Karen joined the University of Exeter as a Lecturer in Intellectual Property Law (Education and Research) in January 2016. She has a DPhil from the University of Oxford (2017) and previously received an LLM in Intellectual Property Law with distinction from Queen Mary, University of London (2011), as well as a postgraduate LLB (2009) and Bachelor of Corporate Law (2008) from the National University of Ireland, Galway. Prior to joining the University of Exeter, Karen was a Guest Lecturer at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and at the University of Notre Dame (London Law Program).

Karen’s research interests are in intellectual property law, more specifically European patent law. Her work focuses primarily on the attempts that have been made towards harmonisation in this area. She examines the current and proposed patent law systems in Europe, including the proposed unitary patent and Unified Patent Court.