Karen Dunwoodie

Karen is the Director at Deakin CREATE. She has worked, volunteered, researched and advocated in the refugee sector in Australia for the past 12 years and her research interests include progressing the field of refugee resettlement, principally focussing on career development and the impact access to tertiary education and training may have on the lives on refugees and people seeking asylum. Similarly, Karen’s research interests extend to investigating why some employers may or may not be actively including people with a refugee background, as part of their employment diversity and inclusion strategies.

Prior to her commencement with CREATE, Karen spent twenty years working in the tertiary education and corporate sectors, as well as running her own learning and development consultancy. In addition to her day job, Karen consults and volunteers at several refugee and asylum seeker agencies in Melbourne, where among other things, she co-ordinates and provides food and material aid as well as supporting clients wishing to apply for tertiary education courses and scholarships.