Dr Sarah McAdam

Sarah is a photographer, researcher, and educator with over 25 years’ experience in higher education as an academic, dean, and professor and is currently Education Lead at Catalyst. Their teaching philosophy draws on a deep belief in the transformative potential of creativity, encouraging students to find their voice, take risks, and connect ideas across disciplines.

She has exhibited work internationally and presented at numerous conferences worldwide, sharing research and creative projects that bridge scholarly enquiry and hands-on making. Whether in the classroom or the gallery, Sarah brings together academic rigour, artistic curiosity and a love of collaborative learning. 

As a photographer and researcher Sarah’s work explores the stories embedded in domestic and architectural spaces, with a particular fascination for modernism. Holding a PhD and having exhibited internationally, she weaves together narratives of people and place through a distinctive analogue practice that values material process and sensory engagement.

Working primarily with film photography, Sarah often incorporates sound into exhibitions, creating immersive, cross-media installations that invite audiences to move between visual and auditory storytelling. Her practice balances a scholarly understanding of space and place with a tactile, personal approach to image-making.

They have presented their work at numerous international conferences, where they share insights into the intersections of photography, place and space and lived experience. Outside of work, they are an avid sea swimmer and regular visitor to art exhibitions, always seeking new perspectives and inspiration.