Femke De Backere
Professor
Table of Contents
Femke De Backere is a part-time associate professor in the IDLab research group at Ghent University and a full-time research manager and senior scientist at imec. She obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Informatics and her Master’s degree in Computer Science Engineering from Ghent University, where she specialized in software engineering and healthcare applications. She completed her PhD at Ghent University, focusing on semantic technologies and personalized, context-aware systems in collaboration with intensive care units, homecare organizations, and industry partners. Her research focuses on interdisciplinary applications combining computer science, health psychology, and movement science across three core areas: explainable domain-expertise models, personalization and contextualization, and engagement techniques such as gamification and serious games. Additionally, she teaches Design Project at Ghent University to empower future engineers to become next-generation innovators.
Blog posts and projects
No blog posts or projects yet.
Recent publications
2026
One click, one game: AI-generated personalized game-based learning experiences
Workshop on Orchestrating Human and AI Agency for Proactive and Reflective Learning (HAI-Agency), co-located with the 27th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED 2026), Seoul, South Korea
A holistic approach on multiple health behaviours and their linked determinants: a project towards personalized health interventions in older adults
2025
A holistic approach to multiple health behaviours and their determinants in older adults: study protocol
39th Annual Conference of the European Health Psychology Society 'Putting Health Psychology to Work: Prevention, Practice and Policy', Groningen, The Netherlands
Development and evaluation of the COntextualised and Personalised Physical activity and Exercise Recommendations (COPPER) Ontology
Int. J. Behav. Nutr. Phys. Act.
Identifying optimal moments for delivering digital prompts to reduce prolonged sedentary behavior in older adults: an intensive longitudinal study using sensor-triggered ecological momentary assessment
J. Phys. Act. Health
Creating a supportive academic culture by preventing and responding to transgressive behavior
Nat. Ment. Health
Preferences of cancer survivors and healthcare providers for a physical activity application: a group concept mapping study
Psycho-Oncol.
2024
Unveiling the digital pathways to active aging: an exploratory mixed methods study in older adults
38th Annual Conference of the European Health Psychology Society (EHPS 2024), Cascais, Portugal
An analysis of physical activity coping plans: mapping barriers and coping strategies based on user ratings
Health Psychol. Behav. Med.
Unveiling digital pathways to active aging: an exploratory mixed methods study of older adults’ experiences and the impact of person‐level factors on mHealth intervention engagement
Health Soc Care Commun