José María López Riba holds a PhD in Criminology/Law from the Pompeu Fabra University, with a doctoral research funded by the Agency for the Management of University and Research Grants of the Generalitat de Catalunya. Later, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Pompeu Fabra University and the University of Girona and as a senior research in the Area of coexistence and urban safety at the Institut Metròpoli. He is currently a lecturer in the Department of Public Law at the University of Girona. His lines of research include social science research methodologies, police and discriminatory behaviour in the penal system. He has carried out two research stays abroad, one at the Centre for Criminology of the University of Oxford and the other at the Leuven Institute of Criminology (KU Leuven). As for his teaching experience, he has taught at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, the Universitat de Girona, as well as at the Institute of Public Security of Catalonia.