The Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, being the 6th European university in the 2008 Leiden bibliometric ranking, participates in over 540 FP7 projects, ranking sixth in the league of HES institutions participating. KU Leuven takes up the 8th place of European institutions hosting ERC grants. To date, the 69 ERC Grantees in its midst confirm that KU Leuven is a breeding ground (49 Starting Grants) and attractive destination for the world’s best researchers. The success in the FP7 Marie Curie Actions is a manifestation of the three pillars of KU Leuven: research, education and service to society. In its 136 Actions, of which 53 Initial Training Networks, hundreds of young researchers have been trained through research and have acquired the necessary skills to transfer their knowledge into the world outside academia. KU Leuven has 41255 students and a staff of 9848, with 14 faculties covering all disciplines in humanities, life sciences, physical sciences & engineering. Applied research is supported by the well-experienced KU Leuven Research & Development (LRD), one of the most renowned technology transfer offices in Europe. In Science2Society KU Leuven will be participating with its Noise and Vibration Research Group which currently counts 74 researchers and is part of the Mechanical Engineering Department, a vibrant environment of close to 250 researchers. Doctoral training is provided in the framework of the Leuven Arenberg Doctoral School. The research group has extensive experience in industry-academia research and training cooperation via staff exchange, dual-desk PhD’s, industrial PhD’s and other schemes, and has been using tools for the implementation of the above such as the Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions Innovative Training Networks (ITN), European Industry Doctorates (EID) and Industry-Academia Partnerships and Pathways (IAPP).
