Felix Schmid
Professor
Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education
Born in Zürich, Switzerland, Felix Schmid graduated from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology with a degree in electrical and electronic engineering. After a mini career in software engineering in his home country, he moved to Manchester, England, to work for GEC Traction as a locomotive control systems engineer.
In 1982 he became a research engineer at UMIST and at the University of Salford and then joined Brunel University as a lecturer in computer integrated manufacturing. He took up a post as a railway inspector with the Swiss Federal Office of Transport 1993 but realised quickly that he was not suited to a civil service role.
After a year, he returned to Britain and a senior lectureship at the University of Sheffield, where he was employed to develop the MSc programme in Railway Systems Engineering.
In 2005, Felix and the programme transferred to the Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education (BCRRE) at the University of Birmingham. At BCRRE, he managed two railway-related masters programmes and supervised research in the areas of railway control and systems engineering.
Felix retired from the University in 2020 but is still involved in teaching and the supervision of doctoral students. He is also consulting on railway engineering.