Sandra is the Technical Director and Senior Research Fellow for Homeland Security & Resilience at the Royal United Services Institute in Whitehall. Her research interests cover all aspects of man-made, man-assisted and natural emergencies and disasters. She has particular expertise in protection of the national infrastructure; improvised explosive devices; command and control; resilience; and science and innovation within a defence and security context.

She is a founder member of the National Security and Resilience Industry Suppliers Council (RISC); The Chairman of the British Standards Institute’s Societal Security Management Committee; and Raporteur of the Governance and Co-ordination workstream of the European Security Research and Innovation Forum (ESRIF). Sandra also sits on the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Strategic Advisory Team for Economy, Environment and Crime.

Sandra received a BSc (Hons) in Mathematics and Physics from the University of London before studying for a doctorate at the Royal Military College of Science, Cranfield University where she received a PhD in Military Science with a thesis on 'Personnel Blast Protection'. In 1991 Sandra took up an appointment as a scientist at the Defence Research Agency, which subsequently became QinetiQ, Europe's largest Defence and Security science and technology organization. Sandra initially specialized in personnel protection and acoustic stealth for ships and submarines and subsequently became Technical Director (Innovation and Strategy) where she was responsible for technology management and strategy within QinetiQ. Immediately prior to joining RUSI, Sandra headed QinetiQ's Technology and Business Strategy Consultancy Business with a suite technology strategy consulting services to help organizations, both corporate and government, harness technology for business benefit.