Sarah Jayne Bell is the City of Melbourne Chair in Urban Resilience and Innovation at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

, Australia, and Honorary Professor of Environmental Engineering at

The Bartlett ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

School in

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

( UCL). She works on urban water systems. She was the Director of the UCL Engineering Exchange during her 16 years as a Professor of Environmental Engineering at UCL.

Early life and education

Bell studied chemistry and environmental engineering at the

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

and graduated with a Bachelor's of Science and Bachelor's of Engineering in 1996. She moved to the University of New England in Australia for her graduate studies and earned her master's degree in

environmental management Environmental resource management is the management of the interaction and impact of human societies on the environment. It is not, as the phrase might suggest, the management of the environment itself. Environmental resources management aims ...

in 1999. Bell was a doctoral student at

Murdoch University Murdoch University is a public university in Perth, Western Australia, with campuses also in Singapore and Dubai. It began operations as the state's second university on 25 July 1973, and accepted its first undergraduate students in 1975. Its n ...

, where she worked on sustainability and technology policy and completed her PhD in 2004. In 2005 Bell joined

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

Research and career

After moving to the United Kingdom, Bell was awarded an

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is a British Research Council that provides government funding for grants to undertake research and postgraduate degrees in engineering and the physical sciences, mainly to universi ...

Research Fellowship on ''Living With Environmental Change.'' Her research considers urban water systems and infrastructure provision, and involves collaboration between engineers and their local communities. Bell has studied the ability of health systems to respond to climate change. She has worked with AECOM,

Thames Water Thames Water Utilities Ltd, known as Thames Water, is a large private utility company responsible for the public water supply and waste water treatment in most of Greater London, Luton, the Thames Valley, Surrey, Gloucestershire, north Wiltshir ...

and Arup Group. She was promoted to Professor in September 2018. Bell identified that there was not much collaboration between engineers, architects and local communities. In an effort to mitigate this lack of communication, Bell founded the

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

Engineering Exchange. She worked with UCL Urban Laboratory to launch a review into social housing, which identified that demolition decisions are often made by professional bodies without adequate engagement with residents. She is part of the Community Water Management for a Liveable London (CAMELLIA), which looks to improve decision making through community and industry engagement. As part of CAMELLIA Bell has looked to make London's water supply more sustainable. Bell is committed to teaching and her efforts have been recognised by the

Royal Academy of Engineering The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) is the United Kingdom's national academy of engineering. The Academy was founded in June 1976 as the Fellowship of Engineering with support from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who became the first senior ...

and

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

. She is a Fellow of the

Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management The Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM) is an independent professional body and a registered charity in the United Kingdom that works internationally to advance the science and practice of water resource management ...

and Institution of Civil Engineers.

Selected publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Sarah Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century British women engineers Academics of University College London University of Western Australia alumni University of New England (Australia) alumni Murdoch University alumni Fellows of the Institution of Civil Engineers Environmental engineers