Jan Engelen has a PhD in Applied Sciences (Electronics Engineering) and is currently professor at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium. He is in charge of teaching Electronic Engineering project work to bachelor students and Fiber Optics Communication to telecommunications engineers (master level).

His research is focusing on Electronic Document management and modern communication systems. He is specialised in current ICT systems and more specifically in their usability and accessibility for groups with special requirements such as disadvantaged youngsters and reading impaired persons (persons with a visual impairment, dyslexia or a severe motor handicap).

He was an active member of the COST219ter action “Accessibility for All to services and terminals for next generation mobile networks” [finished in 2008] and is/was involved in the (European) eEurope action plans related to accessibility (as member of or representative to the eAccessibility expert group, CEN-WAC, CEN-DPA, EDeAN, DATSCG etc.).

Jan Engelen is leading the Research Group on Document Architectures (“DocArch”) within the Department of Electrical Engineering (ESAT) of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. He is also co-founder of the Pyxima spin-off company (www.pyxima.com)

He has a wide experience with European research programmes (Helios-Handynet, Telematics Applications Programme, Copernicus Programme, Framework 4, 5, 6 & 7 Research programmes) both as project leader and as partner within projects.

Since September 2008, he is coordinating the European INCLUSO project on the use of ICT by disadvantaged youngsters (http://www.incluso.org). This is the first EU project at K.U. Leuven in which several Association member institutions (http://associatie.kuleuven.be/eng/) are accepted as full partners.

Jan Engelen is responsible for the work of his DocArch research group within the ongoing EU funded USEM, STAND4ALL, AEGIS, eGovMoNet and DfA@eInclusion projects. Recently finished projects include the EU projects: WALKONWEB, @SCIENCE, OMNIPAPER, VISUAL, IDCnet, D4ALL-net and Support-EAM. His research group is member of several working groups of W3C's Web Access Initiative.

Jan Engelen has been called upon many times since 1991 by the European Commission for evaluation and review of European Research projects. He is also in the steering committee of the annual ELPUB conferences on Electronic Publishing (www.elpub.net). Furthermore he is programme committee member for the bi-annual ICCHP & AAATE conferences and reviewer for TECHNOLOGY AND DISABILITY (ISSN: 1055-4181), INFOVISIE MAGAZINE (ISSN: 0774-1251) and UNIVERSAL ACCESS IN THE INFORMATION SOCIETY- UAIS (ISSN: 1615-5289).

On the national level he is/was engaged in the Interface-Belrai (be-Health), Braillekrant/Audiokrant and CityinMyPocket projects, as well as in several K.U. Leuven funded OOF, OOP & AMF projects.

He is also a founding member of LUCIDE, the Leuven University Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Difference and Equality (http://www.kuleuven.be/diversiteit/onderzoek/) as well as of the “Working group on Digital Accessibility”.