Sarah Rowley

Senior Evidence, Policy & Engagement Specialist

Sarah is Senior Evidence, Policy & Engagement Specialist at Landscape Observatory, where she works to translate evidence into practical policy and collaborative action. Working across research, partnerships and communications to support climate-smart decision-making for England’s Protected Landscapes.

Background

Sarah brings a combination of environmental research, strategic planning and communications experience to her work. She previously worked as a Senior Strategy and Performance Officer for the Peak District National Park Authority, developing her experience of using evidence and data to support organisational and landscape scale decision making.

Before moving into the environmental sector, she worked in business development and marketing. She now applies this experience to developing strong relationships across the Protected Landscapes family and building collaborations between government, research organisations and wider environmental partners.

At Landscape Observatory, Sarah works to connect scientific evidence, emerging policy and practitioner knowledge, helping to communicate the work of Landscape Observatory. Her combined experience across enables her to bridge different perspectives and help create collaborative approaches to managing landscapes in a changing climate.

Following her career change, Sarah studied ecology and animal behavior with a focus on bats, including a Masters by Research (MRes) investigating the effects of habitat fragmentation on aerial insectivorous bats at local and landscape scales in the Amazon. She is a licensed bat surveyor and continues to undertake seasonal ecological surveys, bringing practical field experience alongside her work in evidence, policy and engagement.

Publications

Rowley, S., López-Baucells, A., Rocha, R., Bobrowiec, P.E.D. and Meyer, C.F.J. 2024. Secondary forest buffers the effects of fragmentation on aerial insectivorous bat species following 30 years of passive forest restoration. Restoration Ecology, 32:14093.

López-Baucells, A., Rowley, S., Rocha, R. et al. 2022. Interplay between local and landscape-scale effects on the taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity of aerial insectivorous neotropical bats. Landscape Ecology, 37, 2861–2875.