doctoral researcher Dr. O. Nieuwenhuyse, investigates changes and continuities in the functional, social and symbolic uses of the material culture, c. 6800-5800 BC. A contextually oriented approach is adopted, which pays attention to the local socio-economic and…

Biodiversity in the Netherlands is having a tough time. Professor of Natural Capital Koos Biesmeijer combines research with practical advice: from the greening of industrial parks to solutions inspired by hi-tech nature. Inaugural lecture 9 March.

Plant Sciences' contribution to the Evolution & Biodiversity research theme is to understand what are the key drivers of plant biodiversity during evolution with a focus on plant life history and resilience traits and develop tools to restore and maintain plant biodiversity.

We study the structure, dynamics and physics of complex networks emerging from the intricate interconnectedness of the constituents of large systems.

CERA (CErtification of RAw Materials) is a four-year project that will develop a standardized certification scheme ensuring environmental, social and economic sustainability in extraction, processing, trading and manufacturing of all mineral raw materials. It will guarantee traceability of certified…

When do fire making tools appear in prehistory, and how might the use of these tools manifest in the archaeological record?

Natural resources are becoming increasingly scarce. If we want to maintain our current standard of living, we will need inventive solutions. The researchers at the Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML) share their thoughts on how to achieve a fully circular economy in which as little use as possible…

Twenty years from now, the world population is estimated to be around 9 billion people (now 8 billion). In combination with the improvements in living standards and the corresponding growth in consumption, this population will result in an enormous increase in the demand for food, consumables, water…

This project studies the roles of prehistoric foragers in past ecosystems to establish the character of past “natural” landscapes and enhance the management of current ones.

To truly understand complex regions such as the Middle East and Asia, you have to know their culture, history and local societies inside out. Driven by curiosity for other cultures, the Leiden University Institute for Area Studies (LIAS) provides an understanding and analysis of current and historical…

Roll your sustainable sleeves! Our students and staff have found various ways to do just that, both at home and at our university.

The aim of this project is the linguistic documentation of Bakola, a Narrow Bantu language.

Our students and public and private organisations have much to offer each other. To connect students with organisations, FGGA facilitates this through an internship and traineeship platform: TRAIL.

This year Leiden University exists for 444 years! This will be celebrated together with the residents of Leiden and The Hague during various activities. One of these is scientists and residents doing research on plastics and psychology together.

Organisation Institute of Biology Leiden

Through our research, we work towards a fundamental understanding of the world and people around us. We use that knowledge to make the world a safe, healthy, sustainable, prosperous and just place.

How can ecosystem services within river catchments be quantified in spatial and temporal explicit way?

Explore global cultural differences with our International Bachelor's in Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology. Delve into gender issues, social media trends, food habits, social justice movements, and more.

Do sustainability values play a role in motivating people to act for biodiversity in successful projects and in successful leadership action? And how could these values be incorporated in current economic valuation methods?

This functional genomics project aims at understanding the biology of the underlying mycelium differentiation and autolysis processes in much more detail.

The AiChemist project (https://aichemist.eu) coordinated by Helmholtz Munich is an Innovative Doctoral Training Network funded through the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA-DN) within the EU Horizon Research Framework, to the sum of €3 million. It brings together leading experts in AI, chemoinformatics…

Do offshore windfarms affect the local biodiversity of the pelagic fish community and are fish deterred or attracted by sounds?

Bone research provides plenty of detailed data about the health of a person or a group. This data is not only used to reconstruct the past but also to fight disease today.

Leiden experts examine European legislation and ways in which better European legislation lead to citizens' support.

Do you want to know the best reasons to study at Leiden University or want to know what's it like to live in the student cities Leiden or The Hague? Our students tell you why they chose Leiden University to study their master's programme.

The research involves the application and combination of archaeological and archaeometrical methodologies. Petrographic analysis and isotopic provenance studies of raw materials and exotics, and the study of the distribution patterns of these materials are used to gain insight into the exchange of goods…

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.