Karen is a Professor of Language, Communication and Developmental Disability. 

• The early part of my career was spent in clinical practice, working with people with intellectual disability in special schools and community teams. In 1992 I moved into higher education as a lecturer in the Department of Language & Communication Sciences at City University London. For much of this time I worked as a course director for the degree programme in speech & language therapy, responsible for a major revision and re-modularisation.
• I was promoted to a senior lectureship in 2000.
• Since 2003, I have worked at UEA as Course Director for a period of 6 years, jointly leading the set of a new degree course in Speech & Language Therapy.
• In 2009 I was awarded a readership in Speech & Language Therapy.
• In 2024 I was awarded a Chair in Language, Communication and Developmental Disability

Professional Qualifications and professional memberships 

• Membership of Health Professions Council
• PhD ‘Development of an Individualised Sensory Environment for Adults with Learning Disabilities and an Evaluation of its Effects on their Interactive Behaviours’. City University London.
• Registered member of the Royal College of Speech & Language Therapists
• Dip. Speech Therapy, National Hospitals College of Speech Sciences (NHCSS affiliated to UCL). Licence to practise (L.C.S.T) Pt 1 & 2

Membership of the ‘Lifespan Health' in the Faculty of Medicine & Health at UEA.

I am Module Organiser for 'Research & Evidence-based Practice' in the thrird year of the BSc (hons) Speech & Language Therapy. 

My teaching is focused mainly on intellectual disability and autistic spectrum disorders, specifically focusing on language acquisition, pragmatics and discourse, communication ecology, augmentative and alternative communication, special educational needs and speech & language therapy intervention.

I am willing to supervise PGR students in the following areas:

• Children & adults with intellectual disability
• Low tech, augmentative communication methods
• Cognitive impairment & communication
• Intellectual disability & new media

My current teaching commitments include:

Karen’s research interests lie in the field of developmental disability, in particular children and adults with severe to profound, intellectual and multiple disabilities associated with complex communication needs. This interest has supported research both in the U.K. and in Kenya. The driving force in Karen’s research activities lies in the explication of human interaction with a particular focus on children and adults with developmental disability. This is defined by four key areas:

• Assistive technology: the development and application of rich and multiple media, exploration of methods to augment natural communication methods and the role of human mediation.
• Childhood disability in developing countries, in particular Africa: social responses and impact of disability, habilitation opportunities provided, e.g. speech & language therapy.
• Human interaction: in particular the communication partnership of individual with intellectual disability and a typically functioning supporter, e.g. teacher and student with intellectual disability; support worker and user of services.
• Accessibility of language forms, including discourse in text, on television and on the World Wide Web.

Recent research has involved investigating:

• the development of self-help groups for caregivers of children with developmental disabilities in a rural part of Kenya;
• the inclusion of adults with impairments of capacity and/or communication in ethically-sound research;
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Karen has written and contributed to a number of texts on the subject of intellectual disability.

Grants/Funding

Bunning, K. (PI), Gona, J. & Newton, C. (2013-14). Preparation for Communication for All (Pre-CALL). CT Trust: £40,000.

Bunning, K. (PI), Gona, J., Hartley, S., Newton, C. (UEA & KEMRI) (2010-12). Communication for ALL (CALL). CT Trust: £30,000.

Platform Presentations (last 10 years)

Karen is Impact Champion for Unit of Assessment 3.