Gloria Laycock has a BSc and PhD in psychology from UCL. She was founding director of the Home Office Police Research Group, the UCL Jill Dando Institute and the Community Policing and Police Science Institute in Abu Dhabi.

Gloria has carried out research and development in prisons, policing and crime prevention and has acted as a consultant and trainer on policing matters around the world. She directed a major programme of research on what works in crime reduction, funded by the ESRC and College of Policing and is currently UCL Professor Emeritus of Crime Science.

Gloria was awarded an OBE for services to crime policy in 2008.