She received her PhD in 2010, also from UNSW, and has worked at the CCRC since 2011. As a climate scientist specialising in extreme events, her expertise focuses on heatwaves. She has led pioneering research how to measure heatwaves and their changes in the observational record. Sarah has analysed how heatwaves will change under various scenarios of global warming, both over Australia and globally. She is also interested in how natural climate variability drives heatwaves, as well as employing detection and attribution methods to understand how climate change influences specific heatwaves and their impacts.

Sarah has co-authored 80 publications throughout her career, most of which focus on extreme heat in a changing climate. She is also passionate about science communication, and regularly comments on all things heatwaves and climate change in both the Australian and international media.