Lou Pingeot earned her M.A. degree in Political Science (specialization in International Relations and International Security) from Sciences Po (Institut d' etudes politiques de Paris) and is now pursuing a PhD in Political Science at McGill University, Montreal. From 2010 to 2013 she worked for Global Policy Forum, a New York-based NGO that monitors the UN. She is the author of two reports: Dangerous Partnership: Private Military & Security Companies and the UN (2012) and Contracting Insecurity. Private military and security companies and the future of the United Nations (2014).