Karma has been the President of the Centre for Bhutan and Gross National Happiness (GNH) Studies since 2008. The Centre has been at the forefront of promoting and deepening global understanding of Bhutan’s home-grown development philosophy of Gross National Happiness and conducting multidisciplinary research about Bhutan. He was a member of the Drafting Committee of Bhutan’s first Constitution, enacted in July 2008, and was awarded the red scarf and the ancient title of distinction, Dasho, by His Majesty the Fourth King in 2006 for his dedicated service to the country. Karma has written several books, such as Bhutan: The Unremembered Nation and Leadership of the Wise: Kings of Bhutan. Karma is also a painter, with works displayed in a national monument (Dochula temple) and a piece in the British Museum. He has been a visiting fellow at various universities including Oxford University.

At THE NEW INSTITUTE, Karma was involved in the program “Conceptions of Human Flourishing — Reformulating the SDGs”.