Dr Karen Stanley BSc PhD FHEA
Deputy Head of School (interim)
Summary
I am currently Deputy Head for the School of Bioscience and Chemistry providing professional and academic leadership. I am also a member of our school leadership team. I have previously held a range of department roles including Professional Lead for Biomedical Science, Assessment Lead and Lead for Apprenticeships and Employer Led Provision.
I currently lead the final year research project module that is undertaken in the NHS workplace by healthcare science apprentices and a second year module in ecology for our BSc Hons Biology course. I am a member of the Society for Applied Microbiology and the Microbiology Society.
About
I joined Sheffield Hallam as a microbiologist in 2003 after undertaking various postdoctoral appointments researching the environmental fate of food borne pathogens including Campylobacter and E.coli 0157. At Hallam I have been involved in research on the potential role of the hospital environment as a reservoir of healthcare infections.
I am currently Deputy Head for the School of Bioscience and Chemistry providing professional, academic and operational leadership. I am a member of our school leadership team. I have previously held a range of department roles including Professional Lead for Biomedical science, Department Assessment Lead and Lead for Apprenticeships and Employer Led Provision. Prior to this I was a member of the college international team which supported recruitment of international students and development and liaison of summer schools, collaborative postgraduate courses, study abroad and continuing professional development opportunities for healthcare work forces.
I currently lead the final year research project module that is undertaken in the NHS workplace by healthcare science apprentices and a second year module in ecology for our BSc Biology course. I previously been involved with a range of aspects of curriculum development and developed and led a range of cross programme modules, especially in our post graduate programme, including Professional Development, an NHS Research Project and work based learning modules for part time undergraduate Biomedical Science practitioners and apprentices.
I am a member of the Society for Applied Microbiology and the Microbiology Society.
Specialist areas of interest
Environmental microbiology, pathogens in the environment
Teaching
Department of Biosciences and Chemistry
Courses taught:
- BSc Biology
- Level 6 Healthcare Science Practitioner Apprenticeship
Modules taught:
- Ecology, Advanced Evolution and Animal Behaviour
- Level 6 Final year project
- Level 6 and 7 Research Project supervision
Research
Characterisation of putative enterobacterales isolated from hospital sinks
The role of the hospital environment in hospital acquired infection
Publications
Journal articles
Olvera-Ramírez, A.M., McEwan, N.R., Stanley, K., Nava-Diaz, R., & Aguilar-Tipacamú, G. (2023). A systematic review on the role of wildlife as carriers and spreaders of campylobacter spp. Animals, 13 (8). http://doi.org/10.3390/ani13081334
Duncan, S.H., McWilliam Leitch, E.C., Stanley, K.N., Richardson, A.J., Laven, R.A., Flint, H.J., & Stewart, C.S. (2004). Effects of esculin and esculetin on the survival of Escherichia coli O157 in human faecal slurries, continuous-flow simulations of the rumen and colon and in calves. British journal of nutrition, 91 (5), 749. http://doi.org/10.1079/BJN20041101
Stanley, K., & Jones, K. (2003). Cattle and sheep farms as reservoirs of Campylobacter. Journal of applied microbiology, 94 (s1), 104-113. http://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2672.94.s1.12.x
McWilliam Leitch, E.C., Duncan, S.H., Stanley, K.N., & Stewart, C.S. (2001). Dietary effects on the microbiological safety of food. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 60 (2), 247-255. http://doi.org/10.1079/PNS200078
James, C.E., Stanley, K.N., Allison, H.E., Flint, H.J., Stewart, C.S., Sharp, R.J., ... McCarthy, A.J. (2001). Lytic and lysogenic infection of diverse Escherichia coli and Shigella strains with a verocytotoxigenic bacteriophage. Applied and environmental microbiology, 67 (9), 4335-4337. http://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.67.9.4335-4337.2001
Fitzgerald, C., Stanley, K., Andrew, S., & Jones, K. (2001). Use of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and flagellin gene typing in identifying clonal groups of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli in farm and clinical environments. Applied and environmental microbiology, 67 (4), 1429-1436. http://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.67.4.1429-1436.2001
Theses / Dissertations
Al-Luaibi, Y.Y.Y. (2015). Molecular genetics and microbiology of bioremediation using methane-oxidising bacteria. (Doctoral thesis). Supervised by Smith, T., & Stanley, K.
Bradshaw, C.E. (2013). Molecular microbial ecology of hospital ward environments. (Doctoral thesis). Supervised by Smith, T., & Stanley, K.
Kay, G.L. (2010). Microbial ecology and antibiotic resistance of microorganisms in intensive care unit environments. (Doctoral thesis). Supervised by Smith, T., Stanley, K., & Mills, G.
Postgraduate supervision
Distribution and survival or norovirus following vomiting and toilet flushing
Molecular Microbial ecology of hospital ward environments
Microbial ecology and antibiotic resistance in intensive care unit environments