Professor of Environment & Public Policy

Member, CSaP Advisory Council

Professor Dame Sarah Whatmore DBE, FBA has been Professor of Environment and Public Policy at Oxford University and a professorial fellow at Keble College since 2004 and was appointed Head of the Social Sciences Division in 2018.

Dame Sarah is a cultural geographer with a track record of leading interdisciplinary research teams working at the interface of social and natural sciences including projects on wildlife trading, sustainable cities, flood and drought risk management. This research has been supported by a wide range of funding agencies, including - UK Research Councils; World Wildlife Fund; European Commission; Natural England; Mellon Foundation (USA) & ANR (France).

Government advisory work includes: member of the Board of the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technolog (2016 - 2020); member of the Government Chief Scientific Advisor’s Science Advisory Group to the National Flood Resilience Review (since 2016); Chair of the Defra Social Science Expert Group, specialist sub-group of the Science Advisory Council (2016-2020); appointed member Science Advisory Council to Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), UK Government (2 terms 2015 - 2020).

Awards and distinctions:

Appointed Dame Commander of the British Empire, 2020 for services to the study of environmental policy. www.gov.uk

Elected Fellow of the British Academy, 2014; elected member of Council 2018 - 2021; member Public Policy Committee, & Strategy Group 2015 - 2020 www.britac.org

Elected Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (AcSS), 2002 -. www.acss.org

Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels, 2013. Commissioned by the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. www.kycolonels.org