Helena Machado is an Invited Coordinating Researcher at CIES-Iscte – Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology, University Institute of Lisbon. She is the Principal Investigator of the project fAIces – Facial Recognition Technologies: Etho-Assemblages and Alternative Futures, funded by an Advanced Grant from the European Research Council.

Academic background, areas of specialisation, and research interests: With a PhD in Sociology, her research lies at the intersection of Science and Technology Studies (STS) and Critical Artificial Intelligence Studies. Her work critically examines the co-production of science, technology, and social order, with a particular focus on infrastructures of human identification and their implications for shifting notions of identity, risk, and governance.

Within the fAIces project, she explores the entangled roles of scientists, tech companies, and advocacy networks in shaping facial recognition technologies and the futures of AI.

Awards and distinctions:

• European Research Council Grants:

  • Advanced Grant (2025) – fAIces – Facial Recognition Technologies

  • Consolidator Grant (2015) – Exchange Project – Social Studies of Forensic Genetics

• Scientific Merit Award, University of Minho (2022)

• Women in Science Award – Ciência Viva, Portugal (2019)

Previous positions: Full Professor in the Department of Sociology, School of Social Sciences, University of Minho (2017–2025); Director of the School of Social Sciences (2019–2022); Coordinating Researcher at the Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra (2014–2017); Associate Professor (2009–2014) and Assistant Professor (2003–2009) at the University of Minho.