Hebe Vessuri is an Argentine social anthropologist who has pioneered research and teaching in the studies of science and technology in several universities of the Americas between 1966 and 2015. She has worked at institutions such as Dalhousie University, Victoria University, and Simon Fraser University in Canada, National University of Tucumán in Argentina, Central University of Venezuela, State University of Campinas in Brazil, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Universidad de Los Andes in Colombia, and CENPAT-CONICET in Argentina.
However, the longest period of her career was spent at the Venezuelan Institute of Scientific Research in Caracas, where she became Emeritus Professor in 2010. Currently, she is a collaborating researcher at the Centro de Investigaciones en Geografía Ambiental (CIGA)-UNAM in Mexico and a visiting lecturer in Argentine universities. Vessuri has held several important positions in her field, including vice-president of the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, vice-chair of the International Program of Higher Education, Research and Knowledge of UNESCO, and served in the Council of United Nations University in Tokyo.
She was also vice president of the UNESCO Committee on Ethics of Science and Technology (COMEST) from 2009 to 2014, and belonged to several scientific committees of national and international programs, such as ICSU’s CSPR, IHDP, UNU-INTECH and IRGC. Furthermore, she awarded the John D. Bernal 2017 Prize for Distinguished Contribution from the Society for the Social Study of Science (4S).
She is or has been associated to the editorial boards of several international journals like Science, Technology & Society; Industry & Higher Education; Interciencia; Redes,and has been general editor of Educación Superior y Sociedad, published by UNESCO- IESALC. Author of more than three hundred scientific works, among her books are Vessuri H & M Kuhn (eds.). The global social science world – under and beyond ‘Western’ universalism. Ibidem, Stuttgart (2016); Vessuri & Canino (eds.) La otra, el mismo. Mujeres en la ciencia y la tecnología en Venezuela. Caracas. Editorial El perro y la rana (2016); Kuhn & Vessuri (eds.) Some Contributions to Alternative Concepts of Knowledge. Ibidem, Stuttgart (2016); Vessuri & Bocco (eds.) Conocimiento, Paisaje y Territorio. Procesos de cambio individual y colectivo. UNPA, -CIGA/UNAM, CENPAT / CONICET, UNRN, Rio Gallegos (2016); Kreimer, Vessuri, Velho & Arellano (eds.) “Perspectivas latinoamericanas en el estudio social de la Ciencia, la Tecnología”. Editorial Siglo XXI, México (2014); Vessuri Igualdad y jerarquía en Antajé. IDES/ Editorial Al Margen, Buenos Aires (2011); Vessuri “O inventamos o erramos”. La ciencia como idea-fuerza en América Latina, Universidad Nacional de Quilmes (2010); Vessuri Conocimiento, Desarrollo y Ambiente (Reflexiones), Ediciones Ministerio del Poder Popular para la Ciencia y la Tecnología, Caracas (2008); Vessuri & Teichler (eds.) Universities as Centres of Research and Knowledge Creation: An Endangered Species? Sense Publishers. Rotterdam (2008); Sörlin & Vessuri (eds.) Knowledge Society vs Knowledge Economy. Knowledge, Power, & Politics. IAU/UNESCO/Palgrave. Nueva York (2007). Among her papers are: 2020, with L Rodriguez Medina. Personal bonds in the internationalization of the social sciences: a view from the periphery. International Journal of Sociology; 2019. Provincializing STS? A View from Latin America: A note on Workshop. Tapuya: Latin American Science, Technology & Society, 1-9. DOI: 10.1177/0971721819873205; 2019 with Laya. The scientists of the IVIC in the evolution of science and technology policy during the Chávez administration in Venezuela. Tapuya: Latin American Science, Technology and Society doi.org/10.1080/25729861.2019.1616953; 2019 Crises that mismatch canons in science: provincialization, transnationality, conviviality? Tapuya: Latin American Science, Technology and Society; 2019 Las culturas de la ciencia. Una aproximación a su estudio desde América Latina. Ciencia e Investigación Reseñas. Asociación Argentina para el Progreso de la Ciencia, Buenos Aires. February.