Sara Lemos studied at Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco and University College London. She lectured in Brazil for four years, before moving to University College London in 1999, then Leicester in 2003. Her research interests lie in Labour Economics, and her current research projects are on minimum wages and migration. Her work on the minimum wage has informed the Brazilian Government and the World Bank on minimum wages effects in Brazil, has been widely cited in Brazilian and
international literature and presented at several international conferences and seminars. Her work on migration has informed the UK Department for Wrok and Pensions and the Welsh Assembly and has been widely cited in the international literature and presented at several international conferences and seminars. She has been awarded various grants, including funding from CAPES (Brazil), the Royal Economic Society, and the Economic and Social Research Council. She is also a referee for several journals, including Journal of Labour Economics and Journal of Development Economics.

She joined IZA as a Research Affiliate in February 2004 and became a Research Fellow in October 2006.