Dr Sara Thornton
Principal Research Officer (Ecosystem Health & Social Dimensions)
Honorary Fellow at the University of Leicester
About me
I am a Finlandssvensk researcher who grew up in the Netherlands. From a young age I had a deep affinity with the outdoors, and growing up around wetlands and forests set me on the course of studying Ecological Sciences with Honours in Conservation and Ecological Management at the University of Edinburgh. Joining research teams in the UK, Peru and Indonesia, I found a passion for tropical peat-swamp forests as an understudied wetland habitat. I worked as a research assistant, and later a volunteer coordinator with the Borneo Nature Foundation (BNF) in Sebangau peat-swamp forest (Indonesian Borneo).
For my interdisciplinary PhD (University of Leicester and BNF) I returned to Sebangau to explore the ecology of peat-swamp fish and the importance of fish and fishing to surrounding peatland communities; ecologically, economically, culturally, and spiritually. It is these relationships between people, wetlands, and more-than-human worlds, and the different forms of knowledge that shape them, that drew me to wetlands and continue to drive my work.
My role
As Principal Research Officer in WWT's Ecosystem Health and Social Dimensions team, I focus on developing novel approaches to wetland research, with a determination to make a meaningful contribution to wetland restoration globally.
I support WWT's projects in Madagascar, Cambodia, and the UK. I approach wetland restoration holistically; drawing on social science and ecological methods to understand how environmental change is happening and how it impacts human and more-than-human beings in terms of livelihoods, wellbeing, and health. I take a critical approach to my work, continuously thinking about justice issues and the ethics of conservation, and how we can imagine and create a more caring world. My work is informed by critical human geography, political ecology and multispecies studies, and engages closely with conservation social science in practice.
I'm dedicated to science communication and outreach; I supported the development of the Wetland Learning Hub and now contribute as a lecturer.
Experience and interests
- Social science data collection and analysis: designing, conducting and analysing data from interviews, focus groups, workshops and various participatory approaches
- Transdisciplinary and cross-cultural work and communication
- Fieldwork: extensive experience in remote and demanding conditions, in both tropical and temperate regions
- Teaching and supervision of undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral students
- Science outreach to academic and non-academic audiences
- Languages: English, Dutch, Bahasa Indonesia
Publications
See my ResearchGate profile for my full publication list.
Thornton, S.A., Freeman, W., Jupe, L.L., Newth, J.L., Reeves, J.P., Wood, K.A. and Woroniecki, S. (2025) Challenges and opportunities for integrating social sciences in a conservation nongovernmental organization. Conservation Biology, 39(2):e70002. doi.org/10.1111/cobi.70002
Thornton, S.A., Setiana, E., Kris yoyo, Page, S.E., Harrison, M.E. & Upton, C. (2020) Towards Biocultural Approaches to Peatland Conservation: The Case for Fish and Livelihoods in Indonesia. Environmental Science & Policy, 114:341-351. doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2020.08.018
Thornton, S.A., Cook, S., Astiani, D., Hapsari, K.A., Varkkey, H., Cole, L.E.S., Dargie, G.C., Sjogersten, S., Zawawi, N.Z. & Page, S.E. (2019). 'Pushing the limits': Experiences of Women in Tropical Peatland Research. Marine and Freshwater Research, Special Issue on Women in Freshwater Science, 71(2):170. doi.org/10.1071/MF19132
Thornton, S.A., Dudin, Page, S.E., Upton, C. & Harrison, M.E. (2018). Peatland fish of Sebangau, Borneo: diversity, monitoring and conservation. Mires and Peat, 22(04), 1-25. doi.org/10.19189/MaP.2017.OMB.313
PhD Thesis: Thornton, S. A. (2017). (Un)tangling the Net, Tackling the Scales and Learning to Fish: An Interdisciplinary Study in Indonesian Borneo. University of Leicester, Leicester, UK. Available online: https://hdl.handle.net/2381/40860