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Biography Karl is the Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research and Enterprise at the University of Salford with responsibility for the strategic delivery of research, knowledge exchange and commercialisation activity. He is also the executive lead for environmental sustainability. Karl leads on University spin-outs and intellectual property exploitation which resulted in the University being ranked in the top quintile of UK Universities in 2023 KEF results, whilst under his leadership the University’s reputation for research impact was the second highest national riser in the 2021 UK research excellence framework. Karl led on the institutions first successful Athena Swan Bronze Award and the adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism. He currently heads the Equity in Research Group.
An economic sociologist Karl’s research has focused on alternative forms of finance and issues related to financial inclusion. His PhD was on the paradox of the simultaneous demutualisation of building societies and mutualisation of financial inclusion, which led to the creation of Community Finance Solutions (CFS), a research and development unit within the university. Much of his early work was around community owned finance bodies and the creation of a dozen Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs) in England. These organisations sought to address access to finance issues faced by SMEs and households within some of the poorest areas in country. The activity involved worked closely with Barclays and Lloyds banks, the Bank of England and officials from H.M. Treasury and the Financial Services Authority. Karl and CFS were recognised for their ground-breaking work with the award of the Times Higher Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Community in 2005.

In 2008, with Pål Vik, he won the European Microfinance Networks, Research Paper of the Year for their research on sustainability of microfinance institutions. This led to work for the European Commission on the future of microcredit across the continent and the production of the ‘European Code of Conduct for Microcredit Providers in Europe’ in 2011 and subsequent work on the methodology and implementation of the Code. Today Karl sits on the Code’s Steering Committee along with colleagues from the European Commission and the European Investment Fund. His work on microfinance was the focus of an Impact Case Study in REF2014, and two further case studies in REF2021 in Business and Management, and Area Studies units of assessment submission