Mikela Chatzimichailidou

Dr Mikela Chatzimichailidou CEng FIET CSci MIScT FSaRS

I am a heretical researcher of all things technical and a consulting engineer bringing together experience and expertise from across healthcare, aviation, rail and infrastructure; in the fields of system engineering, product engineering, system and safety assurance and project management. I have been leading research and consulting assignments for more than a decade both in academia for some of the world’s top universities, and in industry for a world class design and built environment consultancy.

During my career I have worked in both hands-on R&D roles, consultancy and design roles and as a project manager, leading others to deliver client objectives and cutting-edge academic research. My offering is that I bring experience of both the academic and industrial worlds, am able to bridge the gap and draw the best from each. My core skills are: complex, integrated socio-technical systems; systems safety and engineering; multidisciplinary design assurance; and, project engineering.

“SaRS changed my life and so it can change yours!”

I worked as am a Systems Assurance Engineer and a Team Leader at WSP (UK) and a Visiting Fellow at Cranfield University (UK) and Imperial College London (UK). I was awarded my PhD in Complex Systems Safety and Human Factors, as well as my MSc in Systems Engineering Management from Democritus University of Thrace (GR) where I also did my MEng as a Mechanical Engineer. As a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Cambridge (UK) I worked on Patient Safety for a year in collaboration with the NHS. During my three years at Imperial College London (UK), Department of Civil Engineering, I led versatile projects ranging from systems safety and human factors to complexity management and systems engineering in transportation and infrastructure.

My current role is Research Development Manager, Arup University, Arup and I was recently appointed Honorary Fellow at UCL, The Bartlett School of Sustainable Construct 

I have published a book on Project and Risk Management, a best practice report with Innovate UK and the Knowledge Transfer Network (UK), 20 peer reviewed papers to international journals and over 40 conference papers. I am a reviewer in numerous international journals, such as Accident Analysis & Prevention, Safety Science and Risk Analysis etc., and conferences.

I was introduced to SaRS by a colleague back in 2016 and while I was looking for a relatively small but dynamic society to become part of and get to know industry experts from the field of systems safety. Since then, I have been attending all the London Branch events, I organised four in collaboration with Imperial College and WSP, and in 2018 I was invited to give a talk. In 2018 I was awarded the Fellowship (FSaRS) and between 2018 and 2020 I served as a London Brach Committee member. Recently, I was the Guest Editor for a special issue of the Safety and Reliability Journal, which attracted attention from industry and academia and from many different sectors and countries around the world. In 2020 I was invited to join the SaRS National Council, having as an aim to engage more early-career engineers and create stronger links between academia, industry and SaRS.

SaRS changed my life and so it can change yours!