Katrin Fischer

Prof. Dr. Katrin Fischer is a full Professor at the Institute of Humans in Complex Systems within the School of Applied Psychology at the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW). She holds a Doctorate in Philosophy from Technical University of Berlin (1996) and a psychology degree from Humboldt University of Berlin (1991). Her academic career includes positions as Research Associate at University of Potsdam (2003-2005) and Technical University of Berlin (1991-2003) prior to joining FHNW in 2005.

Her research focuses on human behavior in complex socio-technical systems, particularly examining:

• Safety and engineering psychology in transportation systems
• Cognitive processes in decision-making and risk assessment
• Human reliability in technical environments
• Psychological aspects of work disability evaluations
• Human-technology interaction in safety-critical domains

She leads applied research projects in railway safety, human factors in automation, and disability assessment methodologies.

Her publication portfolio (15 most recent shown) demonstrates strong focus on:

• Railway operations safety and human factors (6 publications)
• Decision psychology and risk assessment (3 publications)
• Work disability evaluation reliability (3 publications)
• Human-technology interaction in industrial settings (3 publications)

Recent work shows increasing emphasis on integrated security approaches and cross-professional training in transportation systems.

Prof. Fischer teaches foundational psychology courses and supervises student research projects. She maintains active service roles including:

• Member of expert commission at German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment
• FHNW representative in Swiss Nuclear Forum training commission
• Network partner with Institute for Work Research and Organizational Consulting

She leads multiple industry collaborations with Swiss transportation authorities focusing on safety management and human factors optimization.