Karen is interested in new works for the voice and is completing her PHD on the influence of the microphone on the classical voice. She has performed works by Australian composers Andree Greenwell, Sally Whitwell, Richard Vella, Martin Wesley Smith, Rosalind Page, Stephen Adams and has performed with Deborah Cheetham's Company, Short Black Opera, Opera Australia and the Victorian state Opera. She works with acting students at the University of Wollongong.