2026 Karen O'Brien: Environmental Sciences Researcher – H-Index, Publications & Awards

Discipline name	D-Index	World Ranking	Current World Ranking	National Ranking	Current National Ranking	Publications	Citations
Environmental Sciences	67	1915	1825	21	20	129	38173

Overview

Karen O'Brien is affiliated with the University of Oslo in Norway. Their research focuses on multiple intersecting fields, primarily within Medicine and associated subfields such as Global and Planetary Change, Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law, Sociology and Political Science, Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health, and Hepatology.

The scientific topics covered in their work include Sustainability and Climate Change Governance, Climate Change Communication and Perception, Environmental Education and Sustainability, Palliative Care and End-of-Life Issues, Liver Disease and Transplantation, Cancer Survivorship and Care, and Childhood Cancer Survivors' Quality of Life.

Their recent publications reflect a focus on sustainability science and climate-related transformations. The notable recent papers include:

Transforming Sustainability Science to Generate Positive Social and Environmental Change Globally, 2020, published in One Earth
Getting to the Heart of Transformation, 2021, published in Sustainability Science
Beyond "Blah Blah Blah": Exploring the "How" of Transformation, 2022, published in Sustainability Science
Teaching Climate Change in the Anthropocene: An Integrative Approach, 2020, published in Anthropocene
Fractal Approaches to Scaling Transformations to Sustainability, 2023, published in AMBIO

The most frequent publication venues for Karen O'Brien include Sustainability Science, AMBIO, One Earth, Anthropocene, and JAMA. They have multiple publications in Sustainability Science and AMBIO.

Collaborative work forms a significant part of their research profile. Frequent co-authors include:

Areej El-Jawahri (6 collaborations)
Vicki A. Jackson (6 collaborations)
Michaela Rowland (5 collaborations)
Nora Horick (4 collaborations)
Michelle S. Diop (4 collaborations)

Karen O'Brien's research integrates multidisciplinary approaches addressing climate change governance, sustainability transformations, communication, and education. Their work also intersects medical topics such as palliative care, liver disease, and cancer survivorship, reflecting a broad and diverse scholarly interest. The combination of environment-focused and health-related research areas underlines a comprehensive approach to global and planetary health challenges.

Best Publications

Global Carbon Budget 2016

Corinne Le Quere;Robbie M. Andrew;Josep G. Canadell;Stephen Sitch

4532
Citations
Climate change 2007 : impacts, adaptation and vulnerability : Working Group II contribution to the Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Tarekegn Abeku;Pamela Abuodha;Francis Adesina;Neil Adger

3266
Citations
Global Carbon Budget 2015

C. Le Quéré;R. Moriarty;R. M. Andrew;J. G. Canadell

3035
Citations
Assessment of adaptation practices, options, constraints and capacity

WN Adger;S Agrawal;Mmw Mirza;C Conde

2260
Citations
Cultural dimensions of climate change impacts and adaptation

W. Neil Adger;Jon Barnett;Katrina Brown;Nadine Marshall

1693
Citations
Mapping vulnerability to multiple stressors: climate change and globalization in India

Karen O'Brien;Robin Leichenko;Ulka Kelkar;Henry Venema

1685
Citations
Double exposure: assessing the impacts of climate change within the context of economic globalization

Karen L O'Brien;Robin M Leichenko

1532
Citations
Why different interpretations of vulnerability matter in climate change discourses

Karen O'brien;Siri Eriksen;Lynn P. Nygaard;Ane Schjolden

1457
Citations
Global environmental change II: From adaptation to deliberate transformation

Karen O’Brien

1276
Citations
Adaptation and transformation

Mark Pelling;Karen O’Brien;David Matyas

816
Citations
When not every response to climate change is a good one: Identifying principles for sustainable adaptation

Siri Eriksen;Paulina Aldunce;Chandra Sekhar Bahinipati;Rafael D'almeida Martins

783
Citations
Environmental Change and Globalization: Double Exposures

Robin M. Leichenko;Karen L. O'Brien

728
Citations
Adapting to Climate Change: Thresholds, Values, Governance

W. N. Adger;I. Lorenzoni;K. L. O'Brien

574
Citations
The Dynamics of Rural Vulnerability to Global Change: The Case of southern Africa

Robin M. Leichenko;Karen L. O'Brien

547
Citations
A values-based approach to vulnerability and adaptation to climate change.

Karen L. O'Brien;Johanna Wolf

529
Citations
Resilience implications of policy responses to climate change

W. Neil Adger;Katrina Brown;Donald R. Nelson;Fikret Berkes

517
Citations
Plausible and desirable futures in the Anthropocene: A new research agenda

Xuemei Bai;Sander van der Leeuw;Karen O’Brien;Frans Berkhout

500
Citations
Ten essentials for action-oriented and second order energy transitions, transformations and climate change research

Ioan Fazey;Niko Schäpke;Guido Caniglia;James Patterson

484
Citations
Vulnerable or Resilient? A Multi-Scale Assessment of Climate Impacts and Vulnerability in Norway

Karen O'Brien;Linda Sygna;Jan Erik Haugen

444
Citations
What's in a word? Conflicting interpretations of vulnerability in climate change research

Karen O'Brien;Siri E H Eriksen;Ane Schjolden;Lynn P. Nygaard

427
Citations
Adapting to Climate Change

W. Neil Adger;Irene Lorenzoni;Karen L. O'Brien

16
Citations

Frequent Co-Authors

Siri Eriksen Norwegian University of Life Sciences

W. Neil Adger University of Exeter

Jon Barnett University of Melbourne

Petra Tschakert Curtin University

Irene Lorenzoni University of East Anglia

Will Steffen Australian National University

Coleen Vogel University of the Witwatersrand

Frans Berkhout King's College London

Ioan Fazey University of York

Frank Biermann Utrecht University

External Links

Personal website of Karen O'Brien Google Scholar page

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