Karen Elisabeth O'Brien FRSA is a British academic administrator and scholar of English literature, specialising in the Enlightenment and eighteenth-century literature.
[2] Since 2022, she has been Vice-Chancellor and Warden of Durham University[3] (the first woman to hold the office), having previously been Professor of English Literature and Head of the Humanities Division, University of Oxford, and a Fellow of University College, Oxford.
[4][5] Prior to her time at Oxford, she was a pro-vice-chancellor at the University of Birmingham[2] and then Vice-Principal for Education at King's College London.
[3][4] O'Brien's scholarly work focuses on the British, American and French Enlightenments, and on British literature more generally between 1660 and 1820.
[6] She was awarded her doctoral degree (DPhil) by St Cross College, Oxford in 1986 for a thesis on English,[7] after having completed her undergraduate studies at University College.