Sophie Body-Gendrot, a Ph.D from Sciences-Po, Paris, is a Professor of Political Science and American studies at the Sorbonne and Director of the Center for Urban Studies. She is a member of the Urban Age project at the London School of Economics, and is the past President of the European Society of Criminology.

Her interdisciplinary research focuses on the nature of urban violence, tensions and conflicts and modes of regulation in a cross-national perspective. She attempts to grasp what links urban unrest, precariousness and discriminations and the impact of fear that certain cities inspire. She evaluates what works or does not.

She wrote or co-edited 20 books and over 150 articles. In English: A city of One's Own, Ashgate, 2009; Violence in Europe, Springer, 2008; Social Capital and Social Citizenship, Lexington Press, 2003; The Social Control of Cities? Blackwell, 2000; Minorities in European Cities Macmillan, 2000; The Urban Moment, Sage, 1999.