Karen is a Senior Research Fellow and Chartered Psychologist with specialised interest in research methods, evaluation, analysis and interpretation. Her research, to date, has involved leading or collaborating on projects concerned with psychological wellbeing, the development of psychosocial interventions, chronic illness and self-management, health education, and child protection.

This post is the first dedicated cross-disciplinary Fellowship in Mental Health at Queen’s. It has been developed in close collaboration with colleagues from the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences and the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, and its purpose will be to drive pioneering research and open up new avenues of enquiry, supported by and leveraging priority themes and projects across the University, with the ultimate goal of research centred on improving child and adolescent mental health.

The post is timely given the launch of the new Northern Ireland Mental Health Strategy 2021-2031, the roll out of the Regional Trauma Network and the People and Place Strategy for NI.

Karen will act as a key Queen’s University ambassador for child and adolescent mental health within the dynamic and growing cross disciplinary research community, advance evidence on child and adolescent mental health outcomes through working collaboratively with local partners and informed by the voice of the local community through the QCAP initiative.