Professor Sarah Hendry is an academic lawyer specialising in water and environmental law. From 2018 - 2026 she was the Head of Dundee Law School. She is the Vice Convenor of the Joint Standing Committee for Legal Education in Scotland.

Sarah also works within the UNESCO Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science, which is hosted at Dundee. Her research interests in Scots, EU and comparative water law extend across both water resources and water services. Sarah is Scottish Editor for the Journal of Water Law and the Journal of Environmental Law and Management.

Sarah leads Masters modules in Water Law and Environmental Regulation and Honours modules in Environmental Law and in Human Rights. She contributes to modules across the curriculum at all levels, including Foundations of Law, Private Law of Scotland, and Critical Approaches to Law.

Sarah has a background in environmental regulation and her research interests cross over all aspects of national water law, especially water quality and pollution control, and the regulation of water services. She has a special interest in water law reform. She works closely with scientists and policymakers, looking at the linkages between science, policy and law. 

Sarah was a member of the Scottish Customer Forum, and she of the Irish Government's Expert Commission on water. She has been involved in several funded projects for Scottish Government related to the regulation of water services, including rural supply, source protection and valuing water, as well as projects funded by the EU on water resource management. 

Selected publications include:

Hendry, S ‘Liability and responsibility for water services in Scotland: who should bear the costs of reform?’ [2025] Env Liability 29 (1/ 2) 68

 Xie, B & Hendry, S ‘Special Administrations in the Water Industry – To Pull the Plug Or To Save from Drowning? [2024] Journal of Water Law 28 (4) 105

Carvalho L, Mackay EB, Cardoso AC, Baattrup-Pedersen A, Birk S, Blackstock K, Hendry S et al. Protecting and restoring Europe's waters: an analysis of the future development needs of the Water Framework Directive. Science of the Total Environment. 2019 Mar 25;658:1228-1238. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.12.2

Hendry S The Water Framework Directive – Challenges, Gaps and Potential for the Future (special issue) Journal of European Environment and Planning Law, 14 (2017) 247-266

Hendry S (2016) The Customer Forum: Putting Customers at the Centre of Regulating Water Services Water Policy Available Online 23 February 2016, DOI: 10.2166/wp.2016.199

Hendry S (2016) Scottish Water – A Public Sector Success Story Water International Special Issue; Available online 15 August 2016 http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02508060.2016.1212961

Hendry S, (2015) Frameworks for Water Law Reform (monograph) CUP International Hydrological Series