Sarah Darby became interested in the social nature of energy use when evaluating home energy advice programmes, which introduced her to the many ways of describing and analysing how people and technologies interact in buildings.

She works with colleagues and ideas from a range of disciplines in search of a better understanding of how energy systems work for different actors in different situations, and how they might develop in more environmentally and socially benign ways. She has a particular interest in the intelligibility / user-friendliness of technologies and buildings.

Sarah holds a BSc in Ecological Science from Edinburgh University, a postgraduate Diploma in Planning from Oxford Polytechnic and a DPhil from Oxford University (Awareness, action and feedback in domestic energy use). She contributes to teaching on the MSc course in Environmental Change and Management.