Sheila Jasanoff is Pforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Her work explores the role of science and technology in the law, politics, and policy of modern democracies, with particular attention to the nature of public reason.

A pioneer in her field, Professor Jasanoff has authored more than 100 articles and chapters and is author or editor of more than fifteen books, including Controlling Chemicals, The Fifth Branch, Science at the Bar, Designs on Nature, and The Ethics of Invention.

From 1978 to 1998, she was Professor of Science Policy and Law at Cornell University and founding chair of Cornell’s Department of Science and Technology Studies. At Harvard since 1998, she is founding director of the Program on Science, Technology and Society. She has held distinguished academic appointments in the US, Europe, and Japan, and has lectured widely around the world.

Professor Jasanoff has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, the J.D. Bernal Prize of the Society of Social Studies of Science, the Distinguished Achievement Award of the Society for Risk Analysis, the Sarton Chair of the University of Ghent, an Ehrenkreuz from the Government of Austria, and an honorary doctorate from the University of Twente. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and Foreign Member of the Royal Danish Academy of Arts and Letters.

She has served on the Board of Directors of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and as President of the Society for Social Studies of Science. She has been a consultant to many science policy organisations, including the European Commission and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Professor Jasanoff holds an AB degree in Mathematics from Harvard, an MA in Linguistics from the University of Bonn, a PhD in Linguistics and a JD in Law, both from Harvard.