Sara Munday was born in Dundee, Scotland and completed her education at the University of St. Andrews. After graduating with an M.Sci. degree in 2004, she spent two years as a teaching fellow at the University of North Texas. After that, she returned to St. Andrews to study for her doctorate, in the area of Ergodic Theory and Dynamical Systems. After graduating in 2011, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher in Bremen (Germany), Bristol and York (UK), Bologna and Pisa.
