Leuven plenary meeting information page
The meeting has finished; an information page with presentations and pictures will appear here soon.

Click here for more information on the A0 poster printing service

After reading this information page, you are requested to arrange your travel and book your hotel for the meeting. When you have done this, you are requested to register for the meeting on the event registration page.

1. Dates

The meeting will be held from Monday morning 09:00, March 14th until Friday, March 18th, 12:00.

2. Location and Venue

The location and venue of the meeting is the Salon Georges, Hogeschoolplein 15, 3000 Leuven, Belgium. (http://www.salonsgeorges.be - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - tel. +32 16 23 75 75)

3. Stay

There are plenty of hotel options in the neighbourhood of Salons Georges, below you find a small list of hotels, but if you search on the internet, there are many more. 
You are free in the selection of a hotel, you are requested to book a hotel yourself.

Click this LINK to open a map of Leuven showing hotels in the neighbourhood of Salons Georges.

  • Penta Hotel (***, 3 min walking from venue, rooms from € 90/night)
  • Theater Hotel (***, 4 min walking from venue, rooms from €94/night) 
  • Ibis Hotel (****, 6 min walking from venue, rooms from € 65/night)

4. Food

  • Breakfast is arranged by your own hotel.
  • Lunches are arranged for during the lunch breaks. If you have any special wishes regarding food, diets or allergies, please indicate this on the registration page. This will be taken into account by Salons Georges.
  • Coffee and tea is arranged during the meeting breaks.
  • During the week, there is one or two meeting dinner(s), the rest of the week you are requested to arrange your own dinner. There are plenty restaurants and bistros in the centre of Leuven.

5. Travelling

Leuven can be reached by different means of transportation:
Airplane

  • The main international airport in the area is Brussels International Airport, Zaventem. Zaventem is located at 20 minutes distance by train from Leuven. There are trains running every half hour from the airport to Leuven train station. (Train planner HERE; use 'Zaventem (Airport)' as your departure). The train fare from the airport to Leuven centre is about € 9,-
    It is also possible to take a taxi from Zaventem Airport to Leuven. This will cost you around € 70,-
  • You can also travel through Brussels South Airport (Charleroi). Take the shuttle coach that leaves the airport every 30 minutes to take you to the main Brussels railway station (Brussels South). The shuttle coach stop there is at the crossing of rue de France and rue de l’Instruction. The shuttle fare costs € 14 and tickets are sold inside the airport terminal. The trip takes around one hour. At Brussels South railway station, you may take the train to Leuven.
    You can check the train schedule online HERE.

Trains
There are international trains going to various bigger cities in Belgium (Antwerpen, Brussels), depending on the direction you are travelling from. Please refer to your travel agent or your International Train Travel Guide how to reach Belgium by train. A good start is SNCB Europe. Local trains or taxi's can then be used to reach Leuven. 
You can check the train schedule online HERE.

Car

You can reach Leuven using different motorways depending on the direction you are travelling from. Parking in Leuven is quite expensive. In the centre of Leuven, there are so-called 'blue zones' where parking is limited to 2 hours. There are several parkings in Leuven (overview HERE). Parking Ladeuze (750 cars) is closest to the venue, Salons Georges (5 min walking). The tarif for parking at Ladeuze is € 20,00 per 24 hours.

6. Local Money

The local currency is Euro. International Bank Cards and Credit Cards are widely accepted in Belgium.

7. Local Weather

Local weather in March can be a bit unsteady. Please take a raincoat and umbrella to protect you from possible wet weather. Temperature in Leuven is normally +6°C ±2. Extended weatherforecast for Leuven (14 days) can be found HERE.

8. Excursion

There is an excursion on Thursday, March 17th. It will be all day, and we will visit the Belgium study site, including some experimental sites. The excursion will be by bus, but will also involve some walking. Please bring sturdy shoes and umbrella/raincoat as rainy weather and muddy fields are possible. Lunch is arranged. More information on the excursion will be provided on this website when more details are known.

9. Meeting costs

There will be one fee to cover the costs of meeting room, coffee breaks, lunches, excursion, and 1 or 2 joint dinners. The level of the fee is not known yet. Receipts will be issued (needed for claiming your costs). Method of payment (cash, cards) will be made known.
! Please note that costs for your hotel (arranged by yourself) will need to be paid by yourself separate from the meeting costs.

10. Registration

You need to register for the meeting, using the event registration page. It is important to book your travel and hotel arrangements beforehand, since you need to fill out this information during registration.

11. Poster Printing Service

For those who don’t like to carry a poster, there are two firms that can print this poster for you in Leuven

  1. Alpha Copy. This firm is at Tiensestraat 89, 3000 Leuven, which is not that far from the venue.
    Costs for ‘normal’ quality A0 posters are: €16, for ‘graphical’ quality (260 g): €70. You can go there yourself, the ‘normal’ quality is printed in 15 minutes, and the graphical in 25 minutes.
    Alternatively, you can ring them (+3216225601) the week before the meeting for instructions how to send a pdf file to them beforehand.
  2. Printing Shop. This firm is also at the Tiensestraat, nummer 56. Costs for ‘normal’ quality A0 posters are: max. €14 (depended on the amount of ink used). For ‘graphical’ quality (190 g): max. €20 (also depended on the amount of ink). Printing here takes about one hour, and you can send the PDF already on forehand to them via e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Alternatively, you can contact them at +3216295759.

Please note:

  • A good alternative is still bringing your printed poster with you.
  • There might be limited time to have the poster printed during the meeting. It is a good idea to arrange the printing of your poster with one of these two shops well before the meeting, and try to collect your ready printed poster on monday or tuesday before the meeting (contact the printshops for opening hours).
  • Please make sure you get a receipt for printing your poster, you need this to claim the costs.

12. Contact

The meeting is organised and hosted by KU Leuven:
Viviane CrabbéThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - tel +32 16 32 97 20
Guido WyseureThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - tel +32 16 32 96 61

The excursion is organised by BDB: Annemie ElsenThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Alterra is responsible for the programme of the meeting:
Rudi HesselThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - tel +31 317 486530
Erik van den ElsenThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - tel +31 317 486533