General Description

The KU Leuven (www.kuleuven.be), being the 6th European university in the 2008 Leiden bibliometric ranking, is a charter member of the League of European Research Universities (LERU). It has 40257 students and a staff of 9848, with 14 faculties covering all disciplines in humanities, life sciences, physical sciences & engineering and offering 181 master programmes. Applied research is supported by the well-experienced KU Leuven Research & Development (LRD), one of the most renowned technology transfer offices in Europe. The Noise and Vibration Research Group counts 8 permanent staff members, 8 senior post-doc and 59 PhD researchers. The HR, Recruitment and Career Management Office and the International Admissions Office, which is an official Marie Curie mobility centre recognised by the Flemish government, have dedicated Personnel Officers to help new co-workers settle into their new host country by providing advice and support on issues such as salaries and taxation, pension rights, social security, visas, work permits and health care.

Supervisors and Expertise

Prof. W. Desmet, vibro-acoustic and multibody modelling, supervisor of 22 defended PhD theses and coordinator of 4 Marie Curie networks, Prof. P. Sas, vibro-acoustic testing, supervisor of 23 defended PhD theses, Dr. B. Pluymers, vibro-acoustic analysis, project management, coordinator of 1 Marie Curie network   

Key Facilities and Infrastructure

A fully equipped noise and vibration measurement laboratory, a dedicated test-suite for vibro-acoustic characterisation of light-weight panel structures, a high-dynamic 6-dof CUBE shaker table for component and full system testing, dedicated test-rigs for dynamic component analysis.

Previous Involvement in Research and Training Programmes

Impressive track record in hosting 48 Marie Curie Fellows since 2000 (most of them preparing a PhD) in the training programmes EST EDSVS I and II, EST SIM-VIA2, RTN AETHER, RTN MADUSE, ITN VECOM, IEF EXPLICA, RTN Smart Structures CAE and ITN MID-FREQUENCY (coordinated the latter 3). For a full list of research and training projects (apart from Marie Curie), see www.mech.kuleuven.be/mod/projects

Current Involvement in Research and Training Programmes

Running FP7 research and training projects: ITN EMVeM, IAPP TIRE-DYN, EID eLiQuiD, IEF PAM, ITN MARE-WINT, ITN FLOWAIRS, ITN ANADE, ITN GRESIMO, ITN IMESCON, IAPP INTERACTIVE, IP ALIVE, IP ENLIGHT, CP IDEALVENT, SME DASHWIN, IRSES SUPERPANELS, CP EMBOCON (coordinating the first 4 projects) and involved in numerous national and regional research programmes.

Publications