Jose Luis Valdes-Ugalde is Director of the Centro de Investigaciones sobre America del Norte (CISAN, Center for Research on North America) at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). He is a political scientist and internationalist. He earned his master's degree in political sociology and doctorate in international relations both from the London School of Economics. His subjects of expertise are sociological theory, theory of international relations, political theory, United States history and foreign policy and North American studies. He is a tenured researcher in the Area of Strategic Studies and a Level 2 National Researcher of the National System of Researchers (SNI).

His individual research projects are entitled "The United States and Democracy in Latin America. Political, Economic and Social Transition: Governability and Security", "Globality and Conflict. The United States and the Crisis of September", "Analysis of the Effects of the Economic Opening and NAFTA on the Mexican Economy of Integration: A Sectoral Review".

He belongs to several associations and organizations at UNAM, such as the Consejo Técnico de Humanidades and the Consejo Académico del Área de las Ciencias Sociales. In May 2007, he was appointed by the Mexican government as a member of the Executive Council of the Mexico-United States Commission for Educational and Cultural Exchange. He is a member of the Inter-institutional Program of North American Region Studies at El Colegio de México, the CONACYT Scholarship Committee, the Mexican Council of International Affairs, the International Studies Association, the Latin American Studies Association and he is vice-president of the Mexican Association of International Studies. He is member of the Evaluation Committee of the Mexico-United States Commission for Educational and Cultural Exchange Fulbright-García Robles scholarship programs.

He has 25 years of expertise on social research and North American studies. He has more than 45 publications as an author, joint author or editor; among his most recent books are: Estados Unidos: Intervención y poder mesiánico, La Guerra Fría en Guatemala 1954 (2004), Globalidad y conflicto: Estados Unidos y la crisis de septiembre (2002 and re-edited in 2005); By Other Means for Other Ends? Bush's Re-election Reassessed (2005); Recursos Naturales Estratégicos: Los hidrocarburos y el agua (2006), Alternativas energéticas México-Estados Unidos: El caso del gas natural y las energías renovables (2006) and El Multilateralismo y la reforma de la ONU y los Desafios del Siglo XXI (2007).

He was appointed coordinator of the evaluation of the North American Free Trade Agreement and Side Agreements (1999-2000). In 2000-2001, he acted as deputy national security advisor for risk analysis and academic liaison of the presidential national security advisor's office. He is a permanent analyst for the radio program Enfoque, CNN en español and Mexico's Channel 11. He is also a newspaper columnist for Excelsior.