diff --git a/create_JupyterLab_kernel.sh b/create_JupyterLab_kernel.sh
index 0843a8ac2be012ea779faff75194da5d45096c2a..49313cce0ba3cfe9dbd3683a31eb191aba72b760 100644
--- a/create_JupyterLab_kernel.sh
+++ b/create_JupyterLab_kernel.sh
@@ -41,6 +41,11 @@ mkdir -p \$R_LIBS_USER
 export R_LIBS=\$R_LIBS_USER:\$R_LIBS
 EOF
 
+# ... and set the SYSTEMNAME env var, to use Spack commands inside the kernel
+cat <<EOF >> $KERNEL_PATH/bin/env.sh
+export SYSTEMNAME=ebrainslab
+EOF
+
 # (4) create startup script for python kernel
 cat $KERNEL_PATH/bin/env.sh > $KERNEL_PATH/bin/env_python.sh
 echo "python -m ipykernel_launcher -f \$@" >> $KERNEL_PATH/bin/env_python.sh