Profile
Biography
Sarah is a senior research fellow in air pollution science and policy in the Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Labs and the UK National Centre for Atmospheric Science. Her research aims to provide insights relevant to policymakers, with a particular interest in the role of systems thinking and analysis in enabling more robust policy and greater environmental gain. Sarah works closely with the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) Air Quality Team acting as a knowledge broker, carrying out and enabling knowledge exchange between academics and policymakers.
Career
Sarah did her PhD at the University of York with Professor James Lee on the chemistry of nitrogen oxides in remote environments. Following this she took up a postdoctoral position using measurements of nitrogen-containing species on the UK FAAM Atmospheric Research Aircraft to explore emissions from wildfires in Canada. This work was done in partnership with Piero DiCarlo’s group from the University of L’Aquila. Sarah’s interest in communicating science to others and making it useful and used then led to her working with the National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS) at the University of Leeds on the training and development of
atmospheric scientists. She led the delivery and development of their programme of residential training courses on atmospheric measurements, earth system science, introduction to atmospheric science, and atmospheric modelling.
Sarah then moved back to University of York to take up a position jointly funded by NCAS and the government Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to carry out and enable knowledge exchange for air pollution policy development. This led to Sarah securing a 3 year NERC knowledge exchange fellowship in 2015 to expand this work. Following the success of that fellowship in transforming ways of working and enabling research co-design between researchers and policymakers, Sarah won a second NERC fellowship to ensure that NERC science was used in the development and delivery of government strategies for air pollution and the environment. During that fellowship, from 2019-2021 she was seconded into the Defra Chief Scientific Adviser’s Office to lead, alongside 5 other senior academics, their Systems Research Programme which aimed to demonstrate the value of systems approaches
to understanding the key policy questions across the Defra group and to deliver innovative, evidence-based solutions for the future.
This led to the establishment of a permanent Defra Futures Team. Sarah’s systems work carried out as part of this programme and in support of the target setting activity for particulate matter was referenced in the UK Environment Act 2021 Air Quality Targets Detailed Evidence Report.
In 2018 Sarah became the NCAS Air Pollution Theme Leader, informing the development and delivery of the research strategy for this national centre. She sits on the NCAS Science Strategy Board, and is a member of the Defra Air Quality Expert Group. She has participated in numerous working groups and expert groups for Defra and UKRI, including the Natural Hazards Partnership Steering Group and the SPF Clean AIr Programme Steering Committee.
In 2024 Sarah took up a role as Co-champion for Policy Impact on the £42.5M UKRI Clean Air Programme to drive knowledge translation and legacy from this broad set of research activities. Sarah has spent over 12 years working closely with the Defra air quality teams and continues to champion the need for co-design, knowledge exchange and constructive challenge between academics and policymakers. She leads a programme of activities funded by Defra to maintain UK capability for policy informed air quality science, deliver policy relevant insights, and to give the next generation of researchers the opportunity to work at the science-policy interface.
Research
Projects
Air quality
Poor air quality is the largest environmental risk to human health in the UK. Air pollution leads to increased mortality, morbidity, pressure on the health service and reduced productivity; it also impacts on the natural and built environments, including reducing
biodiversity and crop yields. The potential for economic and societal impact from improving air quality is huge, and academic research has a key role to play in enabling the development of effective strategies to achieve this.
Sarah’s research focuses on creating insights relevant to UK air pollution policy. One strand of her research uses publicly available data from air pollution monitoring networks and emissions inventories to explore trends and drivers of change. This work has looked at how the impact of policy can be demonstrated, which for air pollution is challenging as it is often a small change to a signal that has large variations due to meteorology, patterns in activity and seasonal effects.
Her research also includes exploring inequalities that are driven by the geographic differences in activities that produce air pollution, and how those inequalities may be affected by future policies. This work has directly impacted assessment of the impact of policy and progress towards meeting air quality targets. Sarah adapted an analysis approach that she developed with colleagues so that it could be used in determining compliance with the new PM2.5 Population Exposure Reduction Target. It overcame an issue associated with expanding the measurement network while at the same time trying to use averages across that network to quantify change. This approach is now the required method and is part of the Statutory Instrument 2023 no. 96.
Complex systems
Working embedded in the Chief Scientific Adviser’s Office in Defra, Sarah was one of six academics leading an initiative to demonstrate the value and impact of applying systems thinking and analysis across the Defra portfolio from Apr 2019-Mar 2021. Sarah is now
exploring combinations of and methods from systems thinking, complexity science, risk assessment, and meta-analysis to produce novel insights, particularly around net zero and air pollution. These approaches has been applied to the decarbonisation of surface transport systems; the impact of future change on nutrient pollution, air and water quality and soil health, which links together areas of concern around food security, climate change, human health and biodiversity loss; regional development of net zero strategy that delivers wider health benefits;and to challenge and improve use of evidence from air pollution modelling tools.
Sarah’s systems work for Defra in support of the target setting activity for particulate matter was referenced in the UK Environment Act 2021 Air Quality Targets Detailed Evidence Report (P20 -21).
The Defra systems research programme fellows with Defra CSA Prof Ian Boyd and Deputy CSA Dr Iain Williams. From left to right: Dr Abigail McQuatter-Gollop, Professor Frank Boons, Dr Sarah Moller, Professor Ian Boyd, Dr Pam Berry, Professor Tom Oliver, Dr Iain Williams, Professor Bob Doherty.
Knowledge Exchange
Another strand of Sarah’s research focuses on mechanisms for effective science-policy interaction and knowledge exchange. Her work in this area seeks to drive the development and use of AQ science to support the design and implementation of Government strategic activities to tackle air pollution. This includes influencing ways of working, both inside government and in the research community, to enable better access to and uptake of policy relevant science. Sarah is creating opportunities to build trusted relationships and develop future researchers who have experienced work at the science-policy interface, as well as influencing how expert advice and advisory committees, particularly the Defra Air Quality Expert Group, are used in the development of AQ evidence and policy.
Sarah’s NERC KE fellowships have transformed the way in which Defra, the academic community and research councils work together, and her ongoing investment in maintaining and strengthening those relationships and identifying opportunities has contributed to the co-design of large funding programmes, research projects and upskilling of both researchers and government officials. This KE research and the ongoing impacts of the changes it brought about have enabled academics to have early input into the 2019 Government Clean Air Strategy and significant consultation on the development of the Environment Act 2021 Air Quality Targets.
Research group(s)
- Dr Daniel Bryant
- Nathan Gray
- Lucy Webster
- Lidia Alfanti
- Carys Williams
- Dr Nat Easton (based at University of Southampton)
Grants
Awards and activities
- Winner of British Science Association Prove it! video competition producing a 30-second video on the topic of ‘our world in motion’ as part of National Science and Engineering Week 2012.
- Winner of People’s Choice Award in Perspectives poster competition portraying the societal impacts of academic research at BA British Science Festival 2007.
