Professor María De Lourdes Amaya Ventura holds a Ph.D. in Social Sciences from the École Normale Superieure de Cachan, France (2005). Member of the National System of Researchers (SNI), Level I. She has been a Professor in the Department of Institutional Studies at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM) Cuajimalpa Campus since 2009. She holds a Master's Degree in Public Administration from the Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, CIDE (1997) and a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science and Public Administration from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) 1995, she was part of the teaching staff of both institutions.

She has participated in several national and international conferences and has been a guest professor at the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM), the Universidad Iberoamericana and the Universidad Autónoma de Campeche.

Her main line of research is urban water management articulating the institutional approach and the analysis of public action with complementary lines related to the study of local governments. Her work has been published in several journals and books, and she has participated in several national and international conferences. Her current research project is entitled "Water management and citizen participation: participating beyond clientelism".