All you need to know

Registration

Activation code and KU Leuven e-mail address:

The ICT department will send you a separate e-mail containing your personal activation code. You can use this code to activate your “KU Leuven staff account”: Click on “Activate account” and follow the instructions. We advise you to do this as soon as possible. Once you have activated your account, you will obtain access to our intranet pages, your KU Leuven e-mail address, and applications such as KU Loket, our administrative portal.

Tip: you can synchronize your student and personnel e-mail addresses

Contract

All information as regards your contract can be found in the welcome e-mail you receive at the beginning of your doctoral period. Where and when you can sign your contract depends on your status:

Your contract will be ready for you at the HR Department in Leuven, if you are:

  • a PhD/postdoc with scholarship/grant with full RSZ (countries belonging to the EER and Albania, Algeria; Argentina; Australia; Bosnia-Herzegovina; Brasil; Canada; Chili; India; Israel; Japan; Macedonia; Moldavia; Montenegro; Morocco; The Philippines; Québec; San Marino; Serbia; South-Korea; Tunisia; Turkey; United States; Uruguay)
  • Postdoc with Marie Curie contract

Once you have activated your account using the registration tool, you can make an appointment to sign your contract. This is possible every working day at 8:30 a.m. If you wish to sign your contract at your own campus, send your HR adviser an e-mail, and they will find a suitable opportunity to sign your contract.

Your contract will be sent to you by mail, if you are:

  • Postdoc with scholarship (except those with a Marie Curie contract)
  • Research associates (“wetenschappelijk medewerker”) and AAP personnel employed less than 50 %
  • PhD with scholarship with limited RSZ

Staff card

As a KU Leuven staff member, you will also receive a staff card. It offers you a number of functionalities in your work environment, such as access to your workplace and library, and a discount in the student restaurant (Alma). Your staff card will be sent to your work address. If you are employed for less than 50% and you did not provide a foreign address in your application or when registering your details, your card will be sent to your home address.

Doctoral ombudspersons

The success of a PhD depends on the mutual commitment of the PhD researcher and the supervisor and on the harmonious relationship between them. 

Doctoral students can contact the ombudspersons of their Doctoral School for advice and with questions and problems related to psychosocial well-being. Doctoral students and their supervisors can also turn to these specific ombudspersons to discuss questions or issues concerning their PhD project or supervision.

The doctoral ombudsperson will always treat your question or problem confidentially. He/she will listen to you and will help you to put your problem into perspective. In consultation with you, the ombudsperson can help you to make the problem more discussable or he/she can coach you by mediating between the parties involved or by referring you to a more specialised service.

You can contact the ombudsperson of the group, faculty or department you are affiliated with, their names and contact details can be found on this page.
Campuses Kulak and Bruges also have local ombudspersons who act as liaison to the Leuven ombudspersons.
PhDs from Kulak can contact Evelyne Terryn. 
PhDs from Bruges can contact Tine Dhaese.

KU Loket

KU Loket is the main portal for personnel and student status information. Make sure that all the correct information about you is registered in KU Loket. Your civil status, bank account details and number of dependents are important for the payment of your scholarship or wages.

All KU Leuven staff (= employed for at least three months and for at least 20%) are automatically signed up free of charge to the social hospital insurance policy. Please note: if you would also like to sign up your family members to this policy and/or wish to transfer to the private policy, you must return the affiliation form to KU Leuven’s Insurance Office within two months after you start working for KU Leuven.

  • Holidays

Do you have holiday certificates from one or more previous Belgian employers? If so, you should submit them as soon as possible to KU Leuven HR Department, Parijsstraat 72b, 3000 Leuven.

  • Availability of rooms
  • Applying for bus pass, KU Leuven bike
  • Doctoral school
  • PhD progress: milestones, summaries…
  • …

Tax declaration

Every year, you will receive a tax declaration from the Belgian Federal Public Service Finance. This tax declaration must always be signed and returned to the address indicated. Please do not mention any amount on your tax declaration if you only received a grant. You can also do your tax declaration via Tax-on-web.
If your salary is coming from a grant, you will receive an e-mail from the university with a statement attached concerning the grant you received for the corresponding year. This statement must be added to your tax declaration. The statement declares that the grant is a not taxable income (this means you are considered as professional not active).
Perhaps you receive a simplified proposition of taxation (voorstel van vereenvoudigde aangifte). If you approve with this proposition, you don’t have to do anything. If not, you have to do the necessary corrections on the proposition and send it back or make the corrections via Tax-on-web.
You can find more information here.

Commuting and travel

  • You can find information regarding the reimbursement of expenses related to your commute on the following webpage.
  • As KU Leuven staff you can request a free KU Leuven bike. A key to the bike facility located below the entrance to Building A can be requested at the reception (a deposit of 5 euros will be asked).

Telephone network KU Leuven Kulak

You need Lync 2013 on your computer. You will receive a personnel telephone number after you were assigned a u-number (check it on your “Who is who” page or on your personnel card). Lync 2013: available from Microsoft Office 2013 (can be provided by KU Leuven).