Researcher

Femke De Backere

Research disciplines
  • Natural sciences
    • Knowledge representation and reasoning
    • Machine learning and decision making
    • Ubiquitous computing
    • Health informatics
    • Knowledge management
    • Software engineering
    • Human-computer interaction
Expertise
personalization software engineering context-awareness eHealth gamification serious games digital interventies
Bio
I am a part-time associate professor at the IDLab research group of Ghent University (since September 2024) and a full-time senior scientist at the imec research hub for nanotechnologies and digital technologies. With a Bachelor’s degree in Informatics and a Master’s in Computer Science Engineering from Ghent University, I specialized in software engineering and began focusing my research on healthcare applications. My PhD research involved collaborations with intensive care units, homecare organizations and industry partners through projects focused on semantic technologies and personalized, context-aware systems. In my research and educational tasks, I always strive for impact. In my current research this is translated through interdisciplinary projects where we need the expertise of computer science, health psychology and movement science. I focus on different research lines: (i) the creation of explainable models to capture domain expertise, (ii) using those models to realize personalization and contextualization and (iii) engagement techniques such as serious games and gamification. Through my course Design Project, I want to help future computer scientists and engineers develop the necessary skills and knowledge to become the next generation of innovators - in the broadest sense - and contribute to shaping a better future and society.