Dan Sanaren is a doctoral student within the CNRS, based at the CERI. His research project focuses on the use of coercion in attempts to impose new standards of living together in urban spaces. After several years of experience of research in the Sahel, this project particularly looks at the cities of Cotonou (Benin) and Accra (Ghana), as well as their respective police forces.

Before his Ph.D., Dan Sanaren worked with the Sahel/West Africa Program of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) and the Conflict Resolution Program of The Carter Center. He earned a B.A. and a Research M.A. in political science at Sciences Po. His Master’s thesis "Creating a 'Showcase' City: Public Space, Coercion, and Policing in Cotonou, Benin', under the supervision of Laurent Fourchard and Richard Banegas, looked at urban changes in Cotonou, Benin.