Sarah Sharples

Sarah Sharples
Born
Sarah Catherine Nichols

(1972-11-01) 1 November 1972
EducationWimbledon High School
Alma materUniversity of Nottingham (BSc, MSc, PhD)
Scientific career
FieldsPsychology
Virtual Reality
InstitutionsUniversity of Nottingham
Department for Transport
University of Manchester
ThesisVirtual Reality Induced Symptoms and Effects (VRISE): methodological and the theoretical issues (1999)
Websitewww.nottingham.ac.uk/engineering/people/sarah.sharples

Sarah Catherine Sharples CBE FREng FIET (born 1972) is a British chartered ergonomist and academic specialising in human factors and ergonomics. She has served as Professor of Human Factors at the University of Nottingham since 2012 and chief scientific adviser for the Department for Transport since 2021. As of 2025 she has spent all her academic career at the University of Nottingham, and served as pro-vice-chancellor for equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) from 2018 to 2021. In June 2025, it was announced that she would be joining the University of Manchester in September 2025 as vice-president and dean of its Faculty of Science and Engineering.