Kata Beilin is a researcher, fiction writer and documentary film director. She holds the position of a Professor at the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and the Faculty Director of Latin American, Iberian and Caribbean Studies Program. She is affiliated with Holtz Center for Science and Technology Studies, and Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies.  

In 2022 Kata is also a co-Chair of LASA Conference Program.
 
Kata specializes in Environmental Cultural Studies in the Hispanic World, in particular the rural ecologies, and technologies in Mayan areas of Yucatan. She also worked in Puebla and Oaxaca, Mexico, in the Ecuadorean rainforest, as well as in soy plantation areas of Argentina, Paraguay. She promotes transdisciplinary and collaborative research across different fields of studies, including non-academic partners and indigenous knowledges. She is particularly interested in human alliances with crop plants, forests and bees.