Parhar, Karen K.

Education and Credentials

Ph.D., Applied Social Psychology (Forensic), University of Saskatchewan
M.A., Applied Social Psychology (Forensic), University of Saskatchewan
B.A., Psychology (Honours), University of British Columbia

Academic and Professional Profile

Born and raised on Vancouver’s North shore, Karen knew her calling was in forensic psychology after taking an introductory psychology course at UBC. After volunteering in the forensic psychology lab at UBC and completing her honours degree, Karen braved Saskatoon’s winters while completing her M.A. and Ph.D. in Applied Social Psychology (Forensic concentration) at the University of Saskatchewan. Karen worked as a Senior Research and Evaluation Analyst for the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services for the Government of Ontario before returning to her hometown of Vancouver and joining the Psychology faculty in 2012. Karen was also involved in producing the documentaries “100 Days of Freedom” (2006), which followed three federal offenders after being released from incarceration, and “Stolen Sisters” (2007), which profiled missing and murdered Indigenous women.

Karen has been involved in a variety of applied research projects involving correctional treatment programs, housing and even health. Her main area of research is crime desistance. She is currently studying how motivation and social factors work together to help ex-offenders desist from crime in a project that was funded by the Douglas College Research and Scholarly Activity Project Fund and the Kwantlen Katalyst Grant Program.