Distinguished Lecture Series at Bath: Professor Sarah Sharples

Professor Sarah Sharples (FREng) became The University of Manchester’s Vice-President and Dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering in September 2025.

She joined from the University of Nottingham where she previously held the roles of Pro-Vice Chancellor for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and People (2018-2021) and Associate Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Exchange in the Faculty of Engineering (2015-2018). From 2021 Sarah was seconded to the Department for Transport as their Chief Scientific Adviser, where she had responsibility for advising ministers and officials on all aspects of science and engineering impacting the transport system. This advice covered topics such as automated vehicles, future fuels, artificial intelligence and emerging technologies.

Sarah is Professor of Human Factors and has developed methods for design and implementation of novel technologies for use in complex work situations. Her research spans the domains of transport, manufacturing and healthcare, focusing on situations where people and technology work in partnership towards common goals. Her work has been funded by EPSRC, Innovate UK, Industry and the European Commission. She co-directed the EPSRC Horizon Digital Economy Centre for Doctoral Training from 2009 to 2021 and led the seven-year ‘Connected Everything’ EPSRC Network Plus to bring innovations into digital manufacturing.

Sarah was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2024 in recognition of her contribution to the embedding of human factors in engineering, leadership in transport research, and promotion of EDI across engineering and academia. She was an appointed a member of the EPSRC council from 2018 to 2022, Deputy Chair of Advance HE Athena Swan Governance Board (2020-2021), Non-Executive Director of the Transport Systems/Connected Places Catapult (2015-2021) and President of the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors (2015-2016).