She is an associate professor at the University of Liège and also teaches at the Université libre de Bruxelles.

She graduated in 1991 and is now most known for having provided a reflexive account on ethologists who observed and interpreted the complex dance moves of babblers in the Negev.

Despret affiliates herself to such critical thinkers in philosophy and anthropology of science as Isabelle Stengers, Donna Haraway and Bruno Latour.

She undertakes a critical understanding of how science is fabricated, following scientists doing fieldwork and the way they actively create links and specific relationships to their objects of study.

She is the author of several reference books on animal issues, including Bêtes et hommes (Gallimard, 2007) and Penser comme un rat (Quae, 2009).