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Admin 101

On this page, we will specify the procedures for the most common administrative procedures you might need to follow. If something is missing, please contact us so we can add it and keep this page up to date (and your lives easier).

KU Loket is the university portal through which many administrative things are done. You can access it here.

Activate your KU Leuven account

After enrollment or hiring, you’ll receive an activation email with a link in your private mailbox.

The email includes an activation code to set your password via this link. If you’ve been affiliated with the KU Leuven Association before, your previous password may still be active, and you won’t receive a new activation email. Check your spam folder if you can't find the activation email.

Consult your personnel file

Log in to KU Loket and go to "Personnel", then click on "My details" (shown in red below):

Your personnel file

At the very top of this page, you can find the name of your HR advisor (1). Your HR advisor offers you a listening ear, provides clarifying advice on HR-related matters and supports you with the administrative obligations that come along with employment at KU Leuven.

Below, you can edit your personal details (2), such as adding a new private address, updating your family situation, adding emergency contacts or adding a new bank account number by clicking on the pencil in the top right corner of the corresponding section.

Browse through the other tabs to find out and/or change information on communication means (3), insurances and other financial advantages you are entitled to (4), your contract details (5), mobility (e.g., to order a KU Leuven bike, get a refund for public transportation commuting costs, or to register your personal vehicle for work use) (6) and your curriculum at KU Leuven (7).

Through your personnel file, you can also apply for teleworking allowances (for KU Leuven staff only) (8) and/or apply for a bicycle allowance if you bike (part of) your home-work journey (9).

If you are financed by FWO, check out this page.

Reimbursement for professional expenses

Note that KU Leuven typically works with a purchase order (PO) or invoice. Occasionally, purchases can be made with personal funds (e.g., for small amounts or in urgent cases), which can be recovered through the professional expenses process in KU Loket as follows:

  1. Log in to KU Loket and go to "Finance & Purchasing"
  2. Click on "Professional expenses" (shown in red below)
  3. Click on "Forms", create a "+ New form" and give it an informative name (e.g., congres X)
  4. Add all your expenses to the form (e.g., train tickets, dinner expenses, the registration fee)

  5. Link a digital proof to each expense

    Invoices as digital proof

    If the digital proof is an invoice, it has to be issued to your private address. If an invoice is still issued in the name of KU Leuven, it will not be systematically rejected, but this practice is being phased out.

  6. Couple the appropriate financial antenna to your form (Agna Marien, u0088446)

  7. Add information on which fund your expenses should be paid from (ask your PI)

Reimbursement

For more information, check out this page. If you have specific questions concerning this procedure, contact Agna (agna.marien@kuleuven.be) or go find her in office 00.37.

Register personal leave

Holiday

There are a couple of things we usually do in the lab when we take a holiday:

  • Notify Hans by sending an email with the subject "Holiday", to keep an official trace of your holiday request (that also helps him keep track of who’s on leave).
  • Mark the days you’re off in the Hoplab Google calendar, so everyone is aware of your absence.
  • Notify your employer, which can be different depending on your contract.

The procedure for KU Leuven employees is as follows (If you are financed by FWO, check out this page):

  1. Log in to KU Loket and go to "Personnel"
  2. Navigate to "Absences" and make sure "Leave" is selected in the selection pane (it should be the default)
  3. Select the start and end date of your holiday period on the displayed calendar and click "Request"
  4. Choose how many hours of each type of leave you are entitled to you want to use for this request
  5. Submit the request to your approver, who will need to approve it

Holiday

Youth holiday (jeugdvakantie)

Young employees who have not yet built up a full year of leave entitlement may be eligible for youth holiday (jeugdvakantie). This allows you to supplement your regular holiday days with additional paid leave days (funded by social security rather than the employer).

Eligibility: You must be under 25 years old on December 31st of the year in which you completed your studies, and you must have worked at least one month as an employee during that year. The youth holiday days cover the gap between the (limited) regular leave you accrued and a full leave entitlement.

For full details on eligibility and the application procedure, see the KU Leuven youth holiday page.

Non-holiday

To register other kinds of personal leave (e.g., short-term or social leave or sick leave), check out the corresponding links. For further questions on this topic, browse to this page.

Pregnancy and parenthood

If you need any information related to pregnancy and parenthood, you can check out this page.

Register professional leave

This has to be done (in advance) for absence in the context of any work-related event (national and international), such as a conference or the annual NeuroSPACE retreat.

This registration is needed in order to claim professional expenses made during this trip, to make sure you are correctly insured and to allow the KU Leuven to monitor the safety level of the trip. For more information, check out this page.

Proceed as follows:

  1. Log in to KU Loket and Go to "Personnel"
  2. Navigate to "Register missions" and click on "New request"

  3. Fill out the required information on (amongst others):

    • When you will be absent
    • Where you will be
    • How you will get there
    • Why you are going

  4. Add the correct financial antenna to the form (Agna Marien, u0088446)

  5. Submit the form

Register missions

Warning

If you are using your own vehicle for the trip, please make sure it is registered for insurance reasons. To do so, follow the steps on this page. Your vehicle has to be registered in order to get a km-based refund for work-related trips! You can find the current rates here.

Reserve a room for a meeting

In order to book a room, contact Manou. You can check which rooms are available yourself through KU Loket:

  1. Go to KU Loket, navigate to the tab "HSE & Spaces" and click on "Classroom reservations"
  2. Click "Search on room or building" and enter PSI
  3. Select the rooms that fit your needs
  4. Click "Show reservations"
  5. Browse to the date & time when you need the room
  6. Look for an available room and send this info to Manou.

Room reservation

In case of absence of Manou

Through the "Request Room(s)" tile, next to "Classroom reservations", you can reserve a room yourself.

Reserve equipment or a room for testing

The standard booking tool for testing rooms and equipment (testing cubicles, EEG room, TMS room, fMRI dummy scanner, VR room, etc.) in our faculty is Calira.

  • To access Calira, you need to make a user account using an invitation link. This link decides to which infrastructure you have access to and is different for every research unit/group. For our group (B&C Human), you can get the link by sending an email to Klara (klara.schevenels@kuleuven.be).
  • When you have access, choose the option to log in via your organization, so you can access it through the KU Leuven login tool.
  • Make sure to use Calira to book your testing time slots when you use common rooms or material. Request access to the items you don’t have permission to in case you need it.

If you need a larger PC room, e.g., for a collective testing session, you can follow the steps above to book one of the "ICTS PC-KLAS" rooms in VHI.

Information on PPW's research infrastructure

You can find more information on how to use Calira on the faculty's own MS Teams channel GHUM PPW - Research rooms and equipment, which functions as the central information platform for all matters related to research infrastructure. Find more info here.

Ordering stuff

Most recent information from the Finance Department

Here you can find the presentation given by the finance department to LBP on 08/10/2025 (access required). Check it out for a complete overview.

Please contact Manou and/or the financial antenna Agna for assistance with arranging, ordering and/or paying for the following things (more info via the links below):

Alternatively, you can use the offline booking form for more complex trips, bookings with a private part (more info on this here), destinations involving multiple modes of transport, price inquiries, group trips, etc. (Dutch|English). DGI will then send you the requested quote via email.

For questions or requests regarding quotes, bookings, changes, or offline and online support, please use DGI's central contact point (KULeuven@dgitravel.com; +32 (0)2 808 98 55). Note that, if you are awarded an FWO travel grant, you have to book your trip through the FWO-approved travel agencies Omnia Travel or Uniglobe and not DGI.

More generally, on this page, you can check all existing framework and discount agreements with external suppliers, as well as the correct ordering method (KU Loket/purchase order). Typically, KU Leuven works with a purchase order (PO)/invoice. Occasionally, purchases can be made with personal funds (e.g., in urgent cases or for small amounts), which you can recover via the professional expenses process in KU Loket.

Aanvraag uitzondering online aankoop

If you need to buy something via a webshop that doesn't accept purchase orders (POs) and is not available via one of the existing framework agreements (including software), you can request an exception via this form prior to the online purchase. This also applies to purchases with the corporate credit card (except for books, journals, membership/registration fees, and accommodation costs)!

Always ask for a purchase order for Fnac and Acco (avoid bol.com).

If you want to order specific testing equipment or consumables (e.g., a new EEG cap), you can contact Klara or send an email to neurospace@kuleuven.be (general mailing address to reach the NeuroSPACE support staff).

Goods receipt and credit card expenses

Let Manou and/or Agna know when you receive your ordered item. They need this confirmation to settle the invoice (i.e., if you forget, the invoice will not be paid).

Likewise, if you paid something with the corporate credit card, immediately inform Manou and/or Agna of this and provide them with the digital receipt and justification (work-related character) for the expense.

Arrange a parking spot for a visitor

If you need to arrange parking for a visitor in the city center, you can do so by requesting a day code for the visitor to operate the barriers of the KU Leuven personnel parkings. For more information, check out this page.

Parking policy

You can find more info on KU Leuven's parking policy here. It is worth noting that the car park underneath the Herman Servotte Residence located on the Social Sciences campus (Parkstraat 39-53) can be accessed outside of working hours (18h-24h) and during holidays with your staff card.

Parking spots at the university hospital (UZ Leuven campus Gasthuisberg) can be refunded in the form of a parking ticket that visitors can use to pay their parking fee.

  • We can buy these tickets (in batches) in advance, so make sure to check beforehand with your fellow fMRI-colleagues currently or previously testing if we have tickets left or not.
  • New tickets can be ordered by Manou and/or Agna, by sending a purchase order to toegangsbeheer@uzleuven.be. You will need to pick up the tickets in UZ Leuven (dienst toegangsbeheer).