Her research includes 18th-century political thought, 19th-century republicanism and the politics of Palestinian refugees, representation, and democracy, with numerous works written on these subjects. Karma is currently directing a British Academy sponsored research project ‘Teaching Contemporary Palestinian Political History: Setting a Collaborative Research Agenda and Building Capacity’, aiming to build teaching and research capacities in the field of political history in general and in contemporary Palestinian politics in particular. She was awarded the Guardian’s Higher Education Network’s 2017 Inspiring Leader award.