Karen advises on the feasibility, strategic planning and implementation of major cultural and heritage projects. She works with clients to translate vision into deliverable programmes, advising executive leadership and multidisciplinary teams on priorities, governance, key milestones and investment requirements. She has expertise in leading large-scale, complex cultural developments, ensuring effective integration across multiple workstreams while aligning creative, technical, operational and commercial objectives.

Prior to joining AEA, Karen held executive leadership roles overseeing the planning and delivery of significant cultural projects across the Middle East, South Asia and the UK. At Diriyah Gate Development Authority and Diriyah Company in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, she led the cultural and heritage portfolio for one of the world’s largest heritage-led development projects. Previously, she led the delivery of the National Museum of Qatar in Doha. Her wider project portfolio includes Lusail Museum and Msheireb Museums in Qatar, and museum and heritage projects in Lahore and Taxila, Pakistan.

Karen is particularly interested in creating high-impact cultural institutions and experiences that are sustainable over the long term, particularly within emerging cultural ecosystems. She has extensive experience in organisational development, capacity building and leadership training within these ecosystems, and has contributed through her research and publications to the knowledge-base on museums, heritage and cultural development in the GCC.

Karen began her career as a subject-specialist curator at the universities of Manchester and Durham in the UK. She holds a BA in Oriental Studies from the University of Oxford, an MA in Museum Studies from the University of St Andrews, and a PhD from Durham University.