Katrin Beyer studied civil engineering at ETH Zurich, where she obtained a diploma with distinction in 2001. She then worked for two years for the ARUP consulting firm in London on projects related to structural dynamics, impacts and seismic analysis. In 2003, she enrolled at the Istituto Universitario di Studi Superiori (IUSS) in Pavia, Italy, earning a Master's degree in earthquake engineering, followed by a PhD from the University of Pavia in 2007. She then returned to ETH Zurich to work as a post-doctoral researcher.
In 2010, Beyer joined EPFL's School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering (ENAC) as a tenure-track assistant professor of civil engineering. She founded the Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics Laboratory (EESD), which studies the seismic behavior of unreinforced masonry structures with a particular focus on historical structures that were not designed for seismic loads. Her research group uses large-scale experimental testing and numerical methods to advance the understanding of the seismic behavior of such structures. Beyer was promoted to associate professor in 2017. She is a member of the executive committee of the European Association for Earthquake Engineering and a co-founder of the startup SwissInspect.
Beyer chaired EPFL's Open Science Strategic Committee from 2017 to 2021 and the ETH Domain's Open Research Data (ORD) working group in 2020 and 2021. This working group authored a white paper on ORD in the ETH Domain and initiated a CHF 15 million program to implement the paper's recommendations. Beyer served as ENAC's associate dean for open science and digitalization from 2020 to 2023, and in late 2023 was appointed dean of ENAC for a four-year term starting on 1 January 2024.