[1] Bekessy completed her doctorate (1999 – 2003) at the School of Botany, University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, where she studied approaches for the conservation of threatened Monkey Puzzle Tree.

[1][3] Following her PhD, Sarah Bekessy was a research fellow with the University of Melbourne (funded by David Yencken, the Australian Collaboration) where she studied sustainability and policy.

Bekessy is involved in a range of interdisciplinary research, including her ARC Future Fellowship titled ‘Socio-ecological models for environmental decision making’.

[7] She is the convener of ICON Science, a group of researchers working to better understand and manage societal and natural environment interaction, seeking methods to solve real world problems,[2] regardless of what discipline these solutions originate from.

Bekessy's team has been involved in research to help shape future policy designed to improve landholder participation in, and collaboration on, private land conservation schemes.

[48] Her team has been involved in strategic assessments including those done in Melbourne and their recently completed, ‘Reimagining the Australian Suburb: planning for biodiversity in the urban fringe’ (funded by the  Myer Foundation[49]), may help inform the creation of new grassland reserves and guide development planning for the avoidance of important grassland features and their protection in urban fringe areas.

[52] Bekessy sits as a board member of Bush Heritage Australia,[53] an independent not-for-profit that purchases and manages land, in partnership with Aboriginal people, for the protection of important landscapes and native species.

[54] She is also an Urban Scholar with the United Nations Global Compact – Cities Programme,[55] as well as a member of the reference group for Victoria's Biodiversity Strategy.