Nadine Engels started her career in the teacher education department at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in 1985. She obtained her PhD in 1994 at VUB with a dissertation on dissatisfaction and burnout among teachers in secondary education. In 2004 she moved into the department of educational sciences at the same university she became head of this department from 2004 till 2012 and later director of the Master of Educational Sciences. In 2015-2016 she was vice-dean of the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences. From october 2016 she's head of the Teacher Education Department.

Her research today is mainly in the domain of professional learning and development of practitioners in education. The main purpose is to identify factors, conditions and interventions that stimulate deep-level learning of teachers that results in development of teaching behaviour as well as teacher professional identity, cognition, beliefs, values and emotions.

Recently the focus has been on inquiry-based collaborative learning and on (cultural and structural) conditions for professional learning in the organizational environment. Several PhD projects under Nadine Engels’ supervision focus on these particular perspectives. She was also the promoter of an international (EU-supported ) project, in which the relationship between elements in the work environment, learning activities and knowledge productivity has been investigated. Based on the expertise in this line of research she has been invited for keynote addresses at several occasions.

Another research focus is diversity and equal opportunities in education, with research projects on e.g., gender equity, inclusive learning environments, and differentiated instruction.