Welcome to JURE 2008!

The theme for JURE 2008 is Innovative and Creative Perspectives: New Directions in Educational Research. JURE 2008 will be held in the beautiful and vibrant city of Leuven in Belgium from the 8th to 11th of July. The conference presents a great opportunity for junior research to discuss and receive feedback on their research and get involved with other researchers in the same area.

Transportation: Getting to Belgium & Leuven


By plane
The most convenient airport to fly to is Brussels Airport (Zaventem): it has direct connections to many airports in Europe and is at a 14’ minute train ride from Leuven (see travel by train). On the airport's website are all airlines listed flying to Zaventem. The airport of Charleroi (Brussels South), at about 90-minutes travel from Leuven, is served by several low-cost carriers (e.g. RyanAir) and may be an economical alternative. From Charleroi Airport a shuttle bus drives you in 1 hour to the railway station of Brussels South (11 euro*), where you can catch a train to Leuven (see travel by train).

By Train

The city of Leuven is located close to Brussels and has convenient and easy international access by railway. The Thalys high speed train (TGV) links Brussels South to Paris North station (1h20min) and Paris CDG Airport (1h), while the Eurostar high speed train connects it to London Waterloo station (2h25min), via Lille (40min) and Ashford. The Thalys trains also connect Brussels to Amsterdam (2h45min), Rotterdam (1h40min), Aachen (1h35min) and Köln/Cologne (2h20min), among others. There are also direct Inter-City trains between Brussels and the German cities Frankfurt-am-Main (3h35min), via Aachen (1h30min), Cologne (2h10min), Bonn (2h30min) and Limburg-an-der-Lahn (2h55min).

Direct train connections exist between the international railway arrivals in Brussels and the railway station in Leuven. From Brussels, you can take a train which has Leuven (Louvain in French) as its final destination, or one which has Luik (Liège in French), Eupen, Quievrain or beyond as its final destination but which stops in Leuven en route. The Brussels-Leuven journey takes about 20 minutes by express train.

If you arrive by plane, Brussels airport is less than twenty minutes from Leuven. The railway station of Brussels National Airport is at the basement of the airport building. You can take a direct train which has Leuven (in French Louvain) as its final destination (1 per hour, 14’ ride), or take a train with direction Brussels-South (Brussel-Zuid / Bruxelles-Midi), and switch trains in Brussels-North (Brussel-Noord / Bruxelles-Nord), where you take a train which has Luik (Liège in French), Eupen, Quievrain or beyond as its final destination but which stops in Leuven en route. The total journey will take app. 40 minutes. A ticket from the airport to Leuven (with or without stop in Brussels) will cost you 3 euro*.

Attention: Make sure to catch the train to Leuven (Louvain) and not to Louvain-La-Neuve: while the French name for Leuven is indeed Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve is a different place. Check out the website of the Belgian Railway Company NMBS/SNCB for train details.

By Taxi

Take a taxi from Brussels airport to Leuven. The fare from the airport to Leuven is normally around €60.

By bus / coach

Eurolines offers a (daily) bus service to Brussels, and for some routes also Leuven, from all major cities in 29 European countries. Check out their website for more details.

The Flemish public bus company De Lijn also offers several bus services from Brussels (and other cities) to Leuven. This will take you much longer than by train, however. Check out their website (only in Dutch) for more details. Note that the airport of Brussels should be searched by ‘Zaventem Luchthaven’.

By car

Leuven-Brussels = 30 km, from Brussels there are motorways to the most important Belgian cities and to important cities in the neighbouring countries.

Leuven is at the junction of the E40 highway (Brussel/Bruxelles – Leuven/Louvain – Luik/Liège – Aachen (D) – Köln (D)) and the E314-A2 highway (Leuven - Hasselt - Genk - Maastricht (NL) – Aachen (D)). Leave the E314 at exit 15. That is the N264 direction Leuven.

Transportation: Getting around in Leuven

The center of Leuven (i.e. excluding the outer boroughs of Wilsele, Heverlee and Kessel-Lo) is a circular shaped city enclosed in an outer ring with a circumference of ca. 2.5 km / 1.6 miles, meaning the distance from the ring (e.g. the railway station) to the heart of the city is only slightly over 1 km / less than a mile. This means all the sights and things to do are within a convenient walking distance. Leuven is also pedestrian-friendly, with many parts of the very center of the city being closed to motorised traffic, often with the exception of buses and taxi's. Bring comfortable shoes for walking. There's no point in driving a car into the city - you can easily do everything on foot. Just bear in mind there are many cobbled streets in Leuven, so if you want to venture off the beaten path a bit, your feet will kill you at the end of the day unless you wear something suitable, like sneakers.

If you would need a taxi to get from the railway station to your hotel or the other way around, you will note there are plenty of taxi cabs waiting right outside the station.

If, however, you need to call a cab, the most obvious choices would be :

Right next to the station are the platforms for the buses (if you exit, go to the right). The Brussels-bound 358 line runs regularly and makes stops all along the Bondgenotenlaan (Leuven's main street) to the center, then through Brusselsestraat toward the western side of the city. A single fare within the city is 1.20 Euro* (in pre-sale outside the bus) or 1.50 Euro* (from the driver). You can also buy a day-pass (5 € in pre-sale, 6 € from the driver), a 3-day pass (10 € in pre-sale, 12 € from the driver) or a 5-day pass (15 € in pre-sale, 18 € from the driver). These passes are valid in whole Flanders (except Brussels).

Timetables and a route planner (only in Dutch) is available on the website of the Flemish public bus company De Lijn. If you need to get to a particular place or hotel and want to get there by bus, feel free to send an e-mail to jure2008@gmail.com and we'll look up the specifics for you.

* The prices listed are those of 2007, a small increase might be possible in 2008.

More information

More information about passport, visa requirements along with some basic information (like electricity specifications, currency, time weather etc.) and a list of emergency numbers can be found in the Belgium fact sheet.

Announcements: The website is updated regularly so make sure that you hit the refresh button on your browser every time you visit our website in order to see the all the new information.