Mrs Karen Van Lonkhuyzen

Karen van Lonkhuyzen is a sociologist currently employed in the School of Humanities, Creative Industries, and Social Science. Karen works in various teaching roles across a range of social science subjects, a pursuit she enjoys fully as someone whose first passion is for teaching.

Karen began her professional journey with a Bachelor of Arts from Griffith University in 2005. Since then, she has earned a Master of Arts focusing on Youth and Religion from the Sydney College of Divinity before deciding to pursue a PhD in the Sociology of Religion here at The University of Newcastle.  

Karen’s PhD research is a culmination of her career interests in youth education and theology, with her dissertation examining youth engagement with Protestant churches in Australia. Her research is utilising a constructivist methodology to examine the trends in youth engagement with these churches and the reasons behind it. This is a topic on which Karen has already presented one paper  at the International Association for the Study of Youth Ministry Conference in Atlanta in 2022. She also presented a paper at the 2009 International Association for the Study of Youth Ministry Conference in Pretoria, which focused on how critical literacy education in ages 13-18 affected students’ reception of the Gospel message.

Karen has spent time working in the public, private, and non-profit sectors in Australia.  Recently, in addition to her work at The University of Newcastle, Karen was employed by world-leading research organisation, NCLS Research, as a team member working on the Student Spiritual Life Survey project.  Karen has also been involved in consulting with police in her LGA in NSW in relation to strategies that could assist disadvantaged youth in the area.

While Karen has knowledge of a range of topics across the social sciences, after completing her PhD, she plans to continue to work in academia and to continue her research on the sociology of religion with a focus on youth.

Memberships:

International Association for the Study of Youth Ministry (IASYM)

Australian Association for the Study of Religion (AASR)

The Australian Sociological Association (TASA)

Current Positions:

Women's Caucus Representative (2024-2025) - Australian Association for the Study of Religion

HCISS School HDR Representative (2024) - The University of Newcastle

CHSF College HDR Representative (2024) - The University of Newcastle

Conference Presentations:

2022 - IASYM, Atlanta

"An investigation into the initial engagement and attendance of youth attending Australian Pentecostal megachurches"

2011 - IASYM, Pretoria

"The effects of the critical literacy education taught in secondary schools on the reception of the gospel message in youth aged between 13 and 18"