Sarah is a SGSAH (AHRC) PhD Researcher and Justin Arbuthnott Scholar based at the University of Edinburgh. Sarah is the co-convenor of the Modern Irish History Group alongside Prof Alvin Jackson and is currently working on a women’s oral history of West Belfast, 1975-1995, under the supervision of Prof Enda Delaney and Dr Angela Bartie. Bridging off her work in oral history, Sarah is a member of the Oral History Network of Ireland, the UK Oral History Society and Ùna Gan a Gúna.

After graduating from Oxford University under the supervision of the Foster Professor for Irish Studies, Ian McBride, Sarah completed her MPhil at the University of Glasgow. In 2023, Sarah became a Stuart Hall Scholar for her work in public history and is a representative for the Stuart Hall Foundation and the Centre for Public History at Queen’s University. Sarah’s present research into community nostalgia and transgenerational trauma will be published in the upcoming edition of the Irish Studies Review and presented at International World Federation for Public History Conference in Luxembourg.

For the 2024 Féile an Phobail, Sarah was asked to conduct the annual round-table on women’s community development in Northern Ireland, the round-table titled, “On the Edge or At the Centre?” was attended by key members of the NI Women’s Coalition. Sarah is currently working on a joint research project with Dr Laura Kelly and Dr Livi Dee which will explore tertiary traumatic exposures within oral history work conducted on the island of Ireland.