News & Events
Find the latest news below, and our event calendar on the right.
Would you like to stay updated on our latest research news, publications and events? Please subscribe to our monthly newsletter!
Posted on 9 November 2011, last modified on 9 October 2023
08 July 2021
The basilicas in Ethiopia symbolize the history of Christianity in Ethiopia, the most famous being the Rock-hewn Churches of Lalibela, a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1978. This month’s Library Highlight, The basilicas of Ethiopia: an architectural history by architectural historian and architect Mario di Salvo, discusses the unique architectural features of these basilicas and explains how they developed over time. Read the Library Highlight!
07 July 2021
06 July 2021
On the occasion of the Africa 2020 year, the ASCL created Infosheets about the countries that became independent in 1960. One year later, Sierra Leone was the next in line: on 27 April 1961 it gained political independence from the United Kingdom. Read about the country's recent history, its demographic, social-economic and agricultural developments and regional inequality.
06 July 2021
Are you interested in Africa and is your master's thesis on a related subject? If so, the African Studies Centre Leiden is offering you the chance to win € 500,-. Moreover, your thesis will be published in the ASCL's African Studies Collection. Final-year students who have completed their master's thesis at a university in Africa or the Netherlands can apply. The thesis must be based on independent empirical research related to Africa. Deadline for submitting your thesis: 31 August 2021.
05 July 2021
Annachiara Raia has been awarded a grant of 50,000 US dollars to digitise the Ustadh Mau Swahili Muslim collection in Lamu, Kenya. The award has been granted by the Modern Endangered Archives Program of the UCLA Library. Mahmoud Ahmed Abdulkadir, locally known as Ustadh Mau, is an eminent poet and imam from Lamu island, Kenya. His private library houses Swahili Muslim manuscript poetry in ajami, booklets and memoirs from the Middle East and India. The digitisation project will enhance open accessibility to an important Islamic heritage hub of Swahili intellectual history and poetic production.
05 July 2021
02 July 2021
ASCL researcher Akinyinka Akinyoade participated as Nigeria expert during the launch of The Kleptocracy Project, a long-term investigative collaboration between a network of journalists from countries all over Africa and platform ZAM. The project looks into questions about how money intended for health, education, and safety ‘disappears’, or fills the pockets of corrupt leaders in African countries. The publication of the ZAM Kleptocracy Project investigations kicked off on 24 June 2021 in Pakhuis De Zwijger in Amsterdam, and was broadcast live.
01 July 2021
A consortium of academic institutes, among which the ASCL, has been awarded a small grant for a project that will look at the role of new technologies in approaching the SDGs: what are the benefits for the South? Technical and medical innovations hold great promise for improving lives in the Global South. However, technologies developed in the West do not automatically function in other societies. Within this project, the ASCL will specifically collaborate with Delft University and the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) on the use of satellite data for African climate and development policy.