Dr Karen Fox

Karen Fox is a senior academic research editor for the Australian Dictionary of Biography in the National Centre of Biography in the School of History. Karen joined the NCB in 2011, after completing her PhD at the Australian National University and her MA at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. Her research interests include Australian and New Zealand history, imperial and colonial history, gender and feminist history, media history, the history of fame and celebrity, historical reputations, and biography and life writing. She has taught Australian and imperial history and biography at the Australian National University, and her research has appeared in national and international journals, including the Australian Journal of Politics and History, the Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, History Australia, and the Women’s History Review. Her most recent book is Honouring a Nation: A History of Australia's Honours System (ANU Press, 2022). She is a co-chair (with Professor Melanie Oppenheimer) of the Women's Working Party of the Australian Dictionary of Biography. Karen is currently researching the making and unmaking of historical reputations and the history of fame and celebrity in Australia. With Associate Professor Amanda Laugesen she is also exploring the history of women, slang, and colloquial language in Australia (ARC DP250101265; lead CI A/Prof Amanda Laugesen).

Current teaching (2025):

HIST8011 Biography and History (convenor and member of teaching team).

BA (Hons), MA (Canterbury); PhD (ANU)

Karen's research and supervision interests include:

• famous lives, reputations, and biographies;
• the history of fame, celebrity, and heroism;
• media and cultural history, especially about representations of gender and race; 
• women’s, gender, and feminist history;
• comparative and transnational history of settler societies, particularly Australia and New Zealand; 
• political and legal history, particularly relating to issues of gender and race; 
• cross-cultural encounters, colonialism, and imperialism; 
• nineteenth- and twentieth-century Australian and New Zealand history.