Dr Helene Tischer
Associate
- Americas Seismic Design Leader
Dr. Helene Tischer is a structural engineer with 20 years of experience working as a researcher, professor and designer, focusing on earthquake engineering and existing buildings retrofit. She is the Americas Seismic Skills Network leader, with responsibility for coordinating skills, learning, research and knowledge sharing across Arup’s community of multidisciplinary engineers located in the US, Canada and Colombia.
Helene regularly leads and manages projects in the Americas, mainly in her home location of the Greater Montreal area and Canada, but her experience expands to the U.S., Haiti, Peru and Colombia. She is actively involved in scientific research and development in her field, publishing papers and presenting at national and international conferences regularly. She is also experienced in damage assessment being part of international reconnaissance teams, most recently after the earthquakes in Turkey (2023) and Haiti (2021).
Helene has worked on various types of projects, including residential, commercial and cultural buildings, as well as infrastructure. She specialises in seismic retrofitting of existing and heritage buildings, which she has developed through extensive research and practical experience both locally and internationally. She is well-versed in the codes and standards related to her field of work, acting as advisor to the Standing Committee on Seismic Design of the National Building Code of Canada and developing code requirement comparisons for international clients.