Barbara Fischer an evolutionary biologist at the Department of Theoretical Biology of the University of Vienna and group leader on "Evolutionary Biology" at the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research. She studies phenotypic evolution using theoretical and empirical approaches. Her work centers on the classical problem of adaptation vs. constraint in evolution: Why are some traits easily adapted by evolution, while others are not?

More recently, her work concentrates on the evolution of birth in humans. She studies how such a difficult birth process could evolve and why it has persisted, despite the high mortality and morbidity associated with it.

She is also a dedicated teacher and enjoys communicating science and writing articles for a non-scientific audience.

Keywords Evolution of childbirth, Evolutionary medicine, Biostatistics, Evolutionary theory, Science communication