Since commencing with the university sector in 2005, Karen has had the opportunity to work with researchers from business, nursing and medicine enabling her to build strong interdisciplinary research and project management skills. She has also worked in teaching and learning roles at the University of Newcastle’s Faculty of Business and Law, primarily in the field of Human Resources Management. Prior to her work in research and teaching, Karen was employed as a Human Resources Manager in the manufacturing and mining sectors.

Karen’s PhD research focussed on professional identity and team functioning within the health sector, collaborating with a team of university and local health district researchers from management and nursing. Her current research at Macquarie is investigating mental health and well-being in the mining sector with a team of researchers from the Departments of Management and Marketing. She is also involved in research projects at the University of Newcastle spanning such diverse areas as gender equality in the medical technology sector, managing dementia in general practice, extended scopes of practice in rural healthcare, resilience and mental health for nursing and allied health practitioners, and global mobility and retention of health professionals.

Research Expertise

• Research project management and co-ordination
• Qualitative research – design, ethics, data collection & analysis
• Coordination and preparation of grant applications.
• Co-authoring and editing of reports and publications in a range of disciplines.

Keywords

• Organisational Behaviour
• Resilience
• Teams and Teamwork
• Gender Diversity
• Healthcare Management
• Health Services Research
• Social Identity Theory

External Memberships

Certified Professional (CAHRI) – Australian Human Resource Institute