Sara is Chief Executive at ODI, where she was previously Managing Director and Director of Humanitarian Programmes. Sara is a member of the UN Secretary-General’s Sixth Advisory Group of the UN Peacebuilding Fund and of UNFPA’s ICPD25 High-Level Commission.

She also serves on the High-Level Group on Humanitarian Resilience and Investing, the Digital Currency Governance Consortium Steering Committee, and the Global Future Council on the New Agenda for Fragility and Resilience of the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Sara is the Editor-in-Chief of Disasters journal, Vice-Chair of the Board of Muslim Aid, and a Trustee of The New Humanitarian. She has served on a range of executive and advisory boards, including SOS Sahel, Oxford University’s Refugee Studies Centre, and the UN Association of the UK.

Sara was a member of the Independent Team of Advisers established in 2016 by the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to formulate recommendations on the reform of the UN development system. She previously led a high-profile UN response in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains, headed the Peacebuilding Unit in UNDP Sudan, acted as an observer at the IGAD Sudan peace process, and lectured at the University of Dar es Salaam.

She holds a doctorate in Politics and International Studies from the University of Leeds and has written extensively on conflict, peacebuilding, and humanitarian affairs.