Professor Karen Norman

About

My role as Visiting Professor for the Faculty of Health, Kingston University and St George's is a scholar-practitioner appointment to strengthen connections between leadership theory and practice. My leadership expertise encompasses forty years working in healthcare, in both the public and private sector, in the UK, Australia and New Zealand and Gibraltar: latterly as  Gibraltar's Chief Nursing Officer and Director of Nursing and Clinical Governance at Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust from 1993-2004. I attained degrees at BSc(Hons), Master's and Doctoral level. My thesis, National Healthcare Strategy and the Management of Risk in a National Health Service Trust, focused on strategic change and how this emerges. Co-author of three healthcare textbooks, I have contributed to publications and presentations at conferences worldwide. I also work part-time as a Visiting Professor and Faculty Member at the University of Hertfordshire, teaching on the Doctorate in Management / Master of Arts programme, which has an international reputation for helping senior executives and leaders research the implications of complexity theories in their organisational practice. My research and teaching roles as Visiting Professor in both universities has developed my expertise in complexity theory, research methods consistent with theories of emergence, and social theories of power. I have successfully supervised five Doctoral graduates whose research has had significant impact in their work. These roles enable me to contribute to the development of these dynamic and progressive faculties, enriching the experience for students and staff, developing our mutual potential through innovative teaching practices and service development. My role as a Non-Executive Director on an NHS Foundation Trust hospital board complements my academic portfolio, ensuring contemporaneous knowledge of leadership theory and practice to benefit our students.