About Me 

My name is Helena Machado (she/her)  and I am Full Professor of Sociology at the Institute for Social Sciences, University of Minho (Braga, Portugal). Founding member and coordinator of the AIDA Social Sciences Network.

Currently, I am the Chair of the Scientific Council for the Arts, and Humanities and Social Sciences of the Foundation for Science and Technology in Portugal (Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education). This Council provides strategic advice and recommendations on the development and implementation of research programmes and science policy in Portugal.

I am curious about the interplay between science, technology and society. In particular, I am interested in cutting-edge technologies for human identification. I ask: How are imaginaries of good society, multiple knowledges, power processes, and material worlds articulated with and within such technologies? A sociologist by formation, I value interdisciplinary research. I am inspired at the intersection of a variety of fields, including social studies of science and technology, surveillance studies, critical algorithm studies, and pragmatic ethics.

There is life beyond academia

I love tennis and padel. That’s why I am an avid social player of both sports, and member of enthusiastic female amateur teams. I find very inspiring the cooperation skills and strategic thinking that I learn while playing tennis-doubles and padel. For some time I also dedicated myself to oil and pastel painting, an activity that taught me a lot about the creative process and the inherent challenges of materialization of ideas.