Karsten has a PhD in Computer Science and a Bachelor in Electrical Engineering with a focus on Software Engineering. For 10 years, Karsten led the research division of a large multi-national ICT company in Australia and the Asia-Pacific Region and between 2013 and 2016 he led the national Digital Careers Program. In 2010, Karsten created the Young ICT Explorers Competition and in 2014 he founded the Bebras Australia Computational Thinking Challenge which is part of the international Bebras Challenge.