ConnectING_international edition, december2022

Quarterly • September-October-November-December 2021 • Delivery Office 3000 Leuven 1 • PB919663 

Magazine of the Faculty of 

Engineering Technology 

INTERNATIONAL 

Special edition 

December 2021 

Birgit Peeters 

AGORIA SOLAR TEAM 

WORLD CHAMPIONS 

WIN 2 ND EUROPEAN TITLE 

• Technovation Hub Academy 

• Job fairs 2021 

• Formula Electric Belgium 

• Microdegrees Health Technology 

• Robot-assisted eye surgery 

• Window printing in 3D 

• Student Ambassadors 

• First Alumni Award 

1

GOLD IN EUROPE, SILVER IN MOROCCO 

The engineering students of the Agoria Solar Team won the iLumen European Solar Challenge on Sunday, 19 September 2021, making them 

European champions for the second time in a row. The KU Leuven team participated with the 2019 solar car with which they won the world title in 

Australia. The Bluepoint Atlas, the newest solar car, finished second in the Solar Challenge Morocco in October 2021. 

CONTENT 

• Editorial 3 

• Faculty news 4 

• Educational development in focus 13 

• Students in focus 20 

• Professor in focus 18 

• Researcher in focus 16 

• Faculty worldwide 20 

• Alumni in focus 26 

• Alumni news 26 

COLOPHON 

ConnectING is the magazine of the Faculty of Engineering Technology of KU Leuven. 

It is published three times a year and is intended for all students and staff of the faculty 

and its 7 campuses, alumni, external relations and the broad social field with which 

the faculty maintains a network. 

Responsible publisher: Prof. Bert Lauwers, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering 

Technology | Editorial Board: Anja Huysmans (Madam Chairman), (Hilde Bonte) 

Kris Henrioulle a.i., Dorine Bruneel, Niels De Brier, Ellen Demarsin, Koen Eneman, 

Hilde Lauwereys, Yves Persoons, Inge Van Cauter, Louis van Hoye, Bart Vanrumste, 

Rens Vervaeke 

Editor: Yves Persoons | Editorial Secretariat: Inge Van Cauter 

Editorial Adress: 

ConnectING 

Faculty of Engineering Technology 

Willem de Croylaan 56, building E, bus 2203 

3001 Heverlee (Belgium) 

+00 32 53 72 71 86 (Secretariat) 

connecting@kuleuven.be 

www.fet.kuleuven.be 

Photos: Joren De Weerdt, Julie Feyaerts, Tom Talloen and Filip Van Loock. 

Layout and printing Office: 

artoos group – www.artoosgroup.eu 

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KLIMAATNEUTRAAL GEDRUKT CERT. NUMMER: 53520-2009-1003 

2

EDITORIAL 

WELL-CONNECTED 

THROUGH THE CRISIS 

What do the coronavirus pandemic and global warming 

have in common? More than you might think. Both are 

global hot topics, with believers and non-believers, 

proponents, and deniers, creating daily polemics about what is 

right or wrong. 

Meanwhile, scientists and engineers worldwide continue to 

search for solutions, knowing that there is no miracle cure. 

Moreover, it is also clear that no individual, country, or continent 

can unravel this tangle on its own. 

People and nations depend on cooperation, willingly or not. This 

requires not only good will but also good connections to build 

on. Connecting and developing offer ways out of the crises, they 

are building blocks for the future. 

This magazine is called ‘ConnectING’. Our faculty is the product 

of connecting & developing. It is our daily work. This magazine 

shows the results of that work. A good example is the 

Technovation Hub Academy that was launched in the spring. 

Academia and industry are working together to stimulate the 

creativity and entrepreneurship of future engineers. A highlight of 

connectivity were the job fairs on our campuses. In their virtual 

form, they were on par with the live editions from the pre-Corona 

era. 

Technovation Hub groups, coordinates, and supports our 

faculty’s showpieces: the student teams. Future engineers put 

their shoulders to an ambitious project in which they can prove 

their technological and entrepreneurial skills. This issue contains 

the exploits of the Solar Team in the iLumen Solar Race and the 

Moroccan Solar Challenge as well as the performance of the 

Formula Belgium Electric Team during the international Formula 

Student Competition in the summer. Both teams are closely 

linked with business and industry. Together, they also share a 

higher goal: making the public and young people aware of 

renewable energy and carbon-free mobility. 

A man who has made the fight for climate his life’s work is Serge 

de Gheldere, alumnus of our faculty. He was Al Gore’s first 

European climate ambassador. He has already advised dozens 

of governments, cities, and regions in the transition to sustainable 

energy. The fact that he won the first Award of Alumni Engineers 

KU Leuven makes us particularly proud. 

From climate to health is only a small step. After all, both are also 

connected. In this issue, we look at what our researchers have 

achieved in the field of robot eye surgery, personal health care 

systems and safeguarding privacy in the health sector. 

Our connections transcend the boundaries of countries and 

continents. Despite the corona pandemic, the number of new 

international students in the bachelor’s program increased by 

30% this year. In the master’s programs, it even doubled. In this 

issue we highlight Indian and Thai students from the twinning 

and dual degree programmes. 

In times of crisis, people and nations tend to turn in on themselves. 

This is understandable but it does not ensure sustainable 

solutions. In the spirit of never waste a good crisis, the actual 

challenges and difficulties should be considered as opportunities 

to rethink, re-imagine, and recreate our daily routines. A good 

connectivity can be a golden service in this respect. 

Professor Bert Lauwers 

Dean of the Faculty of Engineering Technology 

CONNECTING 

3

FACULTY NEWS 

Ellen Demarsin 

© Julie Feyaerts 

TECHNOVATION HUB: 

THE CHALLENGE OF (GLOBAL) 

NETWORKED ENGINEERING 

COMMUNITIES 

4

On 6 May 2021, Technovation Hub organised its third Innovation & Networking Evening, 

for the first time entirely online. For the student teams, it was a ‘moment de gloire’ to 

show off their achievements and to share expertise with the participants and with each 

other. Ellen Demarsin made her widely acclaimed entrance as the new Executive 

Committee member of Technovation Hub. 

E 

llen inherits one of the faculty’s 

showpieces from her predecessor 

Chrisje Haenen. Since 2016, 

Technovation Hub has been the 

breeding ground in which engineering 

talent and entrepreneurship merge and 

result in innovative projects set up by 

ambitious student teams. These teams 

in turn attract other students, take part 

in international competitions and have 

themselves become examples of 

networked engineering communities. 

Excellent mix 

“The COVID-19 restrictions and lack of 

direct contact did not negatively affect 

attendance”, Ellen noted. “With more 

than 100 participants we remained at 

the same level of the previous live 

editions. In terms of audience diversity, 

we are doing even better: 21% 

students, 42% professionals from 

companies and 37% professors and 

researchers. An excellent mix of profiles 

and backgrounds for cross-fertilisation 

and networking”. 

The programme contained the by now 

classic ingredients: a welcome by the 

dean, a prominent guest speaker, a 

panel discussion, workshops by the 

student teams and a networking 

moment at the end. Prof. Bert Lauwers, 

Dean of the Faculty of Engineering 

Technology opened the event with a 

comparison: “Our multicampus faculty 

in itself is a model of a networked 

engineering community. The 

cooperation between seven campuses 

has led to a new engineering curriculum, 

intense involvement of the business 

world, participation in the international 

Design Factory Global Network, joining 

the Siemens Industry Academy and 

much more. Technovation Hub can be 

called the emanation of the profile of 

our education and the mission of our 

faculty”. 

T-shaped engineers 

Further in his speech, Prof. Lauwers 

called interdisciplinary cooperation the 

engine of innovation. “The increasing 

complexity of engineering has torn 

down the fences between disciplines. 

Therefore, engineers are required to 

master knowledge, skills and attitudes 

outside their traditional comfort zone. 

This has led to the rise of what is 

known as the ‘T-shaped engineer’. 

Essentially, the T-shaped concept is a 

metaphor for the depth and the breadth 

that a professional needs in his/her 

competence. The vertical bar 

represents the depth of related skills 

and expertise in a single field, whereas 

the horizontal bar represents the 

breadth of skills and the ability to 

collaborate across disciplines with 

experts in other areas. For engineers, 

this means not only possessing deep 

technical skills, but also having broader 

attitudes such as empathy, 

entrepreneurial and communication 

skills, team spirit and the ability to 

collaborate. Characteristic of the 

T-shaped engineers is their dynamic 

versatility: the continuous alternation of 

deepening and broadening. The 

T-shaped concept is the success 

formula of each of our student teams”. 

Enabling breakthrough 

Koen Verhaert, CEO of Verhaert 

Masters in Innovation, was the keynote 

speaker. He runs a group of product 

innovation companies helping other 

companies and entrepreneurs to 

innovate, creating new products, 

business and services. According to 

Koen Verhaert, innovation must meet 

the following criteria: user-centred, 

business-driven, multidisciplinary and 

enabled by technology. Only an 

integrated approach allows you to align 

products, markets and investments in 

the most optimal way. “Innovation is 

possible on different levels and in 

different phases. To start with, you can 

inject innovation into your core business 

by attracting specialists or calling in 

external experts. When it comes to 

adjacent innovation, you move into 

other areas and have to introduce new 

technologies. A third option is the 

disruptive approach, in which you 

resolutely take a completely different 

path. Each of these formulas has its 

own approach and methodology”. 

After the innovative workshops 

traditionally provided by the student 

teams, Prof. Gerard Govers, Vice 

Rector Science, Engineering and 

Technology of KU Leuven, pronounced 

the closing words. He emphasised the 

educational added value of the student 

projects and the exemplary role of 

Technovation Hub in creating and 

supporting so much innovation and 

entrepreneurship. 

And Ellen? She could not wish for a 

better total immersion in her new job 

and professional environment. Grateful 

for the preparatory work of her 

predecessor and her colleagues, she 

takes up the torch, determined to 

tackle the challenge of (global) 

networked engineering communities. 

Yves Persoons 

www.technovationhub.be 

CONNECTING 

5

CAMPUS NEWS 

MAKERSPACE LEUVEN: 

CREATING THE 

FUTURE TOGETHER 

In the old industrial heart of Europe’s most innovative city, a ‘making & learning space’ has 

recently been set up. Those who expect a studio for technicians, hobbyists or do-ityourselvers 

should revise their opinion. The building is more than just a space. The Leuven 

making & learning space presents itself as an innovation mindset that relies on the potential of 

multidisciplinary collaboration and co-creation. Group T Campus is present with a High-Tech 

Lab and a STEAM studio. Coordinators Jeroen Buijs and Stijn De Jonge tell the story. 

The Vaartkom area in Leuven has 

undergone a complete transformation 

in just a few years. “It 

seems as if from the first industrial 

revolution we have immediately moved 

on to Industry 4.0”, Jeroen believes. 

“The technological revolution that the 

making processes have recently 

undergone puts building and making 

back in the spotlight. All over the world, 

makerspaces are popping up like 

mushrooms as centres of innovation and 

out-of-the-box thinking. In Leuven, the 

city has taken the initiative to bring 

together a wide range of actors. These 

are certainly not only knowledge 

institutions and businesses, but also 

social organisations, youth centres, 

artists, ... in short, everyone who has 

made the city what it is and contributes 

to what it will become. The Faculty of 

Engineering Technology will also be 

present with its Leuven campus, but 

also with Technovation Hub and CORE, 

the cooperative of engineering students 

that develops concepts around rational 

energy use and the circular economy. 

Practices 

“You can best compare the making & 

learning space to an ecosystem where 

across all ages, backgrounds, disciplines 

and sectors people work together on the 

challenges of today and tomorrow,” Stijn 

continues. “The participants not only 

share the space, but also ideas, materials 

and expertise. In this way, they help 

shape and give substance to practices 

where everyone learns from each other.” 

“To realize such practices, you obviously 

need materials,” Jeroen notes. “We work 

with four essential raw materials. These 

are ‘people-in-relation’ with other people 

and the environment, ‘materials’ (from 

wood to vegetables), ‘energy’ (gas and 

electricity but also muscle power) and 

finally ‘knowledge and skills’. These raw 

materials must not only be used 

sustainably, but also in a circular manner. 

In other words, nothing must go to waste. 

What is used is reused or given a new 

purpose. This also applies to the spaces 

in the building. The layout of these spaces 

can change according to the needs and 

circumstances. That is why there is also 

a ‘white space’ with which you can 

figuratively go in all directions”. 

Subspaces 

The making & learning space is located in 

the mills of Orshoven and the silos of the 

old Stella Artois brewery. “There you will 

find eight so-called sharing places,” 

explains Stijn. “These are art studios, a 

co-working space, a Low-Tech Lab for 

tinkerers and repairers, a New Media Lab 

for beginners and professionals, a 

vegetable garden and of course a 

canteen, the beating art of the building”. 

“Group T Leuven Campus has committed 

to two sub-places,” Jeroen adds. “The 

first is the High-Tech Lab. There we are 

tackling the problem of plastic pollution. 

Our goal is to install a circular 

manufacturing lab where plastic waste 

serves as a raw material for innovative 

materials and products. We are also 

going to build a recycling machine for 

plastic there”. 

“Our second subplot is the STEAM studio. 

STEAM is STEM with the A of ‘arts’ 

added. This totally matches our vision of 

linking sciences, technology, and maths 

with the creative and the artistic. There is 

also a perfect connection with the 

location. The Vaartkom has grown into 

the creative hotspot of Leuven, with 

numerous creative businesses and art 

studios. It is a biotope where our students, 

teachers and researchers immediately 

feel at home”. 

Two-way traffic 

The partners of the Leuven making & 

learning space also do not recoil to 

question the concept of the makerspace 

itself. “We want to break the traditional 

pattern of ‘citizen science’ or even turn it 

around completely,” Stijn confirms. 

“Usually, it is scientists who involve 

citizens in their research, just think of 

counting birds or capturing fine dust. Our 

space wants to challenge citizens and 

young people, to come up with their own 

research questions. They do not have to 

look far. Mobility, traffic safety, noise 

pollution, health, energy use, food safety, 

... the topics are up for grabs. 

Yves Persoons 

www.maakleerplekleuven.be 

6

Andreas Monsieur, Mostafa Elkhouly, Hannah Gunsch, Bram Van Bogaert & Antoine Devroe 


CONNECTING 

7

CAMPUS NEWS 

GREAT APPRECIATION 

FOR CALL ACTION 

INTERNATIONAL OFFICE 

GROUP T LEUVEN CAMPUS 

8 

Ranjini Mayichery, Zhibin Sun, Arnoud Martens, Vera Psarogianni and Wim Polet 

© Julie Feyaerts

If the Belgian students already have a hard time during the corona pandemic, the problems 

of the international students are sometimes even bigger. Especially, first-year students report 

a lack of social contact and motivating support of their fellow students and professors. 

During March 2021, Group T Leuven Campus International Office organised a telephone call 

among its foreign students. The initiative was highly appreciated by the students and by the 

Task Force International Students of KU Leuven. 

Group T Leuven Campus is the 

faculty’s most international 

campus. Over 25% of the 2,400 

engineering students are foreign and 

study in the English-language bachelor’s 

and master’s programmes. Together they 

represent over 60 nationalities. This 

academic year, more than 150 foreigners 

enrolled directly in the first bachelor of 

Engineering Technology. 

“That it would be a difficult year, we 

already knew after the experience with 

COVID-19 in the second semester of last 

year”, says Wim Polet, Director of the 

International Office. “That is why over this 

academic year we already organised a 

survey on well-being and digital education, 

information sessions for worried parents 

and family at home and relaxation 

activities during the Christmas holidays. 

We also offered so called ‘walking talkies’ 

Well-being 

“These activities have all proven useful, 

but we were nevertheless left with an 

uneasy feeling that we still knew too little 

about the individual well-being of the 

international students”, Wim continues. 

“We know from experience that students 

do not always take the first step 

themselves, so we decided to contact 

them directly by phone. Not for a formal 

interview, but for an informal personal 

talk”. 

In March, the International Office staff, 

together with the student counsellors and 

the mentors, started the call round. “It 

was not always easy”, Wim confirms. “We 

did not have the phone number of all 

students and not everyone was equally 

eager to cooperate. In the end, we 

succeeded in speaking to 200 students. 

On the average, a call lasted about 30 

minutes. But some talks took more than 

an hour. It is no coincidence that most of 

these were first-year students”. 

Peers 

During the calls, open questions were 

asked so that the students could tell end 

ventilate their stories. Can they still cope 

with the study? Do they need more or 

different social contacts? What do they 

think of the past semester? What can the 

campus do to make life and study more 

comfortable, etc. “The calls confirmed 

that the first-year students are having a 

hard time”, Wim says. “They are studying 

in a new environment in a foreign country. 

They have not built a network yet and they 

miss the opportunity to compare 

themselves with peers because of the 

online education. Many students are 

afraid to ask for help. The invisibility of 

fellow students increases this uncertainty. 

Added to this is the corona pandemic, the 

fear of contamination, the concern for 

their parents and relatives far away and 

living in a lockdown and deserted city. In 

18% of the students, we found that 

permanent monitoring or even professional 

help was needed. These students were 

referred to the university health centres. 

With the older students, we got a very 

different picture. They already have a 

network and connections and are 

therefore more resilient”. 

Student-friendly 

“The students we spoke, all appreciated 

our initiative”, Wim concludes. “It gave 

them a feeling of recognition, of 

reassurance that the university cares 

about them. It contributed to the support 

and the self-confidence they need to get 

through this difficult period. In that respect 

our action has been successful. However, 

it required a considerable investment of 

time and energy on the part of the staff. 

But if we are serious about 

internationalisation, we owe it to our 

international students. Moreover, we 

profile our campus, our faculty and the 

university as a customer-oriented and 

student-friendly environment. This, in 

turn, enhances our international imago. In 

short, everyone benefits from our call 

action”. 

Yves Persoons 

CONNECTING 

9

CAMPUS NEWS 

JOB FAIRS 2021: 

ENGINEERS REMAIN 

IN DEMAND 

Online recruitment and application were the standard this year. The transition from live to 

virtual went fast and smooth on all campuses of the Faculty of Engineering Technology. 

Against all expectations, the virtual job fairs had a high turnout and in many respects were not 

inferior to the live editions in the pre-coronation era. The pandemic has not affected the 

demand for engineers, that much is clear. 

Organising a job fair amid the 

COVID 19 crisis, did not create 

high expectations on the campuses. 

De Nayer Campus and the 

Thomas More college, which traditionally 

organise the largest job fair, opened a 

joint platform with their colleagues at Geel 

Campus to make sure there were enough 

companies and vacancies. Lieze 

Rombauts, communication manager at 

De Nayer Campus, speaks of a good decision. 

“With 245 companies, we are 

approaching the number we had at the 

physical job fair last year. The online formula 

has not deterred our loyal customers 

from registering again. Together they offered 

930 vacancies, not only for 

technology engineers but also for professional 

bachelors”. 

“The success of the joint exhibition is also 

evident from the other figures,” says Ellen 

Mostmans, communication manager at 

Geel Campus “For example, 2500 final-year 

students were uploaded to the 

system. 940 penultimate year students, 

lecturers and external visitors registered. 

This resulted in 35,000 visits to the 

stands, 8,600 job consultations, 435 direct 

applications, 1,780 chat 

conversations and 660 direct messages 

sent by visitors. 

The joint job fair of the De Nayer and Geel 

campuses also provided online job application 

training and sessions on topics 

such as a doctorate, innovative entrepreneurship, 

further study at the faculty and 

KU Leuven and the educational master’s 

for engineers. One-on-one interviews with 

Organisational Psychology students were 

possible. 

Panel discussion 

At the opening of the fair on 9 March, a 

panel discussion in collaboration with 

Kanaal Z was scheduled with Martine 

Reynaerts, CEO of Reynaerts Aluminium, 

Hans Maertens, managing director of 

VOKA, Prof. Luc Sels, Rector of KU 

Leuven and Stijn Coenen, General Director 

of Thomas More. The speakers stressed 

the crucial importance of innovation, entrepreneurship 

and multidisciplinarity for 

the graduated engineers. Besides a solid 

technical knowledge, professional skills 

are also indispensable for a young professional. 

And if you want to be successful in 

your career, lifelong learning is a natural 

attitude. After the panel discussion, Hilde 

Crevits, Vice-Minister-President and 

Flemish Minister for Economy, Innovation 

and Employment opened the joint virtual 

fair. 

Primeur 

This year, Ghent Technology Campus organised 

a completely virtual fair for the 

first time and joined forces with Odisee 

University College. “With 75 companies 

we did not reach the 130 of previous 

years, but with 860 vacancies we more 

than made up for it,” says communications 

manager Laura Taelman. “The 254 

final-year students who visited the fair 

participated in 1,878 job consultations 

and 110 direct applications. 178 students 

participated in the chat sessions and 450 

sent a message to a company. During the 

job fair, the students could have their CVs 

screened at Randstad and the Student 

Career Centre. There were also information 

sessions on topics such as doctoral 

studies, further studies, and innovative 

entrepreneurship. 

Bruges Campus opted for a small-scale 

initiative to replace the physical job fair. 

For half a day, parallel online sessions of 

30 minutes each were organised, during 

which students could choose from four 

sessions scheduled at the same time,” 

says organizer Isabelle Vervenne. “This 

way, each student could get to know at 

least eight companies. In total, 30 com- 

10


panies were involved, and 125 students 

took part, including final-year professional 

bachelor students from Vives University 

College”. 

“The students were quite satisfied with 

the format”, continues Isabelle. Many 

questions were asked during the sessions. 

But everyone agreed that a physical 

fair is preferable to an online version”. 

Career Days 

The same message can be heard at 

Group T Campus in Leuven. The virtual 

fair opened its doors on 10 February with 

87 exhibitors. “That was considerably less 

than the 150 we had last year, but the 

virtual fair stands up to comparison when 

it comes to job vacancies,” says Vanessa 

Elsen, Communication & Events staff 

member. “The 419 vacancies have been 

consulted 6,046 times so far, resulting in 

506 applications. The stands themselves 

were visited 15,284 times. Students and 

exhibitors together initiated 653 conversations. 

The students themselves took 

the initiative 564 times. At the same time, 

a lot of messages were exchanged: 2421 

by the exhibitors and 1002 by the students. 

These figures date from the end of 

April. The virtual fair runs until the end of 

September. We expect a new wave of 

registrations after the exam period”. 

At Group T Leuven Campus, too, the virtual 

fair was accompanied by flanking and 

complementary activities, including the 

Online Career Days organized by the student 

organization Industria. These 

consisted of company presentations and 

meetings for final-year students and recruiters. 

Second Life 

While virtual fairs may not be able to 

match their physical counterparts, they 

are not limited to a one-day event. The 

fairs on most campuses remain online 

until autumn. Now that it appears that 

business confidence is on the rise again, 

this could well be an important asset. 

According to the World Trade 

Organisation, global trade is recovering 

better than expected from the pandemic, 

with trade volumes expected to increase 

by 8% in 2021. In addition, the WHO is 

also forecasting global growth of 5.1% 

after a 3.8% drop in 2020. The figures of 

the Starters Atlas, published on 21 April 

by Graydon together with the employers’ 

organisation Unizo show that never so 

many Flemings have taken the step towards 

entrepreneurship. A total of 65,555, 

1.1% more than in 2019. 

If, because of vaccination and falling infections, 

business and consumer 

confidence returns, the virtual job fairs on 

the campuses may be in for a second life. 

If engineers were still very much in demand 

even at the height of the coronary 

crisis, they will be even more so when the 

economy starts to recover. 

Yves Persoons 

CONNECTING 

11

EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN FOCUS 

Prof. Paul Leroux 

© Joren De Weerdt 

12

RADMEP: FROM RESEARCH 

PROJECT TO INTERNATIONAL 

MASTER’S PROGRAMME 

At Geel Campus, the ADVISE research group is involved in the development of chips that are 

able to withstand ionizing radiation. During meetings with the European Laboratory for Particle 

Physics, CERN, in Geneva, the idea arose for establishing a research network in this field. This 

became RADSAGA, a successful Horizon 2020 ITN network on radiation effects in microchips. 

The project includes top institutes such as ESA and CNES, renowned companies such as 

Airbus and Intel, and partner universities. The RADMEP partners all come from this network. 

Fifteen PhD tracks at different institutes 

in Europe have been supported 

through the RADSAGA project. Prof. 

Paul Leroux, chair of Geel Campus, has 

been promoting six RADSAGA PhDs and 

served as RADSAGA coordinator for 

outreach, communication and training in 

the network. “One of the RADSGA dreams 

was to establish an international school on 

radiation effects in electronics as a 

RADSAGA legacy“, explains Prof. Leroux. 

“This ambition remained active during the 

course of the project. With four RADSAGA 

protagonists, we decided that the best 

way forward is an Erasmus Mundus 

Master’s application under the lead of 

Université Jean-Monnet of Saint-Etienne in 

France. One year later we have the 

RADMEP programme granted with a 

substantial European funding for the 

coming five years”. 

Implementation 

The students in RADMEP will start their 

first semester at the University of Jyvaskyla 

in Finland. In the second semester of the 

programme, they will travel to our Faculty 

of Engineering Technology at Geel Campus 

for a full semester of courses. 

“Microelectronics is the main focus, ranging 

from basic to advanced imple men - 

tation courses”, Prof. Leroux continues. 

“Also a workshop in photonics will be 

included in the programme, partly with 

external specialised lecturers. In the third 

semester, the students who specialise in 

Microelectronics will continue their study 

at the University of Montpellier. Those 

who specialize in photonics will move to 

the University of Saint-Etienne”. 

KU Leuven will also play an important role 

in the quality assurance board in 

RADMEP, as this will be coordinated by 

Prof. Wim Van Petegem. 

The preparation for next year’s first edition 

of the master programme at KU Leuven is 

already in full swing. The timetable of some 

courses on Geel Campus has been 

adapted to fit with the new RADMEP 

master. Some courses are already taught 

in English and recorded, such that they 

can be offered in a blended format next 

year. Meanwhile no less than 62 students 

have applied. The screening and selection 

of applicants is currently ongoing. 

The academic course team in Geel also 

includes academics such as Jeffrey 

Prinzie, Guy Meynants, Valentijn De 

Smedt, Peter Karsmakers and Mariya 

Ishteva. Together they will offer 22 credits 

of mandatory courses and five optional 

courses with each 4 ECTS from which the 

students will select two modules. 

IMPACT 

The most obvious impact will be visible on 

Geel Campus, where a tradition of international 

PhD researcher already exists, 

but an international master’s programme 

is new. Moreover, RADMEP is expected 

to give an impulse for outgoing international 

mobility. According to Prof. Leroux, 

RADMEP will be a challenge for the 

administrative services, but the enthusiasm 

is great and obviously the campus 

can rely on the experience of the faculty’s 

international team. 

“The relation to research is also selfevident”, 

says Prof. Leroux. “The students 

are trained in the core of our research 

field, and hopefully several of them will be 

motivated to start a PhD after completing 

the RADMEP master. Moreover, these 

students are already screened beforehand, 

so they will have a good starting 

level. The intention is to create a fruitful 

interaction between education, research 

and relevant industries.” 

The early dream of “an international 

school of radiation to electronics” thus 

takes shape. 

How does this fit in the career path of 

Prof. Leroux? “I feel very honoured to be 

a part of this project. Even though 

developing a new master’s programme is 

a lot of work. Fifteen years ago, I started 

with a research group, five years ago this 

resulted in a two-person spin-off company 

(MAGICS Instruments), which has already 

grown to over 20 people in size, and now 

a third aspect is to start, a new master’s 

programme. Summarizing: what started 

with a small seed, is now a big tree with 

growing branches in research, industry 

and education.” 

Hilde Lauwereys 

CONNECTING 

13

STUDENT IN FOCUS 

14

IF WE CAN’T DO IT 

IN AUSTRALIA, 

WE’LL RACE IN AFRICA 

On 2 August, 2021 the Agoria Solar Team presented the Bluepoint Atlas. It is the ninth 

Belgian solar car that engineering students from Leuven have designed and built since 

2005. After the cancellation of the World Solar Challenge 2021 in Australia, the world 

champions went looking for a new challenge. At the end of October, they finished 

second in the Morocco Solar Challenge. 

Redefining Possibilities’. Under 

that motto, the ninth Solar Team 

rethought the concept, the design, 

and the technology of the solar 

car down to the smallest detail. “We 

did our utmost to build the highest performing 

solar car”, confirms team 

manager Victor Verhaert. “The 

Bluepoint Atlas therefore does not only 

look different, also the interior differs in 

many ways from its predecessors.” 

The most striking feature is the socalled 

‘bullet design’ or the pointed 

hyper-streamline shape. “This ensures 

minimal air pressure resistance during 

driving, which ultimately results in 

greatly reduced energy consumption,” 

says Gilles De Baets, aerodynamics 

engineer. “When designing, we were 

inspired by nature, especially birds and 

fish. In the pointed nose of the car, you 

recognise the head of a shark and from 

the back, the car looks like the wings 

of a falcon. Both animals are masters 

of speed, resilience and efficiency”. 

In addition to its unique shape, the 

solar car also has one less wheel than 

its predecessors. “With a threewheeler, 

there is less contact surface 

with the ground, which results in less 

friction. Nevertheless, to maintain 

stability, we equipped the car with two 

wheels at the front and one central 

wheel at the back,” said Elliot Coone of 

the Energy & Electronics Department. 

Sustainable solar cells 

Another innovation in the Bluepoint 

Atlas is the solar panel, made from 

high-performance silicon solar cells. 

“While these cells have a lower 

efficiency than the multijunction solar 

cells on the previous solar cars, they 

are much more durable in production,” 

says Pieter Janssen of the Electrical 

Engineering Department. “The solar 

cells are cut into perfect squares to fit 

as many units as possible in a limited 

area, allowing us to build a smaller 

solar car. At the edges of the car, the 

solar cells have been slightly bent using 

a special technique to save space. The 

entire solar panel contains 292 silicon 

cells, which together deliver almost 

1000 watts of power”. 

Completely new is the motor. For the 

first time, the Solar Team has built its 

own electric motor. “Our motor is 

specially designed for the solar car”, 

explains electrical engineer Arne 

Cambien. “That means it has an 

efficiency of over 97%, which is much 

better than any motor you can buy on 

the market. To compare: the electric 

motor of a Tesla has a peak efficiency 

of 94%. A classic combustion engine 

doesn’t even reach 50%”. The new 

battery pack is also worth mentioning. 

This gives the Bluepoint Atlas a range 

of 700 km without having to ‘refuel’ 

with solar energy. 

Sahara 

At the end of October, the team 

participated in the Solar Challenge 

Morocco, a new race through the 

Moroccan Sahara and the Atlas 

Mountains. “The Bluepoint Atlas 

covered some 2,500 km in five days in 

difficult conditions and terrain,” says 

Birgitt Peeters, pilot and Head of 

Marketing. “We won two of the five 

rides, but that was just not enough for 

a first place. We are quite satisfied with 

the silver medal. It is a good run-up to 

the next world championships in 

Australia”. 

Yves Persoons 

www.solarteam.be 

CONNECTING 

15


CHECKR TEAM WINS 

UNIVERSITAS 21 MOST 

INNNOVATIVE RISE AWARD 

After two top prizes in the KU Leuven KICK Challenge 2020, Nikte Van 

Landeghem’s team continues to pile up the victories. Their record of 

achievements now includes the Most Innovative RISE Award of Universitas 

21, a select network of 27 world-class universities whose students, 

researchers and staff are committed to sharing excellence, collaborating 

across borders and disciplines and nurturing international knowledge and 

exchange. 

Nikte graduated in 2020 at Group T Leuven 

Campus with a master’s degree in 

Electromechanical Engineering Technology. 

Afterwards, she followed the postgraduate 

programme in Innovation and Entrepreneurship in 

Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering 

Technology. “During the KICK Challenge, I became 

fascinated with entrepreneurship and innovation”, 

Nikte says. “We developed and built an original 

CheckR kit. The next logical step was to take it to 

the market”. 

What makes Nikte’s product unique, is the idea of 

involving pharmacists in the detection of potential 

high-risk patients. During their visit to the pharmacy, 

customers can test in a simple and fun way whether 

or not they are at risk of contracting conditions that 

could be avoided if they are detected in time. This 

is done using a kit consisting of a VR headset, a 

controller and a heart sensor to measure several 

cognitive, muscular and cardiovascular parameters 

such as heart rhythm, blood pressure, memory and 

vision as well as motoric skills. The game lasts 

barely five minutes, but it provides the pharmacists 

with sufficient information to determine whether 

there is a health risk and a referral to a doctor or 

hospital is necessary. “Both the customer and the 

pharmacist benefit from the test”, says Nikte. “The 

former prevents health problems and the latter can 

offer an extra service to the client”. 

Final round 

In April 2021, the CheckR project was selected by 

KU Leuven for the final round of the RISE 2021 

Awards of Universitas 21, an international competition 

for student projects with a Real Impact on Society 

and Environment. The Leuven team had to compete 

against 55 projects, representing more than 200 

students from 23 universities. 

All projects were showcased on U21’s website and 

social media channels and shared with a network of 

experts in academia and industry. In addition, all the 

students involved had the opportunity to take part in 

a preparatory training programme whilst gaining 

exposure to U21’s international audience of 

supporters. Finalists competed in four categories to 

win USD 2,000 seed funding to further their projects, 

with awards given for Most Innovative, Most 

Collaborative, Most Impact and Most Potential. 

Sustainable Development Goals 

Nikte and her team mates look back with pride on 

their participation in the RISE 2020/21 Competition. 

“Being part of it has been very inspiring. We had the 

opportunity to follow three workshops to help further 

our project, but the most impactful experience was 

hearing about the other projects around the world. 

It was great to hear about the inspiring work that 

fellow students were doing to contribute in one way 

or another to the Sustainable Development Goals. 

Having the opportunity to connect with such 

international community of students all working 

together for social impact is an invaluable 

experience”. 

Yves Persoons 

www.universitas21.com/Rise-202021-showcase 

16

Nikte Van Landeghem and Salma Nachi 

© Filip Van Loock 

CONNECTING 

17


THE SUMMER OF 

FORMULA ELECTRIC 

BELGIUM 

The Aurora Mikir, the thirteenth electric car of the Formula 

Electric Belgium team, survived its baptism of fire on the 

European racetracks well. In the Czech Republic, there was 

even a podium finish. “A great performance for a car full of 

untried high tech”, says team leader Remko Schippers. 

In spring, the 29 Formula Electric 

Belgium engineering students unveiled 

their latest creation. A racing car 

equipped with a completely new aerodynamic 

package, super-light rims, more 

efficient cooling of the batteries and the 

motors, 11% more electrical power, the 

latest glass reinforced composites, an innovative 

suspension, ingenious control 

systems, ... together accounting for 200 

kg of high-tech with an acceleration capacity 

of 2.6 seconds from 0 to 100 km/h. 

With this car, the team participated last 

summer in the international Formula 

Student Competition 2021, a series of 

competitions in which student teams from 

all over the world compete against each 

other with self-built electric racing cars. 

Static and dynamic 

“Unlike F1 races or similar, the Formula 

Student Competition is not a classic 

race,” Remko explains. “Not only the 

performance of the car, but also the 

qualities of the team are tested and 

judged in two series of tests or ‘events’. 

During the dynamic ‘events’, the 

acceleration capacity of the car, the road 

holding and the endurance, among other 

things, are examined. The static ‘events’ 

are used to evaluate the design, the cost, 

and the business plan. During the 

presentation of your plan, you must be 

able to convince the jury to invest in your 

project. In the previous editions of the 

competition, we always scored well on 

design, acceleration and business plan 

because we design and build our cars 

ourselves”. 

To be admitted to the dynamic tests, the 

car is first subjected to a thorough 

scrutineering. “You can consider it as an 

entrance exam or -better still- as a highly 

technical inspection that takes up two to 

three days of the competition week. After 

each test, it is nail-biting waiting for the 

verdict of the jury”, says Remko. 

Podium place 

On the circuit of Most in the Czech 

Republic, the team from Leuven took on 

45 other teams from ten countries. The 

dreaded scrutineering went off without a 

hitch, as did the static tests. Result: two 

second places in Engineering Design and 

Cost & Manufacturing. The dynamic 

events started promising with a third 

place in the Autocross and a place in the 

top 5 of the Skid Pad Test and the 

Acceleration Test. 

“We could have done even better, had we 

been able to complete the 22 km long 

Endurance”, Remko remarks. 

“Unfortunately, when we changed pilots 

halfway through the race, the battery 

suddenly failed. Without that setback, we 

would have finished near the top. As is 

often the case, the devil was in the tail. 

From the Czech Republic, the team 

travelled on to Hungary for the Formula 

Student Competition East at the 

Hungaroring racetrack. “It promised to be 

even more exciting”, says Remko. “The 

scrutineering had been reduced by one 

18

day for organisational reasons, so even 

more pressure of time. And on the 

participants list there were all the top 

teams of the moment, each with solid 

racing experience and several victories on 

their record”. 

For the Belgian team, the race in Hungary 

was almost a copy of the race in the 

Czech Republic. Everything went 

according to plan until, during the 

Endurance Test, a stray cone on the road 

blocked the passage. Since the 

competition rules do not allow technical 

interventions during the race, the Aurora 

MkII had to pull over irrevocably. “Bad 

luck, otherwise, we would have had a 

clear round”, Remko regrets. 

Reliable 

After the summer competitions, the team 

members still look back on the European 

adventure with satisfaction. “We have 

mainly gained a lot of experience and 

have also grown as a team,” Remko puts 

into perspective. “That is why we are 

convinced that we will be better prepared 

in 2022. Over the next few months, we 

will be working hard to perfect the 

reliability of the new car. This means that 

we will be scrutinising each part of the car 

and building on these innovations. A year 

of innovation, then 2022 will be a year of 

consolidation. And targeting a place in the 

top five”. 

Yves Persoons 

www.formulaelectricbelgium.be 

19


STUDENT UNION 

INTERNATIONALISES 

AT A RAPID PACE 

Industria, Group T Leuven Campus’s student association, 

does not just provide entertainment and fun events. The 

association also plays an active role in the further 

internationalisation of the campus. Remarkably, two female 

presidium members take the lead. A portrait of Margaux at 

Business Relations and Rosário, Industria’s communications 

officer. 

Margaux Devos is of Spanish origin 

and went to school in France. 

And Maria do Rosário Quintas 

Baylina (Rosário to the friends) is from 

Porto, the second largest city of Portugal, 

on the Costa Verde. Margaux is studying 

Chemical Engineering Technology and 

Rosário is a master student of Electromechanical 

Engineering Technology. 

Both have known each other since their 

arrival in Leuven. Together they engaged 

in the student association Industria and 

were key figures in the bachelor presidium. 

In the current team, they have grown 

into true role models for the international 

student population on campus. But also, 

the Belgian students can take an example 

from their open mind and willingness to 

learn from each other. 

Entrepreneurs’ day 

Business Relations is a relatively recent 

department of Industria. Margaux 

participates in one of the top events: the 

annual Job Fair. “On our campus, we call 

it the Entrepreneurs’ Day,” she explains. 

“After all, it’s about more than jobs and 

vacancies. The companies also offer 

master’s theses, research projects or 

other forms of collaboration. On 24 

February, we will once again be organizing 

a physical fair in a large sports hall. We 

expect at least 100 companies. To give 

an idea of the size: during the virtual fair 

of 2021, there were 419 online vacancies 

offered. These were consulted more than 

6,000 times, resulting in 506 applications. 

The stands themselves were visited more 

than 15,000 times”. 

Margaux concentrates on preparing the 

students. To this end, she organises 

workshops on job application skills 

provided by selection and recruitment 

agencies. The CVs of the final year 

students are placed online and bundled in 

a ‘Talent Catalogue’ that is sent to the 

companies. Conversely, Margaux also 

provides a Job Guide for the students 

with the company profiles. This way, all 

parties can optimally prepare for the 

Entrepreneurs’ Day. She considers the 

matching of supply and demand to be the 

essence of her job. 

20

Communication mix 

Rosário started at the Sport department 

of Industria. She quickly realised that it 

was not enough to organise good 

activities. You also must communicate 

them properly to be successful. So now 

she uses all the channels Industria has at 

its disposal to communicate about its 

offerings. Website, social media, flyers, 

folders, posters, eye-catchers, etc. She 

devises the most effective communication 

mix for each event. 

“The formula for success does not exist,” 

Rosário says. “The student population on 

campus is too diverse, both among 

Belgians and international students. You 

cannot lump 80 different nationalities 

together. 

A group that deserves special attention, 

according to Rosário, are the students 

from the Asian partner universities. “They 

only arrive in Leuven in the second 

bachelor year, when most students have 

already settled in. Moreover, they usually 

come as a group and tend to clump 

together, and are less interested in getting 

closer to the others. This is unfortunate 

for everyone. This group deserves special 

attention”. 

Point of no return 

Despite the practical difficulties, Margaux 

and Rosário see the future evolving 

favourably. “The international student 

population is growing significantly faster 

than the Belgian one. With a share of 

30%, the point of no return has long been 

passed. We must work and live together, 

there is no other option. We can see a 

striking example of how this can work at 

Industria. Since a year, all staff meetings 

are held in English. The rest of the campus 

can learn a lot from this. 

Yves Persoons 

JMaria do Rosário Quintas Baylina and Margaux Devos 

CONNECTING 

21

PROFESSOR IN FOCUS 

MICRO DEGREES IN 

INNOVATIVE HEALTH 

TECHNOLOGY 

This academic year, the six partner institutions of the KU Leuven Association, in collaboration 

with the healthcare sector, started two interdisciplinary, modular courses via blended 

learning: a micro degree Health Innovation Facilitation and a micro degree Health Innovation 

Management. Hannelore Strauven (e-Media Research Lab – Group T Leuven Campus) 

coordinates the micro degree Management for executives. 

A 

micro degree stands for a compact, diploma-oriented 

program”, says Hannelore. “It is not a degree programme 

like a bachelor or a master, but the credits you obtain can 

be used in a regular programme, hence the name ‘diploma 

oriented’. A micro degree counts 20 to 30 credits, which 

corresponds with one third to half of a bachelor or master year”. 

“ 

“The great advantage of a micro degree is its flexibility,” continues 

Hannelore. “Our target audience are professionals in the care 

and welfare sector. These people usually have irregular working 

hours. To enable them to combine work and education, the 

programme is modular and can be followed via blended learning. 

The student can choose between one or more modules or go 

for the full programme”. 

Work field 

The healthcare sector was actively involved in the development 

of both micro degrees. “In our case, they were the Vlaams 

Welzijnsverbond (Flemish Welfare Association), In4care and 

Zorgnet Icuro (Care network Icuro), each representing numerous 

care institutions”, says Hannelore. “The COVID-19 pandemic has 

ensured that, among other things, in the care of the elderly, youth 

care, care for the disabled and childcare, digitisation has 

penetrated at a rapid pace. The digital competencies of the 

employees have not evolved to the same extent everywhere. As 

a result, there is a great need for training and retraining in the 

field. But that is not all. The pandemic has exposed a general 

need for professionalisation throughout the sector. Microdegrees 

have therefore been launched at the right time. 

Both programmes aim at their own target group. The micro 

degree Facilitation focuses on employees with a care, welfare, 

or technology profile. The micro degree Management focuses 

on professionals with a (strategic) policy function. “The first 

programme was developed by the five university colleges of the 

KU Leuven Association,” says Hannelore. “They have pooled 

their expertise to train employees to initiate or facilitate innovation 

projects or pathways. They are expected to fulfil a bridging 

function between the developers and the users. After all, it still 

takes too long before innovations penetrate professional practice 

and are used in the right place. The program of this micro degree 

consists of a common part and two clusters ‘Care & Welfare’ 

and ‘Technology’. The final piece is the development of a 

concrete case from practice”. 

Two faculties 

While the first micro degree initially targets mainly professional 

bachelors, the micro degree Management targets employees 

with a master’s degree. “This program is the product of the 

collaboration between the faculties of Medicine and Engineering 

Technology of KU Leuven,” explains Luc Geurts (e-Media 

Research Lab). “The students choose course units from the 

Master in Management and Policy of the health care, set up by 

the Faculty of Medicine, which they combine with the project 

subject Health Engineering Experience from the Advanced 

Master in Innovative Health Technology at Group T Leuven 

Campus, of which I am also the programme director. This 

Advanced Master is an international programme that focuses on 

the integration of technologies and methodologies into usable 

systems in the health sector.” 

For those who already have an engineering degree, Luc has 

some good news: “He or she can select courses from the entire 

curriculum of the Advanced Master”. 

Yves Persoons 

22

Hannelore Strauven and Prof. Luc Geurts 


CONNECTING 23

RESEARCH IN FOCUS 

Mirko Sinico 


24

THE ADDED VALUE 

OF ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING 

Under the motto ‘Additive is Addictive’, the technology federation Agoria and 

the Sirris technology centre organised the first 3D-Printing Student & Young 

Potentials Challenge in 2020. Mirko Sinico, doctoral researcher from Group T 

Leuven Campus and his team ‘Bionic-A-Mold’ won the award in the category 

‘Tackle a company-owned challenge’ with brio. 

Agoria and Sirris launched the 

3D-Printing Challenge to stimulate 

the creativity of young researchers 

and professionals while embracing 

3D-printing techniques. The challenge 

was to design and create an object 

composed exclusively from 3D-printed 

material. “Different 3D-printing techniques 

are at the basis of the Additive 

Manufacturing (AM) world”, explains 

Mirko. “AM refers to a group of production 

techniques in which parts are made from 

3D-model data, by joining materials layer 

by layer. AM offers many advantages 

compared to traditional subtractive manufacturing, 

such as its almost unlimited 

design freedom, enabling unprecedented 

levels of functional shapes, and the 

capability to produce personalised parts 

with improved material usage. This has 

evoked a true revolution in manufacturing 

and a rapid growth of the AM sector, 

representing a unique opportunity for the 

strongly-needed return of the manufacturing 

industry to Europe”. 

“Few people know that Belgium is actually 

a pioneer and a frontrunner in the 

development of 3D-printing, as quite a lot 

of early adopters are situated here”, Mirko 

continues. “It is therefore no coincidence 

that my interest in AM brought me to 

Belgium three years ago”. 

Doctoral research 

Mirko studied Materials Engineering at the 

University of Padova (Italy) and then 

specialized in AM at the Italian National 

Institute of Nuclear Physics. In 2017, he 

came to Leuven to work as a research 

associate on the project PAM² coordinated 

by Dr. Ir. Ann Witvrouw, Research & 

Innovation Manager at the KU Leuven 

Department of Mechanical Engineering. 

“PAM² stands for Precision Additive Metal 

Manufacturing”, says Mirko. “It was a 

three-year project that has now ended, 

funded by the EU Programme for 

Research and Innovation – Horizon 2020, 

in which a consortium of academic and 

industrial partners collaborated. The 

overall objective of PAM² was to ensure 

the availability of high-precision AM 

processes and computational design 

procedures. You have to know that AM of 

metals is a complex process with dozens 

of sensitive and interrelated process 

parameters, making it susceptible to 

thermal distor tions, defects and process 

drift. The agile modelling of those 

processes is beyond current 

computational power and new methods 

are needed to practically predict 

performance and inform design. In 

addition, metal AM produces highly 

textured surfaces and complex surface 

features that stretch the limits of 

contemporary metrology. The aim of 

PAM² was to improve precision by 

enhancing robustness, predictability and 

metrology and by developing CAE 

methods that empower rather than limit 

AM design”. 

During his work as research associate at 

PAM², Mirko joined the ‘Additive 

Manufacturing’ and the ‘Manufacturing 

Metrology’ research groups in the 

Department of Mechanical Engineering, 

under the supervision of prof. Wim Dewulf 

at Group T Leuven Campus and Dr. ir. 

Ann Witvrouw. He is preparing a PhD on 

improving the surface quality and 

inspection of selective laser melted tool 

steel parts, with a focus on industrial 

tooling and molding components. 

Video pitch 

For the 3D-Printing Challenge, a 5-minutes 

video pitch was required from the 

candidates, with a presentation of the 

3D-object and an explanation of the 

design process and its usability for the 

3D-printing manufacturing industry. 

Mirko and his team mates Ranjan Rajit 

and Moshiri Mandaná presented an 

original topology-optimised mold insert 

for an injection molding machine. In this 

device, heated liquid plastic is injected at 

high pressure into the mold where the 

material is given its final shape. “Thanks 

to the employment of a Design for 

AM-approach, our insert was significantly 

lighter and yet robust”, says Mirko. “We 

saved up to 50% of the material cost and 

gained more than 40% in production time 

considering a standard selective laser 

melting machine”. The jury praised the 

originality of the work, the creativity of the 

researchers and the market opportunity 

of the product. Prof. Wim Dewulf, Mirko’s 

promotor, was also quite impressed: 

“Rightful recognition for excellent and 

passionate academics with strong affinity 

for industrial application. A true ambassador 

of the PhD programme of KU Leuven 

Faculty of Engineering Technology”. 

Yves Persoons 

CONNECTING 25


ROBOT-ASSISTED 

EYE SURGERY 

The eye is not only our most developed sense, but also by far the most fragile. Worldwide, an 

estimated 244 million people suffer from visual impairments and disorders for which there is 

currently no remedy. Many problems are related to the retina, the most sensitive part of the 

eye. Jonas Smits, researcher at Group T Leuven Campus, developed the technology that allows 

surgeons to perform eye operations with unprecedented precision. For his pioneering work, he 

was awarded the James Dyson Award. 

More than 1,700 young researchers 

and inventors from 27 

countries competed for the prestigious 

2020 James Dyson Awards, 

named after the famous British inventor, 

designer, and entrepreneur. From the entries, 

the jury selected 81 national finalists. 

The Belgian winner was Jonas Smits, at 

that time a PhD student at the Robotics, 

Automation and Mechatronics research 

unit under Prof. Peter Slaets. 

Jonas graduated in 2015 as a master in 

Electromechanical Engineering Technology, 

focus ‘Intelligent Mechanics’. 

Previously, he already obtained a professional 

bachelor’s degree at the then KH 

Kempen (now Thomas More - Geel). 

During his master thesis on hip prostheses, 

he discovered the wonderful world of 

biomechanics and Health Engineering 

and decided to delve deeper into it. Prof. 

Manu Vander Poorten of the RAM group 

promptly offered him a research project 

on robot-assisted surgery. 

Microsurgery 

“Eye surgery is by definition precision 

work,” says Jonas. “Retinal microsurgery 

is the best example of this. The retina 

consists of, among other things, 126 

million sensory cells that catch the light 

that enters through the eye. These cells 

are shaped like cones and rods. The 

cones are occupied by pigmentary cells 

to perceive colour differences. The rods 

are used to distinguish light and dark. If 

you would compare it to digital signals, 

the retina has a bandwidth of 8.75 

megabits per second. So, this is a very 

complex and delicate sense, which is why 

retinal surgery often reaches the limits of 

human precision.” 

“Vitreoretinal surgery is a very challenging 

subspecialty in ophthalmology,” Jonas 

continues. “It is performed with the aid of 

a microscope and via hands that are 

probably already among the most stable 

in the world. But even then, unintentional 

movements such as hand tremors or eye 

rotations can throw a spanner in the 

works. As a result, some treatments are 

still limited or simply impossible to carry 

out. So, there is a need for performanceenhancing 

technology. 

Challenge 

In his research into safer treatment 

methods, Jonas faced three challenges. 

“First of all, you have to be able to stabilize 

the eye during the operation. Furthermore, 

the surgical precision must be increased. 

And - finally - you must also be able to 

immobilise the instrument itself. During 

my research, I had the opportunity to help 

make a world first in the field of robotassisted 

retinal surgery possible. The 

surgeon succeeded in using a robot to 

insert a 30 micromillimetre infusion needle 

into a vein as thin as a hair”. 

Jonas’ research uses three methods to 

optimise retinal microsurgery. The first 

consists of correcting the surgeon’s hand 

movements, if necessary, by using 

opposing forces. The second method 

involves preventing unwanted eye 

movements. This is done by a clever 

combination of connections and 

couplings. During movement these 

maintain a fixed point in space, through 

which the instrument always passes. 

Once the eye is aligned with the surgical 

incision, it is held in a stable position 

throughout the procedure. The third 

method enables the surgeon to immobilise 

the instrument at any time using a foot 

pedal that locks the mechanism.” 

Promising 

On 23 September 2020 - just over a 

month after the James Dyson Award - 

Jonas defended his thesis in the KU 

Leuven doctoral hall. Once again, the jury 

made no bones about its praise. “This 

work represents an important step 

forward in robot-assisted retinal 

movement. The initial results are promising 

and encourage further clinical research”, 

was the final verdict. 

Yves Persoons 

26

Jonas Smits 


CONNECTING 

27


Keivan Shariatmadar 

© Tom Talloen 

28

HOW CERTAIN 

IS UNCERTAINTY? 

We know how much certainty the Covid-19 vaccines offer in terms of protection against the 

virus. But who can confirm whether this percentage will still be valid next month? At that 

point, today’s fixed uncertainty suddenly becomes imprecise or undetermined. Researchers 

from the campuses Bruges and De Nayer are joining forces to find out how artificial 

intelligence can deal with this kind of uncertainty. Keivan Shariatmadar, senior researcher 

and mathematician at Bruges Campus, tells the story. 

e 

to the π is known as the first part of 

the most remarkable and beautiful 

identity in mathematics, named after 

the Swiss scholar Leonhard Euler, who 

invented it in 1748. However, E-pi also 

stands for Epistemic AI. That is the name 

of the European research project of Prof. 

Hans Hallez and Keivan Shariatmadar 

from the M-Group at Bruges Campus and 

Prof. David Moens from the LMSD group 

at De Nayer Campus. The other project 

partners are Oxford Brookes University 

and TU Delft. 

FET Open European project 

The Epistemic AI project is part of the 

prestigious European FET program, 

where FET stands for Future and 

Emerging Technologies. “FET’s mission is 

not only visionary but also very concrete”, 

explains Keivan. “How to turn Europe’s 

excellent science base into competitive 

advantage? FET projects are expected to 

initiate radically new lines in technology 

through unexplored collaborations 

between advanced multidisciplinary 

science and cutting-edge engineers. It all 

helps Europe grasp leadership in those 

promising future technology areas able to 

renew the basis for future European 

competiveness and growth”. 

The FET program has three complementary 

lines of action to address different 

methodologies and scales, from new 

ideas to long-term challenges. “Our 

project belongs to the FET Open 

category”, Keivan continues. “FET Open 

funds projects on new ideas for radically 

new future technologies at an early stage. 

FET Open calls for collaborative research 

and innovation actions (RIA) satisfy the 

FET Open ‘gatekeepers’, which are: 

radical vision, breakthrough technological 

target and ambitious interdisciplinary 

research. 

This may involve a wide range of new 

technological possibilities, inspired by 

cutting-edge science, unconventional 

collaboration or new research and 

innovation practices”. 

Next-generation AI 

“Reality is all about uncertainties”, says 

Keivan. “What if sensors are drifting away 

from calibration? What if a production 

process is very prone to the uncertainty 

of manual intervention? What if a trained 

model is not accurate enough and hard 

to learn from the uncertain data? Our 

project will investigate how the novel 

indeterministic uncertainty models can 

cope with these uncertainties”. 

“The main goal of E-pi is to create new 

methodologies and paradigms for a nextgeneration 

artificial intelligence, providing 

specific guaranties on its predictions 

through proper modelling of real-world 

uncertainties. Although artificial 

intelligence has improved remarkably over 

the last years, its inability to deal with 

fundamental uncertainty severely limits its 

applications. Our project will re-imagine AI 

with proper treatment of the uncertainty 

stemming from our forcibly partial 

knowledge of the world”. 

“As currently practiced, AI cannot 

confidently make predictions robust 

enough to stand the test of data generated 

different from those studied at training 

time. While recognising this issue under 

different names - e.g. ‘overfitting’ - 

traditional machine learning seems unable 

to address it in non-incremental ways. As 

a result, AI suffers from brittle behaviour 

and finds it difficult to operate in new 

situations, e.g. adapting to driving in 

heavy rain or to other road users’ different 

style of driving e.g. deriving from cultural 

traits. Our objective is to create a new 

paradigm providing worst-case guaranties 

on its predictions, thanks to a proper 

modelling of real-world uncertainties”. 

Ultimate Factory lab 

The Epistemic AI project has a duration of 

four years and will focus on the lab ‘The 

Ultimate Factory” to implement the results 

and techniques. To this end, the project 

has hired one post-doc and two PhD 

students within the departments of 

Computer Sciences and Mechanical 

Engineering at KU Leuven”. 

Yves Persoons 

CONNECTING 29


DOES E-HEALTH CARE 

ALSO TAKE CARE 

OF YOUR PRIVACY? 

“Trust in technology is failing”, recently warned Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President of 

the European Commission, responsible for ‘A Europe Fit for the Digital Age’. She was referring 

to the risks associated with the growing impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in everyday life. The 

health sector is also in the danger zone. The Reinitialise project investigates how fundamental 

human rights may be safeguarded in e-health services. Prof. Bart Vanrumste and researcher 

Hannelore Strauven (Group T Leuven Campus) are members of the project consortium. 

Digital technologies based on AI 

have a cross-cutting impact in all 

areas of our life and especially in 

the domain of health. On the one hand, 

these technologies are the basis for 

innovation and growth, but on the other 

hand, they pose a threat to essential 

human rights such as privacy, data 

ownership, etc. “This problem does not 

only concern AI specialists”, says prof. 

Vanrumste. “Only an interdisciplinary 

approach may provide a solution where 

technology is designed in compliance 

with ethics and the preservation of 

human rights”. 

“Reinitialise stands for ‘preserving 

fundamental rights in the use of digital 

technologies for e-health services”, 

Hannelore explains. “The project is part of 

the European Horizon 2020 Training 

Programme. It aims to increase the 

capacity for the design and use of digital 

technologies in the sector of health, in 

order to integrate the potential of 

technology with the awareness of its 

ethical, legal and socio-economic 

dimensions. Within the extensive domain 

of e-health services, we focus on two 

sub-areas: technologies for active ageing 

and digital tools for prevention care in 

nutrition and dietetics”. 

Partnership 

“The initiative comes from the Marie 

Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin, 

Poland”, prof. Vanrumste continues. “The 

university has mobilised specialists from 

seven of its research institutes and 

departments for the design and use of 

digital technologies in the sector of health 

in a way that adheres to ethical principles. 

In order to strengthen its own expertise, it 

called on three leading institutes in 

Europe: KU Leuven, the University of 

Macerata (Italy) and Eurocentro S.r.l., an 

Italian institute that specialises in setting 

up interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral 

EU projects”. 

In addition to prof. Vanrumste and 

Hannelore Strauven, the multidisciplinary 

KU Leuven team consists of prof. Helder 

De Schutter (Social and Political 

Philosophy), prof. Jannique van Uffelen 

(Physical Activity, Sports and Health 

Research Group), prof. Elske Vrieze 

(University Psychiatric Centre), Marc Van 

Aken (lecturer Communication and 

Entrepreneurship at Group T Leuven 

Campus) and Greet Bilsen (valorisation 

coordinator at the LICT research 

centre on ICT). 

The project should result in a Knowledge 

Platform that brings together researchers 

and experts in experimental learning and 

co-creation of innovative e-health services 

and products. Its members may interact 

in joint activities and discussions and 

share knowledge, experience and 

resources. 

Knowledge transfer 

“The first phase of the project consists of 

giving a boost to the scientific expertise of 

the Marie Curie-Sklodowska University”, 

Hannelore says. “The knowledge transfer 

will take place through symposia and 

transnational staff exchange. Polish 

researchers will work together with their 

colleagues in Leuven and Macerata. 

Subsequently, Belgian and Italian 

experts will travel to Lublin to assist 

in the consolidation of knowledge 

and experience.” 

“In the second phase, attention will be 

paid to the transfer of research to the 

market and society. This will be done 

through showcases of best practices, a 

winter school on innovation in Lublin and 

a Venture Lab involving all relevant actors 

in jointly designing and implementing their 

experiences of collaboration in the field 

of e-health”. 

Mutual interests 

“At the end of the project, all partners 

should benefit”, concludes prof. 

Vanrumste. “Interesting business ideas 

and start-up proposals are just as useful 

elsewhere. This also applies to the Joint 

Research Roadmap. In time, it should 

serve as a model for cooperation in future 

international research projects”. 

Yves Persoons 

www.reinitialise.eu 

30

Prof. Bart Vanrumste en Hannelore Strauven 


CONNECTING 31


DEVELOPING A SAFE 

PERSONAL HEALTH 

COACHING SYSTEM 

Current healthcare systems are under pressure due to a sharp increase in chronic diseases. 

Personal coaching programmes can prevent health problems by guiding people towards a 

healthier lifestyle. As part of the European HEART-project, a team of international researchers 

developed a system that is able to detect human activities from heterogeneous data while 

safeguarding the privacy. Chetanya Puri and Hee Reen Shim from the e-Media Research Lab 

(Group T Campus) and Koustabh Dolui from the imec DistriNet Research Group tell the story. 

HEART stands for ‘HEalth related 

Activity Recognition system based 

on Internet of Things’. It is one of 

the very first industrial doctorates, founded 

under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie 

Actions, integrating information technology 

with social sciences and humanities. In the 

HEART project, not only the technological 

innovative power of IoT is investigated, but 

also the needs of the customer or user, 

including legal issues. The Activity 

Recognition System is expected to be 

applied in the wearable sensor technology 

business in order to personalise healthcoaching 

programmes. Moreover, HEART 

also defined a penetration strategy for the 

Chinese market that ensures both 

protection of personal information and 

adaptation to the needs of the Chinese 

customers. 

The HEART project covers six individual 

research projects, closely interrelated, 

concluded by six excellent young 

researchers: four PhD students in ICT, one 

in legal studies and one in international 

business. Research was mainly conducted 

at KU Leuven and the University of 

Macerata (Italy) and at Philips, the leading 

multinational in the healthcare sector with 

the support of a network of European and 

Chinese partners, such as Fudan University 

(Shanghai) and the University of the 

Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS). 

Early stage researchers 

Chetanya Puri enrolled in the HEARTproject 

as one of the six early stage 

researchers. He received a Master’s 

degree in Telecommunication Systems 

Engineering from the Indian Institute of 

Technology in Kharagpur (India). Then he 

joined the industry, where he was involved 

in building anomaly detection techniques 

for cardiac health estimation, using signals 

from wearables and other sensors linked 

to smartphones. 

Koustabh Dolui also has a background in 

engineering. He obtained his Master in 

Telecommunications Engineering at 

Politecnico di Milano (Italy) and has 

experience as research engineer in a 

European project. He was part of the 

development team for the EU Horizon 

2020 project AGILE, working on data 

collection, cloud integration and device 

management on the AGILE gateway. 

Koustabh is researcher with the 

Department of Computer Science and 

imec DistriNet. 

Hee Reen Shim obtained her Master’s 

degree in Electrical and Electronics 

Engineering from Chung-Ang University in 

Seoul (Korea). She worked as a researcher 

at the Artificial Intelligence Lab at Korea 

Institute of Industrial Technology, where 

she focused on developing machinelearning 

algorithms and designing deep 

learning architecture. Currently, Hee Reen 

is a member of the e-Media Research 

Group at Group T Leuven Campus. 

Heterogeneous data 

Hee Reen’s PhD project consists in 

developing a health activity recognition 

system from heterogeneous data. “I 

worked on analysing the user’s feedback 

in language in order to verify his or her 

health condition. As sensors can only 

capture biophysical parameters, it is quite 

difficult to understand what the user 

exactly means, when he says he is 

experiencing a health problem. That is why 

I built a neural network to understand the 

people’s problems, based on their oral or 

written declarations. As I did a lot of my 

research at the Personal Health Department 

of Philips Research Europe, I had the 

advantage of investigating potential 

industrial applications”. 

Koustabh focused on IoT cloud platforms 

and middleware, privacy and aggregation 

for IoT and Edge computing. “I took the 

data and processing applications used by 

Hee Reen and Chetanya and looked for 

ways of transferring them from a traditional 

cloud platform to mobile devices, IoT 

gateways and even microcontrollers”. 

32

Labelling 

Chetanya concentrated on building 

machine learning algorithms that learn and 

classify daily activities from wearable and 

IoT devices. “This raises the problem of 

data labelling. Everyone experiences a 

health problem in a different way and 

names it differently. On the other hand, the 

industry is asking for solutions that are 

generally applicable to the entire 

population. My work consisted of 

developing an algorithm that is able to 

learn from limited labelled data and predict 

the condition as early as possible. 

Currently, I am working on weight gain 

data from pregnant women. The aim is to 

develop models that detect whether or not 

there is a risk of permanent obesity after 

pregnancy. This data is then passed on to 

doctors or health care providers, who can 

make appropriate recommendations”. 

Final conference 

The final conference of the project took 

place on 6 July 2021, where both the 

scientific findings and the training results 

were presented. The final event also 

provided an opportunity to highlight the 

innovative doctoral training with emphasis 

on interdisciplinarity, transversal skills, the 

international dimension and cooperation 

with industry. 

Yves Persoons 

www.heart-itn.eu 

Chetanya Puri and Koustabh Dolui 


CONNECTING 33


WINDOW PRINTING 

IN 3D AT 

DE NAYER CAMPUS 

Golden earrings, plastic iPad cases, chocolate letters … 

the list of materials and objects that can be 3D-printed grows 

every day. Researchers from De Nayer Campus have managed 

to 3D-print a large window with curved shapes, integrated 

ventilation and LED lighting. Deceuninck, the company that 

designed the window, is delighted with the result. Prof. 

Eleonora 

“ 

Ferraris, Ing. Loren De Vogelaer and PhD student 

Jie Zhang from the Advanced Manufacturing Lab De Nayer 

Campus, explain. 

3D 

printing technology, also 

referred to as Additive 

Manufacturing (AM), is an 

umbrella of manufacturing processes 

where layers of materials are built up to 

create a solid object”, says Prof. Ferraris. 

“There are countless 3D-printing 

techniques using varied types of principles 

to add materials to achieve the final 

product”. 

“Customer-driven production and the 

demand for time and cost savings have 

increased the interest in the agility of the 

manufacturing process. This has led to 

continuous improvement in rapid 

prototyping technologies. Given the size, 

the material and unusual shape of the 

window, we opted for a technology based 

on thermoplastic extrusion, specifically 

Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF)”. 

Flaminco 

Prof. Ferraris’ Advanced Manufacturing 

Lab is one of seven research groups at 

De Nayer Campus. It is part of the division 

Manufacturing Processes and Systems 

(MaPS) of the Mechanical Engineering 

Department. Research topics include 

additive manufacturing, especially nozzlebased, 

including aerosol jet® printing, 

fused filament fabrication, and 

stereolithography. The Advanced 

Manufacturing Lab and Deceuninck, the 

Belgian market leader in the production of 

windows and doors, found each other in 

the SIM-ICON project Flaminco of 

Strategic Initiative Materials in Flanders 

(SIM). 

“Flaminco stands for Polymer Filaments 

for Additive Manufacturing of Individual 

Components”, continues Loren De 

Vogelaer. “The project focused on 

progressing the state-of-art of materials 

and extrusion 3Dprinting production chain 

based on the requirements of large 

applications. Besides Deceuninck and KU 

Leuven, the consortium included two 

other industrial partners: Materialise in 

Leuven and Proviron in Ostend, who 

specialise in respectively additive 

manufacturing and polymers. The 

research group of Prof. Brecht Van 

Hooreweder and Peter van Puyvelde 

(KUL) was also involved in the project. All 

together, we investigated the technical 

and economic feasibility of new materials 

and 3D-printing of larger thermoplastic 

products as an alternative to the small 

series extrusion and other standard 

production technologies avoiding high 

tooling costs and long lead times”. 

For Deceuninck, the project was an 

excellent opportunity to investigate 

whether 3D-printing technologies are 

suitable for the production of large 

windows with curved shapes equipped 

with built-in ventilation and LED lighting. 

Since such windows are custom-made, 

they cannot be mass-produced, which 

means that the costs must be kept under 

control. “Sustainability is another 

important criterion for the company”, 

Loren De Vogelaer adds. “At Deceuninck, 

special attention is paid to the rational use 

of materials and energy, anticipating the 

legal requirements that by 2050, every 

home in Flanders must be as energyefficient 

as an energy-performing new 

house”. 

Big size printing 

As mentioned earlier, the researchers 

opted for the Fused Filament Fabrication 

34

Joren De Vogelaer, prof. Eleonora Ferraris and Jie Zhang 

© Joren De Weerdt 

technology. Jie Zhang, PhD student at De 

Nayer Campus explains: “FFF is a 

3D-printing process that uses a 

continuous filament of thermoplastic 

material. The object is built by disposing 

melted material layer-by-layer. Typically, 

the extruder head moves in two 

dimensions, creating a layer at a time 

before adjusting vertically to begin a new 

layer. FFF benefits include having a large 

variety of materials to choose from, fast 

printing from ideas to prototypes and 

multiple printer manufacturers. In our lab, 

we have the equipment to print large 

pieces. It is a Discovery 3D-printer, 

financed by De Nayer foundation. This 

means we can be more economical with 

materials and, by extension, produce 

more cheaply. The quality and the integrity 

of the manufactured parts, i.e. the finish, 

the mechanical strength and the porosity, 

are the result of the temperature profile of 

the polymer deposits when in contact 

with the underlying layers. In the Flaminco 

project, I was testing the newly developed 

PVC filaments, and one of the objectives 

of my PhD research is to develop new 

strategies that optimally control the local 

temperatures during the process”. 

“It takes about 11 to 12 days to produce 

a whole window with high surface quality”, 

prof. Ferraris continues. “The window is 

1.5 m high, and we produced it in multiple 

pieces that were assembled afterward. 

The NGen material from Colorfab was 

used at the first side. Now we are 

producing the window in the newly 

developed PVC filament provided by 

Deceunick too. The biggest challenge 

was warping of the long pieces and to 

ensure continuous printing with no 

failure”. 

In the meantime, the Advanced 

Manufacturing Lab has finished two 

prototypes of the window. They can be 

seen at De Nayer Campus in Sint- 

Katelijne-Waver and at Deceuninck in 

Hooglede-Gits. 

Yves Persoons 

CONNECTING 

35

FACULTY WORLDWIDE 

TWINNING AND DUAL 

DEGREE PROGRAMMES 

IN INDIA & THAILAND 

Group T Leuven Campus has a 20-year long tradition in dual undergraduate degree 

programmes with several renowned Chinese universities. For years, hundreds of students 

from China have populated the English-taught bachelor programme in Engineering 

Technology. The strategic target regions for international students also include Thailand and 

India. In October 2020, the first group of undergraduate students from Vellore Institute of 

Technology (India) and Thammassat University (Thailand) started their study in Leuven. 

In January 2020, KU Leuven and Vellore 

Institute of Technology signed a cooperation 

agreement for the establishment of 

a twinning degree programme in 

Engineering Technology. An intensive 

campaign was then launched at VIT to 

promote the programme to their students. 

Ranjini Mayichery of the Group T International 

Office, active in the field of 

admissions and recruitment and contact 

person for India, welcomed the first three 

students and guaranteed a smooth 

start-up. Arvind Giridhar, Sanat Kumar 

and Arfaat Ahmed Peer Iftequar arrived in 

Leuven last August. They are still getting 

used to the cold temperatures in Belgium, 

as the south of India has quite a different 

climate with temperatures of more than 

40 degrees in summer. 

Arvind Giridhar, Sanat Kumar and Arfaat Ahmed Peer Iftequar 

(Vellore Institute of Technology – India) 


Arvind, Sanat and Arfaat were already 

planning to go abroad after their bachelor 

study, but the new possibilities changed 

these plans. Arvind remarks: “The 

information came close to the deadline for 

application, so we had to decide quickly. 

Of course, our parents also came into the 

story, because their support is essential in 

carrying out our plans. Months later, I can 

now recommend everyone to study 

abroad and take on an international 

programme”. 

36

Naphrut Wandee, Chutkaew Girdpra and Kawin Sirichantakul 

(Thammasat University – Thailand) 


“One advantage is that many Indian 

students already have an international 

outlook”, adds Sanat. ”Still, the KU 

Leuven system of study proved to be 

challenging. The focus on student 

autonomy and guided self-study is new to 

many international students. Time 

management is an important skill in 

planning your study at KU Leuven.” 

“The first days were not easy, with no 

other Indian students around, so there 

was no other option than to socialise with 

Belgian students. The WhatsApp group 

set up by Group T Leuven Campus 

proved to be extremely useful, but still it 

was so cold”, shivers Arvind. “Moreover, 

on Sunday, everything is closed. The 

campus life is also radically different. VIT 

is a community with everything present 

on-campus; in Leuven, the university is a 

city with a large city campus. 

Nevertheless, the message to future 

candidates for the twinning programme 

VIT–KU Leuven is unanimous. “Go for it!”, 

Ahmed confirms . “If you want to improve 

your CV as an engineer, KU Leuven is a 

very good place to go”. The students plan 

to do a master’s course also in Leuven, 

Ahmed sees a future in international 

business. “This way, our study is a 

stepping stone for our future career as an 

engineer, be it in R&D or in business.” 

Dual degree 

At Thammasat University, information 

sessions were set up by Kantima 

Thongkhao, who since 2018 has been the 

KU Leuven internatonal liason in Thailand 

and is involved in the KU Leuven alumni 

chapter for Thailand. Kawin Sirichantakul, 

Naphrut Wandee, Chutkaew Girdpra are 

the first Thai students from Thammasat 

University in the dual degree programme 

in Engineering Technology at Group T 

Leuven Campus. 

The engineering programme at 

Thammasat has two study tracks, one of 

which is taught in English, geared towards 

international mobility during the 

undergraduate study phase. Kawin, 

Chutkaew and Naphrut were all three in 

this study track, with international mobility 

to the UK or Australia in mind. The 

international perspective already implies a 

thorough knowledge of English as well as 

an international outlook. 

Chutkaew admits: “It was the first time 

that we heard about the possibility of 

study at KU Leuven. I did some research 

and found that KU Leuven has a very 

good reputation for research and 

technology. Moreover, the quality of life in 

a small city like Leuven is high. The 

facilities for students are very affordable 

and of high level. ” 

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 

preparation happened in an untypical 

way. The visa processing and preparation 

was compressed into a three-week 

period just before the start of the 

academic year. On 7 October, the 

students could finally start their study, 

with specific guidance to catch up within 

the first few weeks of the academic year. 

The International Office on Group T 

Leuven Campus supported and advised 

them on how to get organised. 

Naphrut explains: “The start was 

overwhelming; the way of working is 

totally different at KU Leuven. The 

welcome was warm, with a Thai buddy 

guiding us, even cooking for us every 

week”. 

About the engineering programmes at 

Group T Campus, Kawin says: “The 

engineering programme here is more 

hands-on, you need to conceive and 

design things, e.g. running an actual 

programme to make a robot move. In 

Thammasat, a system of mid-term and 

end of term exams is used, so this will 

also put some flexibility in our study 

approach”, according to Chutkaew. 

“Self-discipline is essential for students 

coming to KU Leuven”, says Naphrut, 

“Students have to work independently, 

which obviously is also strengthened by 

the COVID-19 situation”. 

The Thai trio has no doubt about it: 

“COVID-19 or not, by the time we 

graduate, we will be global engineers”. 


CONNECTING 37


STUDENT AMBASSADORS 

PROMOTE OUR FACULTY 

WORLDWIDE 

Chimene El Boustany and Philip Lepoutre are two of the team of seven student ambassadors 

of the Faculty of Engineering Technology. In normal circumstances, they would now be in 

the middle of their Erasmus exchange semester, but COVID-19 decided otherwise. This does 

not mean that they are not internationally engaged; as student ambassadors they coach 

prospective international students. 

Philip Lepoutre was born in the UK, 

lived in Romania, studied in a 

Romanian-Turkish High-School, 

and then decided to join KU Leuven’s 

community at the Group T Campus. He 

joined a wide range of student activities 

ranging from chess, gliding, to being a 

radio presenter and a volunteer in Aether, 

a brand new team of the postgraduate 

programme of entrepreneurship for engineers. 

Very early in his student career, he 

also became our faculty’s first student 

ambassador. 

Chimene El Boustany is from Lebanon 

and choose KU Leuven to be close to her 

friend who studies medicine. She is active 

in AEISEC and is vice-president in an 

association for spacecraft students. 

Philip set up the student ambassador 

team at Group T Campus and invited 

Chimene to join. The student ambassador 

programme of KU Leuven has become 

quite popular among international 

students who are happy to represent and 

to promote their alma mater and their 

faculty to potentially new internationals. 

Chimene specifies: “as a student 

ambassador, you are expected to spend 

some time each week chatting with 

interested candidates” , and Philip adds 

that “a list of FAQ was provided by the 

marketing service and guidance sessions 

were aimed at preparing the student 

ambassadors for being able to highlight 

distinctive features of KU Leuven”. This 

takes up a few hours each week, with a 

busier period just before the application 

deadlines. Philip regularly asks students 

during the chat to set up a Zoom or 

Skype meeting. The marketing office also 

organises two ‘student ambassador 

events’ each year, where they bring all 

student ambassadors together to learn 

from each other and to network. 

The chat sessions may lead to funny 

anecdotes, like the time a student tried to 

convince Chimene to skip the application 

deadline by offering her some bribe 

presents… or the Albanian girl who 

confused the student ambassador 

platform with Tinder and started flirting 

with Philip. 

Being international students themselves 

has helped both Chimene and Philip to be 

better student ambassadors. Chimene: 

“We’ve been there, we’ve been in their 

shoes, and we know which advice they 

need.” 

“What advice would you give to your 

former self, is a good guideline”, Philip 

adds. 

Volunteering work, social engagement, or 

social engineering are some of the names 

used to describe co-curricular activities 

such as student ambassadors. Both 

Philip and Chimene confirm that being a 

student ambassador has provided them 

with essential skills to become better 

engineers: “engineering is all about 

people”, Chimene quotes one of her 

Group T lecturers. Their interpersonal 

skills, presentation skills, service attitude, 

communication skills were developed by 

being a student ambassador. 

Philip: “It also makes you culturally aware, 

you can adapt your communication 

depending on the audience, you learn to 

work on skills such as how to communicate 

a message clearly and effectively”. 

When Chimene and Philip started their 

student career three years ago, student 

ambassadors did not exist and so they 

had to get their information in a different 

way: Chimene actually travelled to 

Group T Campus during the Christmas 

holidays before deciding to apply. 

Philip was attracted to KU Leuven and 

later Group T Campus, and notes that in 

recent years, the campus info has focused 

strongly on promotional videos and a lot 

of activity on social media. Many initiatives 

now exist to involve international students 

in the student life. 

Personal development 

“Creative thinking, teambuilding skills, 

leadership skills have all benefited from 

my engagement as a student 

ambassador”, confirms Philip. “The 

student ambassadors complement very 

well with the engineering training we get, 

38

Chimene El Boustany and Philip Lepoutre 


the theoretical concepts we learn in our 

soft skills courses can be implemented in 

a real life context.” 

Chimene: “The activities as a student 

ambassador help me on a larger scale, 

realising that “experience is simply a 

name we give to our mistakes” (dixit 

Oscar Wilde) to become a better engineer. 

They are learning labs for skills we need 

in our later career.” 

Recently, Philip spoke to a student from 

Poland who doubted whether to apply to 

TU Delft or to KU Leuven, and in the end, 

the student decided to apply to KU 

Leuven. “Knowing that your advice is 

valued by a prospective student is very 

rewarding and fulfilling. Being a student 

ambassador actually it doesn’t feel like 

work, it is a fun activity and it looks great 

on your cv.” 

Both students don’t stop at this 

engagement: they both aspire a future job 

in the field of aerospace industry. 


39


UNA.FUTURA: 

DESIGNING THE DIGITAL FUTURE 

OF EUROPE 

Throughout June and July 2021, the eight leading European universities of the UNA 

Europa 2030 alliance offered their students a unique experience: tackling real life 

challenges in cross-European teams. Set up as an open innovation design event, Una. 

Futura took students on a journey developing solutions to the challenges arising from 

the digital revolution. Arnoud Martens, International Officer at Group T Leuven Campus, 

was facilitator of one team. 

In 2018, seven prominent research 

universities joined forces to create 

UNA Europa 2030, an alliance that 

aims to lay the foundation of the 

European University of the Future. The 

partners -including KU Leuven- are 

committed to establish a profound collaboration 

with a focus on qualitative 

and innovative education and research 

that stimulate the international opportunities 

for students, staff and 

researchers. 

“The seven partners -there are now 

eight of them- have been at the heart 

of Europe’s intellectual tradition for 

almost 1,000 years”, Arnoud explains. 

“They have a rich cultural heritage and 

the ambition to shape the Europe of 

the future. Together, they count almost 

half a million students and staff and 

reach millions more online”. 

Challenges 

In spring 2021, a digital platform was 

set up where students and staff could 

share ideas and discuss with 

colleagues from across the whole UNA 

Europa 2030 community. Teamed up 

with facilitators and experts, they 

worked on jointly finding solutions to 

six challenges that all relate with the 

exponential advance of digitisation in 

all aspects of everyday life, be it in 

education, at work, in social interaction, 

communication, health and many 

others. The six challenges were: 

1. Digital empowerment, 2. Digital 

citizenship, 3. Digital economy, 

4. Augmented human, 5. Cyber threats 

and 6. Mental well-being and social 

relations in the digital work. 

“Each challenge was assigned to one 

or more international teams”, Arnoud 

continues. “Our team got ‘Digital 

citizenship’ with the task of developing 

an e-voting system. Six students had 

signed up for this. The entire design 

process took two weeks. After the 

kick-off with an expert talk on the 

theme, the team got down to work. 

The first week was entirely reserved for 

gathering documents and information 

on e-government systems and good 

practices. It quickly became apparent 

that Estonia is a frontrunner in the EU 

that can serve as a model for the 

digitisation of public services and 

administration. Other countries are 

clearly less advanced; some do not 

even have electronic identity cards yet. 

Equalising the situation in the EU will 

be the first major work to do”. 

Young people 

During the second week, the team 

concentrated on designing a European 

e-voting system. “We initially aimed at 

young people as the target group 

because they are most familiar with 

digitisation”, says Arnoud. “The 

complexity of the task soon became 

apparent. Not only technologically, but 

also in terms of security and privacy. 

Fortunately, the team also included a 

PhD student in law who was well 

versed in legal and juridical matters. 

Twenty-four students of KU Leuven 

took part in Una.Futura 2021, including 

seven engineering students from 

Group T Campus. Arnoud is proud of 

their commitment, especially since 

most of them are from outside the EU. 

The platform was closed mid-July. The 

collected ideas and ensuing 

discussions will form the groundwork 

for building a joint strategy for UNA 

Europa 2030. The analysis of the ideas 

was shared with the community in 

November 2021. Subsequently, the 

second phase of the process will start 

at policy level. The new strategy is 

expected to be ready for action by 

May 2022. 

Yves Persoons 

www.una-europa.eu 

40

Arnoud Martens 


CONNECTING 

41

SCIENCE COMMUNICATION 

SOLAR OLYMPIAD 2021: 

EXTRAORDINARY ACHIEVEMENTS 

IN UNUSUAL TIMES 

On 6 May, the Agoria Solar Team organised the sixteenth edition of the Solar Olympics. This is 

an annual event in which secondary school students from all over Flanders are challenged to 

build a mini solar car or an original gadget that runs on solar energy. The 2021 edition presented 

itself as a Solar Olympiad and went entirely online for the first time. Ministers Ben Weyts and 

Benjamin Dalle encouraged the 150 participants. 

Both excellencies did not hide their 

admiration for the initiative and the 

results. “This is STEM made visible, 

tangible and palpable,” said Flemish 

education minister Ben Weyts. “Here you 

can see that STEM is damned enjoyable. 

The projects radiate a love for science 

and technology”. Flemish Minister for 

Brussels, Youth and Nature Benjamin 

Dalle confirmed: “I think it is incredibly 

clever how the participating young people 

were able to bring their challenging 

projects to a successful conclusion in this 

unusual year”. 

Finalists 

In September 2020, 50 teams registered 

for the solar competition. Out of their 

concepts, 28 were chosen from 16 

schools for the finals. These teams were 

each assigned a coach from the Agoria 

Solar Team. Each team also received a 

solar panel with which to build either a 

mini solar car or a creative gadget. 

Whoever opted for the gadget had to be 

able to convince the competition jury that 

the invention was not only original, but 

also sustainable and would eventually find 

its way to the market. This resulted in 

highly original but also very topical 

realisations, such as an electric alternative 

for convex traffic mirrors and a smart 

measuring system for the ventilation of 

classrooms. The teams that built a mini 

solar car had to compete against each 

other in a small but very competitive 

speed race. 

Digital platform 

The final of the competition is always a 

real happening at the Leuven campus or 

at Technopolis in Mechelen. “Due to the 

ongoing problems with the corona, we 

were forced to look for an online 

alternative,” says Ruben Holsbeekx, event 

manager of the Agoria Solar Team. 

“Together with Colruyt Group Technics, 

Group T Leuven Campus and Technopolis, 

we developed a digital platform for the 

final day with live streaming for the 

supporters.” 

During the live show on 6 May, the teams 

presented their creations to the jury and 

the public, who could vote for the public 

prize. More than 2,000 votes were cast 

during the final. Stephane Berghmans, 

CEO of Technopolis, Bart Bosmans of 

Colruyt Group Technics and Ruben 

Holsbeekx looked on from the studio in 

Mechelen and awarded eight prizes. 

“There were some really tough projects 

this year,” says Ruben. “Some of them 

were in no way inferior to the Engineering 

Experiences in the bachelor programme. 

But the other teams also manifested 

themselves as talented engineers-to-be.” 

Yves Persoons 

Still to be viewed at 

www.solar-olympiade.technopolis-events/nl/home 

42

SCIENCE COMMUNICATION 

INGENIOUS SUMMER CAMP 

IN LEUVEN, WITH SEPARATE GIRLS’ GROUP 

Even in corona times, ‘going to camp’ is spontaneously associated with playing games, romping 

around in the woods and meadows, and crackling campfires. The Engineers’ Summer Camp at 

Group T Campus has been held for the fifth time with growing success. From 5 to 10 July 2021, 

27 young participants indulged in science and technology. Almost half were girls. 

Getting young people interested in 

science, technology and engineering. 

That is what camp 

leaders Yuri Cauwerts and Karen 

Vanderloock of the Electronics-ICT department 

are aiming for. What started 

modestly in 2017 with a group of ten children 

aged 10 to 12, grew into a camp of 

27 10- to 14-year-olds, split into a boys’ 

group and a girls’ team. At the same time, 

the number of activities also increased, 

other enthusiastic colleagues joined in 

and, in collaboration with Sporty, a package 

of twelve sports and games was 

introduced into the programme, ranging 

from gymnastics and speedminton to 

baseball and rope skipping. “A healthy 

scientific-technical mind also requires a 

good physical condition, especially for 

young people in full development,” confirms 

Yuri. “The formula still does the trick. 

In no time, the 2021 summer camp was 

full.” 

Riddle 

Karen lists the main ingredients of the 

STEM program. “Our offer included building 

mechanical structures with Lego, 

such as gear transmission, lever constructions 

and measuring slopes, 

colouring washcloths with Indigo in the 

Chemistry lab, soldering a pcb for a 

sound detector in the Electronics lab, 

making a dance mat with raspberry pi and 

finally examining bacteria with a microscope 

in the Biochemistry lab.” 

“There was a red wire running through all 

the week’s activities,” Yuri continued. “It 

consisted of solving a riddle to open a 

cryptex with a hidden key. On the last 

day, the participants found a supply of 

corn, which they used to make popcorn 

in the afternoon”. 

Gender 

In the first editions of the summer camp, 

it was almost exclusively boys who were 

in action. That has changed completely 

now. The organizers have spared no effort 

to attract girls. That much, so they 

even set up a special girls’ group. 

“The girls’ camp is an attempt to address 

the gender imbalance in engineering education,” 

says Karen. “Research shows 

that girls at a young age are indeed interested 

in science and technology, but 

often lose that interest from the age of 12. 

One reason for this is that parents talk 

relatively little to their daughters about 

technology-related subjects. Moreover, 

there are still too few role models for 

young girls to emulate. By choosing the 

age group 10 to 14 years, we aim precisely 

at this critical phase. 

Karen has the following to say about the 

separate girls’ group: “If we had just 

opened up two ordinary groups as we did 

at the start of the initiative, they would 

have been filled initially with boys. Since 

we started reserving a group for girls two 

years ago, the picture has changed completely. 

Working together with boys at that 

age clearly has a barrier effect, that is the 

reality.” 

The organisers also varied the activities 

and assignments sufficiently, so they did 

not appear to be an exclusively boys’ affair. 

According to Karen, the presence of 

female coaches and facilitators also 

helped the girls feel more at ease. “If we 

can encourage the girls to develop their 

STEM skills in this way, this is a factor that 

should be taken into account in future 

activities,” concludes Karen. 

Yves Persoons 


CONNECTING 

43

ALUMNUS IN FOCUS 

Serge de Gheldere 


44

SERGE DE GHELDERE WINS 

THE FIRST ALUMNI ENGINEERS 

KU LEUVEN AWARD 

On 6 May 2021, the Alumni Awards were presented to a master of Engineering Science 

and a master of Engineering Technology, who have distinguished themselves nationally 

and internationally, within or outside their field of study. Winner Serge de Gheldere could in 

principle qualify for either of the two awards. He preferred to refer to his training as a master in 

Engineering Technology, where the foundations for his successful career as an entrepreneur 

and as the figurehead of the climate issue were laid. 

Serge is a three-time engineer 

(Group T University College, KU 

Leuven, and TU Delft) and a 

committed entrepreneur. His study, work 

and ambitions are completely devoted to 

the climate issue and the development of 

technologically and economically feasible 

solutions for companies, governments, 

and regions. He is considered an authority 

in this field and a role model for young 

engineers. 

Futureproofed 

As an engineer, Serge designed an online 

platform that uses an SDG framework to 

help cities and towns develop, implement, 

and monitor a climate plan. Futureproofed 

Cities helps cities to proceed to the 

implementation phase as soon as 

possible to reach the climate targets. All 

cities, large and small, frontrunners and 

doubters can join. By now, 136 cities are 

making use of it, with 2675 climate 

mitigation measures, accounting for 2.6 

billion euros in investments, a reduction of 

1 million tons of CO² emissions per year 

and annual savings of 375 million euros. 

As an entrepreneur, Serge founded 

Futureproofed in 1999 with the goal to 

support companies, organisations, and 

governments in the transition towards a 

sustainable and profitable business 

model. Futureproofed is convinced that 

accelerating towards a non-fossil, 

sustainable future is one of the biggest 

opportunities for companies. The step 

towards a non-fossil fuel future helps to 

save costs, reduce risks, develop new 

products and services, and strengthen 

the company’s image. 

Futureproofed has already carried out 

assignments for hundreds of companies, 

cities, and organisations, including DEME, 

Nike, Colruyt, the European Parliament, 

Leuven, Antwerp, Hasselt, etc. 

Climate activist 

Serge’s career as a climate ambassador 

began in 2006, when he was selected as 

the ‘Climate Ambassador’ of the then US 

Vice President Al Gore. With his 

presentation ‘The Inconvenient Truth’ 

Serge gave hundreds of lectures at home 

and abroad, including Stanford, Yale, 

Tsinghua University (Beijing), India, Dubai, 

Togo, and many EU countries. Serge is 

still a much sought-after speaker at 

conferences, seminars and in the media. 

His latest achievement is the establishment 

of vzw Klimaatzaak, a pressure group that 

wants to urge four Belgian governments 

through legal means to comply with the 

climate agreements. The organisation 

aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 

by at least 42% to 48% by 2025 and by 

65% by 2030, to reach zero emissions by 

2050. More than 68,000 Belgians have 

already signed up to this initiative. After six 

years of litigation, the process of the 

century has finally begun. 

Serge was also involved in the birth of the 

ambitious ‘Leuven Klimaatneutraal 2030’ 

project, which has since been renamed 

‘Leuven 2030’. He is vice-chairman of the 

executive committee and a director. In 

Leuven 2030, more than 600 partners, 

authorities, the academic world, 

businesses, and citizens are working 

together to develop a roadmap and carry 

out strategic experiments in the field of 

climate neutrality. This project has helped 

to make Leuven the European Capital of 

Innovation this year. Leuven 2030 proves 

that even a small town can have a big 

impact in the global climate debate. It is 

no wonder that the city has awarded 

Serge the honorary title of ‘Hero of 

Leuven’. 

Yves Persoons 

CONNECTING 45

ALUMNUS IN FOCUS 

QUPPA 

WANTS DISPOSABLE 

CUPS GONE 

Four million coffee cups are thrown away every year in Leuven. If you put them all together, you 

get a pile 23 km high, that is the distance between Brussels and Leuven. This massive waste 

has been a thorn in the flesh of the CORE team for some time. By founding Quppa, three CORE 

alumni want to get to the root of this problem. Co-founder Jeroen Diels tells the story. 

On 14 December 2020, Quppa was 

christened in Leuven. The new 

company is a spin-off of cvba-so 

CORE, a cooperative of engineering 

students from Group T Leuven Campus 

and associates who work towards an 

efficient and rational use of energy in a 

circular economy. As a Master’s student 

in Electromechanical Engineering 

Technology and a postgraduate in Innovative 

Entrepreneurship for Engineers, 

Jeroen was active at CORE for two years. 

First, he was involved in energy studies in 

schools, companies and government 

institutions. After that, he took care of the 

startup of fellow student Olivier Hendrickx. 

Together with two other students, Jeroen 

put the startup on the map as ‘Quppa’. 

Smart sharing system 

“At CORE, we learned to take a radical 

approach to things,” says Jeroen. “By 

radical I mean literally by the root (radix). 

We have developed a completely new 

solution to the problem of disposable 

cups. It is a clever system for sharing 

reusable coffee cups”. 

Jeroen explains. “We are introducing a 

universal, reusable cup for take-away 

coffee in the city. It can be borrowed 

without a deposit at different coffee bars. 

The first step is to register on the Quppa 

app. In the coffee shop you scan a QR 

code to link one or more cups to your 

account. To be clear: the cup does not 

become your property. You get it on loan. 

The app reminds you within three days to 

return your cup to one of the participating 

spots. 

The Quppa cup is a handy alternative to 

the disposable cup. You do not have to 

wash the cups yourself, but can simply 

‘drop’ them off dirty at one of the 

participating partners, who will take care 

of the washing up. Did you forget to bring 

your cup? No problem at all! You can 

borrow several at the same time. Quppa 

is currently free for coffee drinkers in Leuven. 

The coffee bars do pay a contribution for 

using the system, but they can easily recover 

that amount because they no longer need to 

buy new disposable cups”. 

Partners 

Fortunately, the three young entrepreneurs 

are not alone. They can count on the 

support of two business partners. 

“Our first partner is Flanders Circular,” 

Jeroen explains. “That is the consortium 

of government, companies, non-profit 

organisations and knowledge institutions 

that acts as an inspirer and matchmaker 

for the circular economy in Flanders. We 

received a grant from this consortium to 

develop the technological part of our 

project, such as the chips in the cups and 

the reading devices in the coffee bars.” 

The other partner is Borealis, the second 

largest producer of polyethylene and 

polypropylene in Europe. “The company 

is currently betting heavily on reuse 

systems to drive the transition to a circular 

economy,” continues Jeroen. “At the end 

of last year, Borealis launched a pilot 

project to replace 1.5 million plastic 

disposable cups with 30,000 reusable 

lightweight copies for reuse after recycling. 

The cups are produced in Belgium and 

are equipped with an RFID chip (Radio 

Frequency Identification), which enables 

to follow the entire route of the cup. Such 

data is very interesting for mapping the 

consumption behaviour of the customer 

and the life cycle of the product. 

Start 

The smart sharing system of Jeroen and 

co is in use in eight coffee bars in Leuven. 

500 customers have already registered 

and over 600 Quppa cups are in 

circulation. Not a bad result in corona 

times when most students are at home. It 

is encouraging that the City of Leuven has 

promised its support and cooperation. If 

now the largest potential customer, KU 

Leuven, also joins in, Quppa will be in a 

good position. 

Yves Persoons 

www.quppa.be 

46

Jeroen Diels, Wouter Meynendonckx and Thomas Holemans 

©Julie Feyaerts 

CONNECTING 

47

ENGINEERING 

THE FUTURE 

Study at the Faculty 

of Engineering Technology 

We make you feel at home in a globalised world. As an engineer 

without borders, you are committed to the major challenges 

of our time: climate, environment, health, mobility, poverty… 

Equipped with science, technology and professional skills, 

you are prepared to turn the tide. 

English programmes 

Bachelor’s programme 

• BSc in Engineering Technology 

- Electromechanical Engineering Technology 

- Electronics and ICT Engineering Technology 

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• MSc in Biochemical Engineering Technology 

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• MSc in Civil Engineering Technology 

• MSc in Electromechanical Engineering Technology 

• MSc in Electronics and ICT Engineering Technology 

• European MSc in Sustainable Food Systems 

Engineering, Technology and Business 

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in Extended Reality 

• Erasmus Mundus - European Master in Radiation 

and its Effects on MicroElectronics and Photonics 

Technologies 

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• Advanced MSc in Innovative Health Technology 

• Advanced MSc in Welding Engineering 

• Advanced MSc Artificial Intelligence in Business & 

Industry 

www.fet.kuleuven.be

ConnectING_international edition, december2022

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