Sara is a specialist in the area of integrable systems, a lively area of mathematics bringing together algebra, analysis and geometry to tackle fundamental problems often motivated by mathematical physics. Her research has been supported by a wide range of funding bodies, both in pure and applied mathematics, including EPSRC and The Royal Society. Sara was awarded, among others, three fellowships - from the EPSRC, from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and from the Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology (IRCSET).

Sara is a keen advocate of the role of mathematics in the society, and of the unique contribution that mathematical sciences bring to other STEM disciplines and to the economy. She believes that it is important to promote interdisciplinary research as well as to emphasise the importance of fundamental research.

Sara believes also that embracing diversity – in all its aspects – is key to successfully tackle research challenges and ultimately to do excellent science.

• Infinite dimensional algebras, in particular automorphic Lie algebras and their applications
• Nonlinear waves, in particular the study of nonlinear integrable PDEs and their applications
• Stability problems for solutions of nonlinear waves equations
• Mathematical modelling

Sara read Physics at the University Rome La Sapienza, arguably one of the most prestigious schools of Physics in Italy, graduating cum Laude in Mathematical Physics (MSc). She obtained a PhD in Mathematics in the School of Mathematics at Leeds University in 2004. She held various positions in Leeds, Manchester, Rome and Amsterdam, before returning to the UK in 2010. She was promoted to Reader in 2014 and to Professor in 2017. Prior to Heriot-Watt University, Sara was an Associate Dean in the School of Science at Loughborough University and was Head of Mathematics at Northumbria University in Newcastle.

Sara is currently a member of the Maxwell Institute for Mathematical Sciences and the Executive Dean of the School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences at Heriot-Watt University, UK. 

Sara is a Visiting Professor of the Department of Mathematical Sciences, School of Science, Loughborough University, and has been a visiting scholar at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, at Sapienza, University of Rome and at the Centro International de Ciencias, UAEM-UNAM, Cuernavaca, Mexico.

Automorphic Lie Algebras, classification and applications. Integrable systems. Integrable PDEs. Nonlinear waves. Solitons. Rational solutions. Rogue waves.