Thomas Fischer

Thomas Fischer is a Professor at the School of Design, Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), with over 25 years of international academic experience. He leads the Design Cybernetics Group at SUSTech and serves as Chief Design Officer of anabrid technology company. Previously, he held teaching positions at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Interactive Systems Design & Industrial Design, 10+ years) and Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (Architecture & Industrial Design, 10 years), along with visiting positions at National Cheng Kung University and Humboldt University.

• Double PhD: Education (University of Kassel), Architecture & Design (RMIT University)
• Certification: Graduate Certificate in Cybersecurity (Harvard University)

Research Focus: Design cybernetics, computational design theory, autopoietic systems, and digital media. His work bridges cybernetics with architectural and product design, emphasizing indeterminism, circular causality, and epistemic processes.

Academic Contributions: Over 100 peer-reviewed publications with notable works on non-trivial machine design, BIM adoption models, and cybernetic design epistemology. Key journals include Kybernetes, International Journal of Architectural Computing, and Frontiers of Architectural Research.

• Fellow, Design Research Society
• Fellow, Cybernetics Society
• Certified Talent, International Academy for Systems & Cybernetic Sciences
• Recipient, Warren McCulloch Award (American Society for Cybernetics)

Collaborations: Active partnerships with Christiane M. Herr, Guillermo Sánchez Sotés, and other systemic design researchers. His recent publications appear in Constructivist Foundations and Materials & Design, focusing on autopoietic architecture and cross-morphological performance analysis.