Karen Burland is Chair of Sheffield Music Hub and is Professor of Applied Music Psychology at the University of Leeds where she leads institutional work relating to employability and student futures. Karen plays the clarinet and saxophone in a range of different groups in Sheffield, she conducts the Porter Valley Concert Band, and she is currently the Chair of the Sheffield Music Hub Board.

Karen researches musical development and participation across the lifespan, and is currently involved in projects investigating the ways in which undergraduate and postgraduate students engage with, and perceive, employability activities during university and beyond and is interested in exploring the ways in which musicians create and support their work in music, as well as in the role of music for wellbeing. Her book ‘Coughing and Clapping: Investigating Audience Experience’, edited with Stephanie Pitts, was published in December 2014. Karen was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship in 2022 for her work as a music psychology educator and her approaches to supporting the employability of students in Higher Education.