Sheila Jasanoff

Sheila Jasanoff is Pforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies at the Harvard Kennedy School.

A pioneer in her field, she has authored more than 120 articles and chapters and is author or editor of more than 15 books, including “The Fifth Branch”, “Science at the Bar”, “Designs on Nature”, “The Ethics of Invention”, and “Can Science Make Sense of Life?”. Her work explores the role of science and technology in the law, politics, and policy of modern democracies. She founded and directs the STS (Science, Technology and Society) Program at Harvard. Previously, she was founding chair of the STS Department at Cornell. She has held distinguished visiting appointments at leading universities in Europe, Asia, Australia, and the U.S. Jasanoff served on the American Association for the Advancement of Science as Board of Directors and as President of the Society for Social Studies of Science. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Her honors include the Social Science Research Council Hirschman prize, the Humboldt Foundation’s Reimar-Lüst award, and the Austrian Ehrenkreuz. She was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship and is a member in the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters.

She holds AB, JD, and PhD degrees from Harvard, and honorary doctorates from the Universities of Twente and Liège.

Last updated: 2019