Mathilde Niehaus is Professor at the University of Cologne. Since 2002, she is the chair of the Unit for Labour and Vocational Rehabilitation. Previously, she was Full Professor at the University of Vienna and Visiting professor at the Alpen-Adria University, Klagenfurt. She received her doctoral degree from the University of Trier, and her habilitation from the University of Oldenburg.

Her work has been published in more than 200 articles in academic journals of different disciplines, such as rehabilitation, health, or psychology. To date, she has supervised 21 funded research projects, resulting in 25 published research reports. Furthermore, she served on several editorial and advisory boards. She was a member of the advisory board of RehaFutur, German Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (2007 – 2011), and a member of the Academic Advisory Council of the Pacific Coast University for Workplace Health Sciences, Port Alberni, B.C., Canada (2011 – 2014), as well as a member of the Board of Directors of the Global Applied Disability Research and Information Network (GLADNET, 2011-2013). For many years now, she is consulting the Institute for Workplace Health Promotion (BGF GmbH) as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board.

Her research interests focus on the subjects of health and return to work, employability, disability management and inclusion in higher education. She has worked with several international companies from diverse industries such as automotive, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and energy. Core research projects include the recent project „Ageing healthy and qualified in the automotive industry (PINA)” and the current project „Enabling an informed decision: Construction of a decision aid for employees with a chronic disease concerning disclosure at the workplace“ as well as “inclusion and diversity in higher education”. In 2017, her research has been recognized with the International Award for Innovative Practice on Employment, Work and Vocational Education and Training (ZERO).