Professor of Gerontology, Oxford University

Professor Sarah Harper is one of the world’s leading authorities on global population trends and their economic, political, environmental and social impact. She speaks with enormous experience as an advisor to European and Asian governments.

Sarah served on the Prime Minister’s Council for Science and Technology, advising David Cameron and Theresa May on the scientific evidence for strategic policies, was an Advisor to the Malaysian and Singaporean Governments, and a Specialist Advisor for the European Commission on Demographic Change.

She is Professor of Gerontology at the University of Oxford, undertaking research into demographic and environmental change with a particular interest in Europe, Asia and Africa. Sarah was appointed Commander of the British Empire for her services to the science of demography in 2018.

Her latest book ‘Ageing Societies: Risk and Resilience’ argues that population change has become a risk which affects us all – employers, governments, and institutions. And her CUP forthcoming book looks as the interaction of people and environmental change.

As Chair of the UK Foresight Review on Ageing, the European Ageing Index Panel, the European Biscay Long Term Care Review, and Governor of the Pensions Policy Institute, Sarah is uniquely placed to comment on current policy thinking.