Karen Farquharson was appointed President of the Academic Board on 1 January 2023.
Karen Farquharson is Professor of Sociology and Chair of the Anti-Racism Hallmark Research Initiative at the University of Melbourne. Prior to her Academic Board appointments, she was Head of the School of Social and Political Sciences in the Faculty of Arts.
Professor Farquharson holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, Berkeley and Master’s and PhD degrees in Sociology from Harvard and currently researches in the sociology of race, racism and diversity, including how organisations foster diversity. A qualitative and mixed-methods researcher, her empirical work has particularly focused on media and sport.
Professor Farquharson was born in Kingston and spent her formative years sailing around the south coast of Jamaica. Her happy place is a Caribbean beach.