María Luisa Méndez Layera (PhD in Sociology, University of Manchester) is Full Professor at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. She is the Director of the Nucleus Millenium of Insecurity and Urban Cohesion and Principal Investigator of the Centre for Social Conflict and Cohesion Studies (COES). She studies social stratification, urban inequality, and conflict in Chilean cities. Her work investigates how class and sociospatial inequalities shape urban space and social belonging.