Leo De Schutter worked as Senior Designer for Atlas Copco division Engineering Oil Free Air until his retirement in 2010. He then enrolled as a free student at Ghent University to follow courses on mineralogy and petrology, also on Belgian natural building stones and on Natural stones imported from France, UK and Germany.

He participated in the activities concerning heritage conservation and restauration of Antwerpse Vereniging voor Bodem- en Grotonderzoek (Antwerp Society for Soil and Cavity Investigation, AVBG) and became council member.

Since 2015 he works as a volunteer – scientific collaborator on natural building stone research and is engaged in the inventory of natural building stone of monuments in Belgium and the Netherlands. In collaboration with the Geo-collections manager Marleen De Ceukelaire and colleague – scientific collaborator Michiel Dusar he works on completing the monument and collections databases and contributes to site studies.