Karen Marie Nairn is a New Zealand academic, and is a full professor of education at the University of Otago, specialising in youth-centred research.

Nairn was a high school geography teacher interested in environmental issues, before entering academia.

Nairn was the lead researcher on a 2017 Marsden grant about young people's engagement in social movements, with collaborators Joanna Kidman, Judith Sligo, and Anita Lacey.

[6] This work led to the publication of the book Fierce Hope: Youth Activism in Aotearoa in 2022, which covers youth-led groups working in areas such as indigenous land rights, sexual violence and social inequality.

[5] Nairn spoke about youth activism and Ihumātao alongside Qiane Matata-Sipu at the 2023 Dunedin Writers and Readers Festival.