Sam Michiels

Background

About Sam Michiels

As a constructive, empathic and pragmatic team player, I have developed strong management competences in relation building, funding acquisition, strategic planning, change management, problem solving and people management. After working as PhD and post-doctoral researcher since 1997, I acquired a tenured position in 2008 as IOF Industrial Research Manager within DistriNet, a research group of +/- 75 researchers at KU Leuven (distrinet.cs.kuleuven.be/). My main responsibilities are to establish and maintain close relationships with local and international industry, acquire industrial R&D funding, and transfer mature research results to industry (e.g. VersaSense, a KU Leuven spin-off that emerged from DistriNet, I coordinate a team of 15 researchers and 5 professors at KU Leuven. I have 20 years of experience in initiating, acquiring, and coordinating R&D projects in close collaboration with industry (+/- 6 projects in parallel). Within the R&D portfolio of DistriNet, I focus on networked embedded software and security. As volunteer, I actively contribute to improving the physical accessibility and independent living for people with an impairment. I established the KU Leuven Working Group Physical Accessibility in 2005 and chair it since then; I also chair the Accessibility Council Leuven since December 2018 and serve in the Board of IZW, a non-profit organisation that enables independent living of people with a handicap.