Free De Backer is an associate professor in arts education at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, where she leads the Department of Educational Sciences and co-leads the Brussels research centre for Innovation in Learning and Diversity (BILD) - a research group with an interest in understanding and promoting participation and inclusion through educational interventions.

Free is an expert in arts and cultural education, with research projects spanning art-care intersections, disability aesthetics, and arts participation and mediation in various learning environments at different ages. She is committed to facilitating educational experiences, particularly for those in vulnerable situations, aiming to increase access, participation, and quality of learning and life. Her research is both fundamental and applied, focusing on transformative research frameworks that drive social change.

Prof. De Backer oversees multiple research projects, such as audience research at art centres and music halls (e.g. Ancienne Belgique in Brussels) focusing on inclusivity and a sense of belonging, youth-centred research on the climate crisis through the arts, and interdisciplinary research on cremation practices aimed at fostering compassionate communities.

Free De Backer is co-supervisor of the Compassionate Communities Centre of Expertise. This centre of expertise studies the role of the environment in shaping practices and experiences of serious illness, caregiving, dying, and grieving through interdisciplinary research and innovation. In addition to her roles at the university, she is a board member of the art educational organisation De Veerman and also an appointed VUB representative on the departmental council of RITCS (Royal Institute for Theatre, Cinema & Sound) at Erasmushogeschool Brussel. Free De Backer was president of the non-profit organisation ADJ (2013-2022).