Prof. (FH) Mag.Dr. Karin Waldherr
Karin Waldherr holds a Ph.D. in psychology (from the University of Vienna) and is a clinical psychologist and health psychologist. From 2008 to 2013, she was a key researcher for evaluation at the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Health Promotion Research in Vienna. From 2013 to 2017, she established and directed the bachelor’s program in “Aging Services Management” at FERNFH. Since 2017, she has headed the Department of Research and Development at FERNFH as well as the continuing education program “Evaluation in the Health, Social, and Education Sectors.” Since 2023, she has been the director of the Institute for Health Sciences at the Ferdinand Porsche FERNFH.
Her work focuses on evaluation and implementation research, health promotion, prevention and treatment of mental illnesses across the lifespan (particularly eating disorders and associated mental illnesses), and digital mental health. In addition to leading numerous evaluation projects, she served as a project manager at FERNFH from 2015 to 2019 and as task leader for the stakeholder survey of the Horizon 2020 project “ICare – Integrating Technology into Mental Health Care Delivery in Europe” (Grant Agreement No. 634757). Starting in April 2023, she will serve as co-project manager for the project “Prototyping a serious game intervention promoting mental health literacy in children and adolescents,” which is being implemented in cooperation with the Medical University of Vienna (project manager: Dr. Michael Zeiler) and funded by the WWTF and the State of Lower Austria (Grant ID: 10.47379/LS22030).
Among other roles, she is a board member of the Austrian Society for Eating Disorders (ÖGES), a member of the Austrian Society for Public Health (ÖGPH) and its expert groups on Public Mental Health and Gerontology, a member of the Academy for Eating Disorders (AED) and co-chair of the AED’s Partner, Chapter & Affiliate Committee, as well as a founding member of the Global Implementation Society (GIS). In addition, Waldherr is an associate editor for the journal “GIRA – Global Implementation Research and Applications,” a member of the editorial board of “Digital Psychology,” a review editor for Frontiers in Digital Health (Digital Mental Health section), a guest editor for several special issues on eating disorders and associated disorders, and a member of the scientific advisory board of the Fonds Gesundes Österreich (FGÖ).
Key Areas of Work & Research Interests
Career Path
Director of the Institute for Health Sciences at the Ferdinand Porsche FERNFH
Head of the Research & Development Department, Program Director for Evaluation in the Health, Social, and Education Sectors at the Ferdinand Porsche FERNFH
Program Director for the Bachelor's Degree in Aging Services Management at the Ferdinand Porsche FERNFH
Head of the Development Team for the Bachelor's Program in Aging Services Management at Ferdinand Porsche FERNFH
Key Researcher Evaluation, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Health Promotion Research, Ludwig Boltzmann Society, Vienna
Adjunct Lecturer, Introduction to Quantitative Methods, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna
Adjunct Instructor, Applied Methodology and Statistics, Bachelor's Program in Business Administration & Business Psychology, FERNFH
University Assistant, Methodology Division, Institute for Basic Psychological Research, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna
University Assistant (Part-Time), Methodology Division, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Basic and Integrative Sciences, University of Vienna
Contract Assistant, Methodology Division, Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Basic and Integrative Sciences, University of Vienna
Education
International Postgraduate Training Program on the Treatment of Eating Disorders
Postgraduate Training in Clinical Psychology and Health Psychology
Ph.D. program, Department of Psychology, University of Vienna; Topic: Differential Item Functioning Analyses Using the Rasch Family of Models
Bachelor's Degree in Psychology, University of Vienna
Memberships in scientific societies
- Austrian Society for Eating Disorders (ÖGES), Vice President
- Academy for Eating Disorders (AED), ÖGES representative on the “Partnership, Chapter, and Affiliate Committee”
- DeGEval Society for Evaluation
- Austrian Society for Public Health (ÖGPH)
- European Public Health Association (EUPHA)
- German-Speaking Implementation Association (GSIA)
- Global Implementation Society (GIS), Founding Member, Co-Chair of the GIS Journal Committee