Using a range of experimental approaches, Sarah's main strand of research explores the ways in which people use metaphors to understand and reason about abstract concepts. Her work features in journals such as Cognitive Linguistics, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, and Metaphor and Symbol, and she has recently written a monograph with Michele Feist for Cambridge University Press, entitled Time, Metaphor, and Language: A Cognitive Science Perspective (2023). Sarah is also involved in a number of projects exploring real-world applications of metaphor and embodied cognition in education, society, design, and crime.

Dr Sarah Duffy is Senior Lecturer in English Language and Linguistics in the Department of Humanities at Northumbria, where she has been based since 2016. Prior to this, she held a lectureship in the Department of English Language and Applied Linguistics at the University of Birmingham.

In 2019, Sarah launched the Cambridge University Press Elements Series in Cognitive Linguistics with Co-Editor, Nick Riches, and between 2016 to 2023, she served as Review Editor of the journal Language and Cognition. She currently sits on the Editorial Board of the journals Cognitive Linguistics and Cognitive Linguistic Studies.

In 2019, Sarah was elected as Vice President for the UK Cognitive Linguistics Association. She is also Visiting Associate Professor of Linguistics at the University of International Business and Economics, Beijing, China.