Pia Georgi-Tscherry

Pia Georgi-Tscherry serves as a Lecturer, project manager, and Head of the Master in Social Work program at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts – Social Work, where she also holds the position of Deputy Head of the Institute for Social Pedagogy and Social Policy since 2024. She is affiliated with the Competence Center for Disability and Quality of Life (BuLQ) and the Center for Teaching and Professional Development.

She earned her Doctorate in Educational Science from the University of Zurich with a dissertation on movement-restricting measures in intensive care settings, along with a Master of Arts in Special Education and General Educational Science from the same institution. Her academic background is complemented by specialized training in basic stimulation techniques and special education from Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences.

Dr. Georgi-Tscherry's research focuses on intensive care practices for people with disabilities, particularly examining challenging behaviors in cognitive impairment, ethical considerations of restrictive measures, and quality of life issues. She investigates workplace realities for people with severe disabilities, communication strategies with individuals with complex needs, and inclusive educational practices using qualitative methodologies including phenomenology, documentary method, grounded theory, and video analysis. Her work consistently addresses the tension between care ethics and practical implementation in disability support settings.

Her publication record demonstrates a clear trajectory of deepening focus on disability support systems, with recent work (2021-2023) increasingly addressing architectural considerations for emotional regulation, staff-client relationship dynamics in intensive care, and workplace integration challenges for people with severe disabilities. She frequently collaborates with Stefania Calabrese and researchers from Swiss institutions on interdisciplinary projects.

Dr. Georgi-Tscherry has supervised numerous MA theses at the University of Special Education in Zurich since 2017 and currently leads the Master in Social Work program at Lucerne University. She has secured research funding for multiple projects including the 'Kompetenzprofil und Unterstützungsbedarf von Mitarbeitenden in der Intensivbetreuung' study which examines staff competencies in intensive care settings.

• Co-leads the Network for people with severe disabilities in German-speaking Switzerland
• Organizes regular network meetings on intensive care practices
• Provides scientific evaluation services for pedagogical settings and individual case analysis in disability support
• Offers consulting on challenging behaviors and different disability profiles including ASD and ADHD in adulthood