As a population geographer, Karen’s research interests include migration, immigration and aging, focusing on refined spatial scales.
Currently, her research program at the MPI has two primary research streams. First, her research program examines the changing industry and occupation employment structure of Canada using the 2006 to 1971 Census of Canada Master files at national, provincial and sub-provincial levels. Second, her research program examines immigration and migration in the context of the creative class theoretical framework. She has held a Social and Economic Dimensions of an Aging Population postdoctoral fellowship at McMaster University where her research program examined aging in place of the older population in Canada. She has a B.A. (Economics) from the University of British Columbia and an M.A. (Economics) from the University of Toronto. Karen completed a Ph.D. (Geography) at McMaster University; her dissertation was comprised of four quantitative research papers examining the international and internal migration dynamics of Canada’s foreign-born population.