Professor Karen Guldberg

• PhD in Education and Autism Studies, University of Birmingham
• PG Certificate, Learning and Teaching in HE, University of Birmingham 
• MEd (Autism Children) with Distinction, University of Birmingham
• MA Women’s Studies, University of West of England
• Post Graduate Certificate of Education, Early Years, University of West of England 
• BA Joint Honours, Social Anthropology & Linguistics, University of Manchester 

Karen worked as a teacher across a range of educational settings before joining the University of Birmingham. This included working in mainstream schools, a special school and in outreach work supporting teachers of autistic pupils in mainstream schools. She has also worked in psychiatric hospitals as a social therapist. On arriving at University of Birmingham in 2001, Karen was tasked with developing and running a web-based programme for practitioners and parents caring for or working with autistic individuals. This programme was launched in 2002. 

Linked-In profile

Karen co-directs the MA Inclusion (Autism Children) degree. This course is a Masters level programme that usually educates 150 students a year.

Prior to this, she developed and ran the 'webautism programme' a web-based undergraduate programme for practitioners and parents/carers. Karen also contributes to other teaching in the School of Education. Karen received the Head of School's Excellence in Teaching Award (2008) and won a University of Birmingham Teaching Fellowship in 2010. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2013). 

Karen has supervised 10 PhD students to completion, and currently supervises 13 students, most of whom focus their research in autism education.

Current doctoral students

• Alexia Achtypi
• Lorna Bailey
• Julia Barnes
• Charlotte Brookes
• Ruth Clifford
• Keren Coney
• Elaine Davis-Kimble
• Helen Evans
• Brian Irvine
• Kathryn O'Mahoney
• Nicki Quarterman
• Barbara Sandland
• Lynda Smith

An overview of some of her research may be found on the webpage Excellence in Autism Research and Practice

Karen has been Principal-Investigator (P-I) or Co-Investigator (C-I) on 30 research or Knowledge Exchange projects. Funders have included ESRC, EPSRC, the EU, and charitable organisations, such as the Autism Education Trust and the John and Lorna Wing Foundation. Karen has led Impact Case Studies submitted to REF 2014 and REF 2021.

Recent grants include:

UKRI(2019-2020) Investigation of the causes and implications of exclusion for autistic children and young people.

UKRI (2020-2021) Developing best practice for schools working with marginalised autistic pupils and their families.

ESRC Impact Acceleration Account (2020-2021) Creation of a film and resources that capture the implications of lockdown on autistic children, young people and their families.

ESRC Impact Acceleration Account (2020-2021) Autism and school exclusion: A digital resource for school leaders and teachers.

Other grants and projects include, but are not limited to:

Principal Investigator: Meeting the needs of pupils with autism in Qatar: the way forward. Funded by the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE), Qatar. February 2017- November 2017.

Principal Investigator: Scientific Review of the ‘Benchmarking Autism Services Efficacy,’ (BASE) report by Dillenburger, McKerr, and Jordan (2015). Funded by the John and Lorna Wing Foundation, February 2017- November 2017.

Principal Investigator: Transforming educational practice in autism: enhancing the skills, knowledge and understanding of teachers in the UK, Italy and Greece. Funded by Erasmus Plus KA 2 Strategic Partnerships, September 2014-September 2017.

Co-Investigator: SHARE-IT: School-Home Autism Research Environment through Intelligent Technologies. Funded by EPSRC, February 2013-August 2014.

Principal Investigator: SHAPE, Shaping the future of technology use in the classroom. Funded by ESRC, May 2012-July 2013. Co-Investigator: ECHOES 2: Improving children’s social interaction through exploratory learning in a multimodal environment. Funded by EPSRC/ESRC, TLRP programme, November 2008-May 2012. Graded outstanding.

Co-Investigator: ‘Autism outcomes study: Educational provision and outcomes for people on the autism spectrum.’ Funder: Autism Education Trust, 2011.

Karen is Norwegian and is conducting work for the Norwegian Research Council with collaborators in Norway, for a project led by Dr Kristin Skeide Fuglerud at Norsk Regnesentral.