What moves an individual, a society or a culture? How does religion relate to politics, economics and morals? Religion is everywhere and often plays, unnoticed, a large role in the daily lives of yourself and others.

Managing Diversity: Supervising Functions in Managing Colonial Workplaces

Southeast Asia is a term to denote a collection of at present eleven nation-states with an enormous diversity in languages, cultures and religions. Muslims can both take a majority and a minority position.

On 25 October 2018, Tu Zhang defended her thesis 'Public Reason Secularism: A Defense of Liberal Democracy'. The doctoral research was supervised by prof. P. Cliteur.

Power and Legitimacy in Kingship, Religion, and the Arts Volume 87 in the series Religion and Society

How are social structures of gender, religion and race/ethnicity learned and embodied in practices of movement?

Resilient Diversity: the Governance of Racial and Religious Plurality in the Dutch Empire, 1600-1800

Hans-Martien ten Napel has been awarded a Research Fellowship in Legal Studies at the Center of Theological Inquiry (CTI) at Princeton University, USA, which enables him to be in full-time residence at CTI for the academic year, 1 September 2014 to 31 May 2015.

The Role of Law in Libya’s National Reconciliation (RoLLNaR) was a research project that ran from 2017 to 2020. It identified and assessed the role of law – both actual and potential, enabling and constraining – with regard to major challenges of reconciliation in Libya. The project was led by Dr. Suliman…

A theoretical project on the insights gained by human (including infant), nonhuman animal and computational studies on artificial grammar learning; identifying the critical questions for future research by developing novel experimental and computational approaches to address these issues.

Candidates are invited to submit their ‘own proposals for doctoral projects, which can come from the following eleven subjects: Ancient History, Old Testament, Ancient Oriental Studies, Christian Archaeology and Byzantine Art History, Greek Studies, Historical-Comparative Linguistics, Classical Archaeology,…

It gives us great pleasure to report that the search for a University Lecturer in Christianity in the Modern World has resulted in the appointment of Corey Williams, starting January 2015.

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…

A new chapter has been added to the ongoing discussion on Islamic schools in the Netherlands. Dutch television programme ‘Nieuwsuur’ and Dutch newspaper NRC conducted research into approximately 50 Islamic educational institutions which do not take part in the conventional Dutch educational system.…

Assistant professor Markus Davidsen has received the Comenius grant, with which he wishes to improve secondary education on religion. In this interview, he will tell more about the content of his project and its aims.

The Supplementa series of BABESCH is designed as a platform for thematic publications, in juxtaposition to the annual and varied mix of contributions offered by the journal itself. The thematic publications will include proceedings of colloquia, collections of particular studies by one or more authors,…

At a festive book presentation on the 21st of July Prof. em. Henk Versnel received a copy of the volume Coping with Versnel. This historiographical volume highlights the important position of Versnel’s work in the study of religion in the ancient world.

Meet Nathal Dessing, LUCIS director as of 1 November 2018. Dessing is a lecturer for the Leiden University Centre for the Study of Religion (LUCSoR) and education director at the Leiden University Institute for Area Studies (LIAS).

Engagement between Asia and Europe is increasing. If these continents want to build a lasting relationship, they need to understand each other better in the economic, socio-cultural, historical and legal arena. Researchers from Leiden have already contributed to the body of knowledge on past and present…

How do the pathways of Dutch converts to Islam involved in jihadist movements differ from those of Dutch converts who are not, in terms of their life prior to Islam, their conversion experience and the form of involvement with the Islamic community after conversion?

The central subject of this dissertation is the influence of Fichte’s theory of self-consciousness on Søren Kierkegaard's philosophical notion of the self in the way Kierkegaard describes the self in his philosophy in the writing 'The Sickness unto Death' (1849). The main question this dissertation…

This section contains information on:

There’s more to obtaining a bachelor’s or master’s degree than just studying. For example, where can you go for advice, or to let off some steam, practise your favourite sport, stay in shape, socialise, or simply find some peace and quiet? Leiden University can help in all these areas, and more.

LIAS staff has a strong track record in supervising internationally competitive PhD research in Asian studies, Middle Eastern studies, and the study of religion. Our graduates go on to work in a range of professional fields, academic and other. This page provides information for prospective and current…

This Philosophy: Global and Comparative Perspectives bachelor's programme is unique. It offers comparative perspectives from around the world that will enable you to be part of the next generation of thinkers, someone studying and shaping philosophy for a globalised 21st century.

Members of our research team give different types of presentations and lectures.

On October 11, the Austria Centre Leiden teamed up with the Leiden Jewish Studies Association to welcome Dr. Lena Sadovski for a lunch time talk. Fifteen colleagues from across the university, including retirees and graduate students, attended Dr. Sadovski's fascinating lecture entitled “When religion…

LUCSoR alumnus Bas van Rijn was awarded the Fritz Stolz-Preis on 7 June 2024 for his PhD Dissertation “The Experimental Culture of Afterlife Research: Attempts by Spiritual Animal Magnetizers to Prove Life after Death”.

Our research regularly receives attention in the (Dutch) popular media. Here is an overview.

Religions involve belief in the unbelievable: in evil spirits causing disease, in souls surviving death, and in gods punishing wrongdoers and blessing the just. Cognitive studies suggest that humans are predisposed to speculate about fate and divine agency, but support from so-called ‘plausibility structures’…

For the second time in six months, Hans-Martien ten Napel has been invited to write the opening essay for a series of international blog posts.

In her “Jews and Judaism” lecture class in Fall 2020, Dr. Sarah Cramsey’s students produced 7-minute long podcasts instead of final papers.

Tobias Müller, post-doctoral researcher in the field of Terrorism and Political Violence at ISGA, writes how together, religious groups and scientists can be a powerful force for a liveable planet.

Since 1 February 2016, Paul van Trigt is postdoctoral researcher in the project Rethinking Disability: the Impact of the International Year of Disabled Persons (1981) in Global Perspective at the Institute for History.

Everyone benefits when cooperation runs smoothly However, people often act obstructively. Why do they do that? Professor of Social Psychology Carsten de Dreu researches this issue using a wide variety of methods, from brain scans to the role of religion. Inaugural lecture 7 October.

Sarah Wolff has been professor of International Studies and Global Politics since 8 January. Time for a brief introduction about her field and academic interests.

LUCIS is an interfaculty knowledge centre offering a multidisciplinary and comparative view on Islam and Muslim societies.

In October, LUCIS and NIMAR will host a two-day workshop in honor of the 50th anniversary of Islam Observed, Clifford Geertz' comparative study of Islam in Morocco and Indonesia. Send in your proposal and get a chance to share your work in Rabat this fall.

Eschatology played a central role in both politics and society throughout the early modern period. It inspired people to strive for social and political change, including sometimes by violent means, and prompted in return strong reactions against their religious activism.

This Conference volume unites a wide range of scholars working in the fields of history, archaeology, religion, art, and philology in an effort to explore new perspec-tives and methods in the study of primary sources from premodern South and Southeast Asia.

Recently, studies have shown the similarities and differences in sources of meaning between religionists, ‘nones’ and atheists (see several studies of Schnell and others). The present study that will be conducted in three European countries tries to clarify the relationship between meaning giving and…

Islam has a rich and fascinating history, but if you talk about it in the classroom, all kinds of opinions and emotions come up. 'How do I incorporate these responses into my lessons?' The Netherlands Institute in Morocco is organising a study trip on ‘Islam and Citizenship’. Fourteen teachers from…

The bachelor's programme in Psychology in Leiden covers the full breadth of psychology. Our bachelor's students have the opportunity to specialise. Our master's students prepare themselves for a career as a ‘scientist - practitioner'. In the one year master's programme the emphasis is on practise; in…

Lecture, UMW Research Seminar

The Faculty of Humanities is committed to creating an inclusive and diverse community, where all students and staff are supported, respected, and empowered to do their best work, irrespective of gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, ability, age, religion, or socio-economic background.

Leiden Law Cast is a podcast made by Leiden Law School, Leiden University, for everyone who wants to learn more about current legal issues.

Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology is a social science. Anthropologists investigate the ways in which people give meaning to different aspects of their life and the way they interact with each other.