Femke De Backere

Associate Professor & Senior Researcher, IDLab–imec, Ghent University

Program Coordinator Lifelong Learning AI, Flemish AI Academy (VAIA)

My work spans software engineering, semantics and immersive technologies — from ontologies and reasoning to serious games and virtual reality — and how these can create value across many domains, including education, sustainability, consumer research and health. I am also a dedicated IT educator and, through the Flemish AI Academy, a driving force for lifelong learning in AI and for innovation in engineering education.

Portrait of Femke De Backere

About me

I graduated from Ghent University, Faculty of Engineering, in 2009 and joined the research group of Piet Demeester (IBCN, now IDLab) as a PhD student. In 2016, I obtained my PhD in Computer Science Engineering with a dissertation on the design and management of pervasive eCare services, supporting older adults and people with chronic conditions to live independently at home for as long as possible.

Today I hold a joint appointment as Associate Professor in Software Engineering and Senior Researcher in Semantics & Machine Learning at IDLab–imec (Ghent University). My research brings together software engineering, semantics and immersive technologies — reusable software design, ontologies and semantic reasoning, serious games and gamification, and virtual and augmented reality — and applies them across a wide range of domains, from education and sustainability to consumer research, health and behavior change, drawing on artificial intelligence as a tool where it adds value. Alongside my research, I also am a project lead at the Flemish AI Academy (VAIA) - the Lifelong Learning AI programme - developing trainings, courses and workshops that make artificial intelligence accessible to professionals.

Educational innovation is itself a strand of my work: I am lecturer-in-charge of the Design Project in the Master of Computer Science Engineering, coordinator of the faculty's Innovation for Society excellence programme, and teach a Blended Intensive Program - a summer school - at Uppsala University on challenge-based learning and serious game design. I am also active in academic governance and in initiatives promoting STEM, gender and diversity in engineering.

Current roles

Associate Professor

Software Engineering, IDLab–imec, Ghent University. Research, teaching and supervision of PhD and master students.

Senior Researcher

Semantics & Machine Learning, IDLab–imec. Leading research on context-aware, personalized systems across domains.

Project Lead

Lifelong Learning AI at the Flemish AI Academy (VAIA) — trainings, courses and workshops in AI.

Research focus

Frontiers in software personalization and game thinking.

Built for individuals illustration

Built for Individuals

Software that adapts to how neurodivergent and neurotypical people learn, stay healthy and build habits.

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Learning Through Play

Interdisciplinary serious games that let students and learners learn through play.

Virtual and mixed reality illustration

Virtual & Mixed Reality

VR and MR experiences, from rehabilitation in and beyond the clinic to experimental auctions.

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AI & Generative Tools

Tools that help developers build games and immersive environments more easily.

Explore research & projects →