Contact
Biography
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.
Research
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
Duckett, D, Troldborg M, Hendry S & Cousin H (2024) ‘Making waves: Promoting municipal water reuse without a prevailing scarcity driver’ Water Research Vol 249 (1)
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.
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 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02508060.2016.1212961
Hendry S, (2015) Frameworks for Water Law Reform (monograph) CUP International Hydrological Series
Teaching
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.
Modules I lead on
Media availability
I am available for media commentary on my research.
Professor Hendry is an environmental lawyer. Her research focuses on water law, especially water quality and water pollution, and the governance and regulation of water services (drinking water and wastewater).
Contact Corporate Communications for media enquiries.
Areas of expertise
- Clean water/sanitation
- Water
Research projects
Project lead
- Type
- Research project
Developing risk assessment approaches for watch list parameters under the recast Drinking Water Directive
New and emerging pollutants in water present health threats to humans and the environment.
- Type
- Research project
Governance and management of small rural water supplies: a comparative study
Small water supplies in Scotland are less likely to meet drinking water quality standards and likely to be managed by communities or individuals who may need support. We looked at how other countries manage small rural water supplies, to guide their governance and management in Scotland.
Stories
- Type
- Press release
Levelling Up Fund to benefit University initiatives
Two University of Dundee initiatives are to benefit from millions of pounds of UK Government investment.
- Type
- News
Congratulations to all Law School prize winners for 2022
Dundee Law School has celebrated their first in person prizegiving event since 2019.