“I really enjoyed working with Karen, and felt she was really invested in understanding me as a person. I found her approach warm and gentle, but equally challenging in the best way. To have another person outside of my immediate circle listening and rooting for me as a coach was really affirming.

Karen helped me to recognise and verbalise my values and drivers in a way that I hadn’t been able to before. Thank you Karen.” 

Vicki Jenneson, Coaching client, Post Doctoral Researcher at the University of Leeds

“Working with Karen and Tinu (Cornish) has enabled us to really engage with the depth of what we need to change to become an anti-racist organisation. Their knowledge and experience has helped move our thinking on and has laid firm foundations for us to take meaningful action. We have really valued their contribution. “

Kirstie Hamilton, Director of Programmes, Sheffield Museums Trust

“There is a passion and energy to Karen's work which is so refreshing. Karen is intelligent, knowledgeable and always eager to learn and enhance interesting debates and action around gender equality and career and personal development.

As an invited speaker, Karen stimulates motivation and drive in her audience, providing realistic suggestions and support in response to shared lived experiences. We will certainly be inviting Karen back to York for more advice and guidance for her enthusiasm and support.

Thank you so much for your great talk, we really enjoyed you.”

Lorna Warnock, University of York

“Karen has been very helpful and supportive with my career advancement. She has encouraged me right from the start to pursue opportunities that I wanted to go for in spite of my apprehensions about taking on a more senior role. This boosted my confidence, and with her advice on my application I got an interview. I am delighted to have secured the role after preparing with her. I would recommend Karen to anybody looking for encouragement and support in their careers. She's a very upbeat and kind person, and it has been a pleasure to work with her.”

Mentee, Andrew Meggs, University of Leeds

“Karen is enthusiastic, empathic, supportive, and encouraging in her approach to people, and extremely dedicated and committed to excellence in her work. Both in her approach to me as well as others, she works very hard to make sure we have the best possible support she can offer through her role. She is open, kind, and willing to listen and understand the kinds of issues that may come up. She is also a strong advocate of professional development for others and herself, showing that she is driven and motivated to help everyone succeed. These qualities mean Karen is very easy to work with, especially in demanding academic environments, which is a hard thing for many people to do and a key strength.”

Chris Lyon, University of York

“Karen is a friendly and approachable person who always responds quickly to queries or concerns and makes herself available to help. Her main strengths are as a motivator and leader. She has a positive outlook on everything, which is contagious. She manages to generate energy and enthusiasm in other members of a team. She shows trust in the abilities of others and inspires them to believe that they can achieve worthwhile goals. She certainly had faith in my ability as an aspiring principal investigator which increased my confidence to lead a senior team.”

Gemma Traviss-Turner, University of Leeds 

“From my experience with Karen, I would say she is very collaborative, communicates well with colleagues, both people know to her and new collaborators. Karen does her best to understand the local pressures that people are under to achieve the wider goals. She is happy to take the lead with these collaborations and put in the hard hours getting people organised.”

Andy Tyrell, University of York

“In our interactions, I really valued Karen’s motivation and drive. This tends to come across in an enthusiastic way, which is motivating for those Karen works with. She has always been extremely willing to engage in the work even if it was outside of her normal comfort zone. I have also observed her being very open and approachable to researchers, who may have queries, and she has been very encouraging of their ideas. “

Ged Hall, University of Leeds

“I always enjoy working with Karen. She is always happy and enthusiastic and has the drive to get things done.”

Ben Williams, University of Leeds 

“Karen helped me enormously on a way to strategically refocus my research path. Her seemingly effortless and disarming natural ability to uncover what underlies my motivations and decision making provided clarity for the medium and long term. In a hindsight it is simple and clear but at the time I wasn't able to uncover what was there. Thank you.“


Coaching client, Professor, University of York

“My job was stressful and demanding so I left very little time to think about my career goals and desires; to question and reflect. The mentoring space with Karen offered me the opportunity to question, think, and reflect. Karen has the ability to ask pointed and penetrating questions which helped me think about underlying motivations behind decisions and responses, without skirting around the issues. She also shared wonderful perspectives and helped me see the reward and victory in my life experiences and accomplishments, where I was tending to view things with a ‘glass half full’ mindset. It was an uncomfortable space but a necessary space.”

--Mentee, Loren Joseph, University of Cape Town