Events

December 2025

Tue 16 December 2025

Hybrid lecture | Building a dynamic and integrated linguistic engine for Ethio-Semitic languages

Gebrekirstos G. Gebremeskel (Leiden University) introduces Mermru, a tool that innovatively models the underlying structure of Etho-Semitic languages. 

Tue 16 December 2025

KITLV hybrid seminar | Bicycles, mobility and urban order in colonial Indonesia

Teuku Reza Fadeli (Universitas Indonesia) explores the socio-political effect of the introduction of bicycles in colonial Indonesia for both the colonial powers and the Indonesian population.

Tue 16 December 2025

Lecture | The Gulf states in the global food system

In this Middle East Studies Lecture, Christian Henderson (Leiden University) explores the leading role of the Gulf states in the global food system. 

Tue 16 December 2025

Online seminar | Personhood, the economy, and values

International experts reflect on the ways in which people create identities in line with and opposed to dominant economic forces.

Tue 16 December 2025

Lecture | IBL spotlight

Tinde Van Andel (Leiden University) talks about the verification process of legends and stories she discovered among Maroons (descendants of escaped enslaved Africans) in Suriname and French Guiana. Anagnostis Theodoropoulos (Leiden University) discusses genetic pollution and its contribution to biodiversity loss.

Wed 17 December 2025

Lecture | Cosmos Malabaricus

Four history students from Kerala (South-west India) explore the political culture, caste, slavery, and information gathering in eighteenth-century Kerala under the Dutch East India Company (VOC).

Wed 17 December 2025

Online lecture | The Askari shrine and its urban context in Abbasid Samarra

In this lecture of the Material Culture, Art, and Architecture of Pre-Safavid Shīʿism series, Alastair Northedge (Université Paris 1) discusses the importance of the Askari shrine in the city of Samarra (Iraq) during the time of the Islamic Abbasid caliphate.

Wed 17 December 2025

Lezing | Televisie, opiniepeilingen en het denken over democratie in naoorlogs Nederland

Dagelijkse opiniepeilingen, straatinterviews met voorbijgangers en politici aan talkshowtafels: het maakt allemaal deel uit van de hedendaagse politieke cultuur. Solange Ploeg (Radboud Universiteit) bespreekt hoe deze en andere nieuwe mediapraktijken tussen 1945 en 1980 zijn ontstaan.

Fri 19 December 2025

Workshop | De natuurlijke schoonheid van de Romeinen

Dorothee Olthof toont in de Hortus Leiden wat de oude Romeinen zoal gebruikten om zichzelf mooier te maken en lekkerder te laten ruiken. Een assortiment aan make-up, van valse wenkbrauwen tot oogschaduw. 

Fri 19 December 2025

Talk | Reconstruction of the Proto-Indo-European stop systems

Alwin Kloekhorst & Tijmen Pronk (Leiden University) discuss new insights into the Indo-European language family and the consequences for the reconstruction of the Proto-Indo-European stop system.

Mon 22 December 2025

RMO online lezing | De archeologie van Anatolië

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Ism Djoser presenteert het museum een reeks van online lezingen over archeologie in verschillende delen van de wereld. Eric Moormann vertelt over het archeologisch onderzoek bij Nemrud Dağı in Turkije. Willemijn Waal bespreekt het Hittitische rijk.

January 2026

Thu 8 January 2026

RMO hybride lezing | 70 jaar opgravingen op Tell Deir 'Alla

Diederik Halbertsma (Universiteit Leiden) vertelt over de onderzoeksgeschiedenis van Tell Deir ‘Alla (Jordanië).

Tue 13 January 2026 - Thu 15 January 2026

Conference | Legacies: Why Museum Histories Matter

This conference looks at how museums with historic roots are now rethinking their identity, making the 21st century a key time to study museum history.

Thu 15 January 2026

IIAS workshop | Perspectives on traditional Chinese medicine

Leading scholars and practitioners from Taiwan and Europe are brought together to explore how traditional Chinese medicine is being reimagined and integrated across the world.

Sun 18 January 2026

Wereldwandeling | Sporen van de Slavernij in Leiden

Aan de hand van deze wandeling door de straten van de historische binnenstad van Leiden, leer je meer over de geschiedenis van de Nederlandse slavenhandel en slavernij, lopend langs gebouwen waar handelaren, tot slaafgemaakten, en voorvechters voor de afschaffing van slavernij woonden.

Mon 19 January 2026

WML symposium | After Valkenburg

The Research Center for Material Culture explores the works of Dirk Valkenburg. It also looks at the meaning of this period of Dutch art for Art History and museum collections in terms of restitution, decolonization and repair.

Mon 19 January 2026

Werken aan digitale geletterdheid met historische bronnen

In een professionele leergemeenschap van vier bijeenkomsten word je meegenomen in de achtergrond van AI en Large Language Modellen en ga je zelf aan de slag met Transkribus en authentieke bronnen en geschriften uit de collecties van de Universitaire Bibliotheken Leiden en Erfgoed Leiden.

Tue 20 January 2026

Workshop | Heritage, custom and tradition in the Himalayas

This academic workshop explores how  heritage, custom, and tradition are used to shape the future in the Himalayas.

Wed 21 January 2026 - Thu 22 January 2026

Workshop | Experiential ethnographies across time

This collaborative workshop explores the importance of buildings, tea gardens, streets and the historic railway in Darjeeling (city in India) for its residents.

Thu 22 January 2026 - Fri 23 January 2026

Conference | Doctors, patients and ethics in colonial and postcolonial medicine

This conference looks at medical ethics during and after colonial times. It explores how doctors did research in these settings and what role patients played. 

Thu 22 January 2026

Symposium | Hominin diversity in Eastern Asia

Different international experts unravel the complex past of Eastern Asia using different skulls and fossils found in the region.

Thu 22 January 2026

RMO lezing | Vikingverhalen

Vier internationale wetenschappers vertellen verhalen over oud en nieuw onderzoek naar de Vikingtijd. 

Thu 22 January 2026

Talk | Ancient storage and AI

Merel Penterman (KNA archaeologist) explores the use of Artificial Intelligence in archaeological research. 

Tue 27 January 2026

KITLV hybrid seminar | The elderly and climate change in Eastern Indonesia

Older adults and women in the Global South are disproportionately affected by climate change. Sharyn Graham Davies (Herb Feith Indonesia Engagement Centre) explores how  they make use of climate resilience strategies and studies whether they are effective. 

Thu 29 January 2026

NINO Annual Event | Food & Ritual

The NINO Annual Meeting offers an opportunity for students and researchers of the Near East in the Netherlands to exchange ideas about ongoing and envisioned research projects. The topic is 'Food and ritual.

Thu 29 January 2026

Lecture | Philosophy to the rescue

In this Lorentz Lecture, four thought-provoking new perspectives on important societal issues are presented.

Thu 29 January 2026

Symposium | Wat betekent AI voor ons onderwijs?

Thema’s als het belang van academische vaardigheden in een samenleving waar AI een steeds grotere rol inneemt, de gevolgen van AI voor onderwijs en toetsing en de ontwikkeling van richtlijnen staan centraal. 

Fri 30 January 2026

RMO hybride lezing | Archeologie in Noord-Holland

Tijdens deze 12 Provinciën-lezing vertellen onderzoekers in vier lezingen over archeologische vondsten in Noord-Holland die meer vertellen over de bronstijd, een scheepswrak, kastelen en suiker.

Fri 30 January 2026

Debate | The Roman empire and world history

Different historians debate Rome in relation to both its Afro-Eurasian context and other ‘global empires’ in history.

February 2026

Tue 3 February 2026

Quiz | De grote China kennisquiz

Welk team kroont zich in het Jaar van het Paard tot de grootste Chinakenner van Nederland? In Den Haag.

Thu 5 February 2026 - Fri 6 February 2026

NINO conference | Second millennium cuneiform letters and language

Different researchers explore the relationship between letters, language, and everyday speech in cuneiform archives.

Fri 6 February 2026 - Sun 8 February 2026

RMO voorstelling | Odyssee

Theatergroep Aluin brengen de Odyssee van Homerus, een van de beroemdste verhalen uit de Griekse oudheid, tot leven in een theatervoorstelling. 

Wed 11 February 2026

Lecture | Buddhist creativity, commodification, and digitalization in Xi’s China

Since the 1980s, Buddhism in China has been brought back to life. Kai Shmushko (Universiteit van Amsterdam) explores the material economy and use of technology in this new form of Buddhism.

Thu 12 February 2026

Lecture | Expressions of "war" and "peace" in medieval Arabic conquest narratives

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Mohamed Benabbès (University of Tunis) talks about the vocabulary of war and peace in the historical narratives of the Muslim conquests in North Africa.

Thu 12 February 2026

Book talk | Ethics in Caribbean archaeology

The book 'Ethics in Caribbean Archaeology. Past, Present, and Future' is presented. The book focuses on  ethical archaeological practices in the Caribbean. 

Sun 15 February 2026

Wereldwandeling | Sporen van de Slavernij in Leiden

Aan de hand van deze wandeling door de straten van de historische binnenstad van Leiden, leer je meer over de geschiedenis van de Nederlandse slavenhandel en slavernij, lopend langs gebouwen waar handelaren, tot slaafgemaakten, en voorvechters voor de afschaffing van slavernij woonden.

Sun 15 February 2026

WML viering | Chinees nieuwjaar

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Geniet van een feestelijk programma vol tradities, een spectaculaire leeuwendans en activiteiten die aansluiten bij de start van het Jaar van het Paard. 

March 2026

Wed 4 March 2026

Lecture | Daoism on the irrelevance of books

David Chai (Chinese University of Hong Kong) explores the negative relationship between the school of Daoism and books in ancient China.

Sun 15 March 2026

Wereldwandeling | Sporen van de Slavernij in Leiden

Aan de hand van deze wandeling door de straten van de historische binnenstad van Leiden, leer je meer over de geschiedenis van de Nederlandse slavenhandel en slavernij, lopend langs gebouwen waar handelaren, tot slaafgemaakten, en voorvechters voor de afschaffing van slavernij woonden.

Thu 26 March 2026

Conference | Who is Asian?

The diversity of Asia has made it challenging, and at times controversial, to define the region. Speakers critically reflect on the complexities, diversities and contradictions that define Asia and its representations.

Fri 27 March 2026

Lecture | Negation compounds in Old Hittite

In this Comparative Indo-European Linguistics (CIEL) Seminars lecture, David Sasseville (École pratique des hautes études, Paris) uses a Luwian song in Old Hittite to study negation compounds.

April 2026

Wed 8 April 2026

Lecture | East Europe’s forgotten peasant revolution

Professor Jakub Beneš (University College London) reconsiders the period of world wars and focuses on East Europe. 