Katharina Näswall

Katharina Näswall (also Naswall) is a Swedish–New Zealand psychology academic, and is a full professor at the University of Canterbury, specialising in workplace psychology. Naswall is particularly interested in trying to make workplaces that are good for health and wellbeing of workers.

Academic career
Näswall completed a PhD titled Job insecurity from a stress perspective: antecedents, consequences, and moderators at the Stockholm University in 2004. Näswall then joined the staff of Stockholm University. She moved to New Zealand in 2010, and joined the faculty of the School of Psychology, Speech and Hearing at the University of Canterbury, rising to full professor. Näswall is the Director of the Masters in Organisational Psychology programme at Canterbury, and co-leads the Workplace Analytics Research group with Professor Sanna Malinen.

Näswall's research is focused on trying to make work and workplaces that have a positive effect on the health and wellbeing of workers. She uses psychology and an understanding of human behaviour to study such topics as whether hybrid work affects burnout, how managers and organisations can make a positive difference to wellbeing, and whether workplaces with better psychological safety achieve better decision-making. Näswall has researched psychosocial recovery after disasters, and has also commented on the need for greater emphasis on manager training and resources in supporting employee wellbeing.

Näswall is on the editorial boards of the Scandinavian Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology and the journal Work and Stress.