Bordering Up: Regulating Mobility Through Passes, Walls and Guards

The relationship between States and foreign corporations are regulated by international economic law and international investment law in particular. Any disputes between States and foreign corporations must therefore also be solved by reference to this body of public international law, for example when…

In the master’s programme in Archaeology, you can follow courses on the archaeology of the Mediterranean, deepening your understanding of this fascinating region. From the many faces of ‘Hellenism’ to the early rise of the Roman Republic, to the voyages of European Crusaders in medieval times. The archaeology…

Arts and culture

On the 28th of January 2019 Beryl ter Haar gave an introductory lecture on EU labour law concerning collective redundancies and working time. Both are core issues of this year's case for the Hugo Sinzheimer Moot Court Competition.

NWO has awarded a €392k Projectruimte grant to physicists Koenraad Schalm and Jan Zaanen to study ‘strange metals’. These materials are alleged to follow the bizarre laws of quantum mechanics even at everyday length scales.

‘Culture change takes time,’ said Vice-Rector Hester Bijl at the closing panel of the University’s Diversity Symposium on 26 January. She talked about the road to a diverse and inclusive university. The symposium provided plenty of concrete examples of small steps that can already be taken.

After a gestation period lasting twelve years, on 13 March the artwork by Adam Uriel adorning the spiral staircase in the Academy Building was finally unveiled. It is a contemporary variation on the drawings by Victor de Stuers, dating from 1865, that start at the lower end of the staircase.

The greatest threat to the North Korean regime is not the outside world but its own developing private market and the growing frictions at the top. This was the argument put forward by North Korean exile Jang Jin-sung in his lecture in Leiden on 18 September 2014.

Three Dutch-Belgian telescopes have started operating at the ESO La Silla Observatory in Chile. This so-called BlackGEM array will scan the southern sky to hunt for cosmic events that produce gravitational waves, such as mergers of neutron stars and black holes. Leiden astronomer Rudolf le Poole is…

Theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking (76) passed away on 14 March at his home in Cambridge, having been a long-term sufferer of the muscular disease ALS. A number of Leiden scientists look back at the life and scientific career of this world-famous physicist. 'He was very approachable and extremely…

Eight scientists from Leiden University have been awarded a grant by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). With this Vidi funding, the researchers can set up an innovative line of research and further expand their own research group over the next five years.

On the 13th of December 2017 Ana Lucia Araujo came to Leiden to discuss the long history of the demand for reparations for slavery. In the basement of the Van Stockum bookstore she presented her recent book on this issue and discussed the research project with Karwan Fatah-Black.

A galaxy is already incredibly large, but it can get even bigger. Astronomer Reinout van Weeren investigates clusters of galaxies, one of the largest structures in the universe. For his research into the origins and evolution of these clusters, he obtained an ERC Starting Grant of 1.5 million euros.…

After almost 18 months of following lectures alone in their rooms, many students are going back to face-to-face classes for the first time. And the same is true for the lecturers. How do people feel about it? We went to Leiden Law School to find out. ‘For a whole year, I’ve been watching lectures in…

An X-ray scanner, some small metal balls, and a newly developed algorithm. That is all you need to make a 3D model that enables you to look inside art objects without dismantling them. Thanks to the research of Francien Bossema (Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica and Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer…

Leiden University Libraries holds an internationally unique collection of unofficial poetry from China. Produced outside the System over the last fifty years or so, this poetry is hugely influential yet hard to find beyond the informal networks through which it travels. To address this paradox, the…

Adrian Hamers is researching the way in which celestial bodies orbit each other, now and in the future. This often turns out to be more erratic than you might think. He will defend his PhD dissertation on 21 June.

The winner of the Africa Thesis Award 2023 is Rachel Dubale, a graduate from the Research Master in African Studies at Leiden University, with her thesis “They think we can eat the condominium”. Chronicles of Economic, Social and Political Practices in Addis Ababa’s Condominiums.

Thanks to an extremely successful crowdfunding campaign, the Leiden Law School now has a mock courtroom for Moot Court, the course that teaches students advocacy skills. ‘The more realistic it is, the better. Then students grow into their role.’

Developing new drugs is a difficult process. With the aid of artificial intelligence, Pharmaceutical scientist Xuhan Liu has developed methods that can help make drug design cheaper and faster. PhD defence on 15 February.

Research into depression in children, Leiden alumni in the Dutch House of Representatives and an exceptional achievement by one of our students: what do this topics have in common? They are among our most read stories of 2021.

Neanderthals at Pech-de-l'Azé I in South Western France had a striking use for manganese dioxide 50,000 years ago.

On May 25th, Prof. Damian Pargas will hold his inaugural lecture

There are currently two projects in Coptic Studies that are supported by the NVIC. Both are directed by Dr. Karel Innemee and both take place in the Wadi Natrun.

From 19 to 21 September, the Third annual conference of the Law and Development Research Network took place at the National Museum of Ethnology (Museum Volkenkunde) Leiden.

As convener for the EASA Network for the Anthropology of Race and Ethnicity, Jasmijn Rana organized a two-day symposium on Decolonizing European Anthropology. It brought together anthropologists from different European countries and non-European anthropologists working in and on Europe. Discussions…

South Africa is suing Israel on charges of genocide in Gaza. The case is being heard at the International Court of Justice in The Hague this week. Professor Larissa van den Herik, an expert in Public International Law specialising in the law on genocide, explains the situation to NOS.

De rechtbank van Rotterdam geeft zorghulp Carol Kollmann gelijk in haar rechtszaak tegen het UWV. De zorghulpverlener vond dat ze recht heeft op een WW-uitkering en het meetellen van haar arbeidsverleden voor de WW, nadat ze erachter kwam dat ze daar door de zogeheten Regeling dienstverlening aan huis…

In Europe, citizens have a right of access to government information. The European Commission, however, has various methods to prevent this. For example, destroying all e-mails, invoking state security and protection of privacy, and not taking minutes. As a result, it is almost impossible to review…

Gigantic photos of 25 Leideners who have meant a lot for the city and the world have recently been hung on the Achmea building by Leiden Centraal station. These include several Leiden researchers.

It was already clear that the Dutch tax office had been working with black lists for years, containing the names of people who, according to the authorities, had a high risk of committing fraud. But reports by research agency PwC make it clear how systematically the Dutch tax office discriminated when…

De vraag is hoe groot de dreiging van het rechts-extremisme is in Nederland? Nikki Sterkenburg spreekt hierover in Trouw en RTL Nieuws.

The British Academy appointed Eveline Crone as a Corresponding Fellow to recognise her contribution to the SHAPE themes - the social sciences, humanities and the arts. The British Academy is the national academy for social sciences and humanities in the United Kingdom. Besides Crone, 83 other Fellows…

Adrian Hamer, who obtained his PhD in the group of Simon Portegies Zwart on 21 June 2016, receives a prestigious PhD thesis award prize of the International Astronomical Union. Hamers is one of the most talented, young, theoretical astrophysicists, according to the jury.

Exactly 138 years ago, Albert Einstein came into this world to forever change our understanding of it. The Leiden physics institute, where he frequently worked, organised a symposium in honor of his birthday.

Having a drink in a cafe and at the same time learning something about astronomy: this is Astronomy on Tap. The first edition in Leiden will take place on Monday 27 March.

Stéphanie Noach, PhD within LUCAS, received a Fulbright grant to conduct research for her PhD project 'Dark Matters. Recasting Darkness with Contemporary Latin American Art' at the Afro-Latin American Research Institute at Harvard University.

We should mention differences in skin colour to our children because only then can we talk openly about prejudice and racism – and how to prevent them. This is what Professor Judi Mesman says in her book ‘Opgroeien in kleur’ (Growing up in Colour), which offers advice to parents. ‘Why is there only…

Course, Masterclass

After the advent of Islam in the 7th century C.E., the strategic geographical position of Tarsus (its proximity to the sea and to the mountain pass leading to inland Anatolia) made this town the de facto capital of the thughur, a historical and geographical term created by Muslim geographers qualifying…

This doctoral project by artist and educator Luiz Zanotello engenders a postcolonial understanding of time, space and movement by means of artistic research methods. The project examines the contradictory effects of the abyssal line of thought within the tropics as a starting point.

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.

Every month a member of the Institute for History tells about a book that inspired him or her. Afterwards, the pen is passed on to another colleague. This month dr. Meike de Goede tells about the book 'Between Tides' by Valentin Mudimbe. The novel, little known beyond the circles of Africanists and…

Situated on the west coast of modern Turkey, the site of Ephesus is one of the largest excavations in Turkey and one of the most visited tourist attractions. Only one tenth of the city has been exposed until now although the Austrian Archaeological Institute in Vienna (ÖAI) has been excavating here…

In Leiden University's Vision on Sustainability 2030, biodiversity (biological diversity) is an important focus in its teaching and research and on its campuses.

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

Research conducted in this group aims at furthering our understanding of how communities and individuals deal with social change, conflict and trauma through remembrance and commemoration as well as forgetting in the arts.

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.