Karen is the Associate Dean Research for Te Kete Aronui Humanities Division at Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka University of Otago. She is a Co-Director of Southern Pacific Archaeological Research, a research unit engaging in collaborative research, applied archaeology, and heritage projects in Aotearoa and the Pacific. She is a Theme Leader for Coastal People: Southern Skies Centre of Research Excellence, connecting communities with world-leading, cross-discipline research to rebuild coastal ecosystems. Karen’s research focuses on human-animal relationships in Oceania in the past and the implications of these for social interactions and environmental change. Her approach draws on archaeological and anthropological theories and methods combined with ancient DNA and other biomolecular technologies. Increasingly her work explores how archaeological knowledge, methods and practices can connect the past with the present and serve the needs of contemporary communities.
