She has an MSc in Environmental Economics, studying from 1994 to 1995, and a Ph.D. from University College London (UCL) in January 2003.
From 1995 to 2001 Sandra McNally worked as an economist at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology at Abbots Ripton in Cambridgeshire.
From October 2002 she also carried out work for the Centre for the Economics of Education think tank, being the Deputy Director from January 2005 to December 2009.
[5][6] More specifically, McNally co-wrote a journal article about "The cost of just failing high stakes exams".
This article attempted to quantify whether undertaking and apprenticeship yielded a positive return for young people entering the labor market, and how this stacks up against other paths one could take.