[3] Born in London in 1947, Stent was educated at Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls before going up to Girton College, Cambridge University, where she received her B.A.

In 2001, she received a joint appointment as Professor of Government and Foreign Service and became Director of the Center for Eurasian, Russian, and East European Studies.

[5] Her first book, published in 1982 by Cambridge University Press, was From Embargo to Ostpolitik: the Political Economy of West German-Soviet Relations.

She reported that the policeman investigating the case maintained it could not have happened, declaring, "We have no crime in the U.S.S.R."[7] Russia and Germany Reborn: Unification, the Soviet Collapse, and the New Europe[8] was her second book, published by Princeton University Press in 1999.

In it, she analyzed and narrated the tumultuous events that led to the end of communism in Eastern Europe, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the emergence of modern Russia, and the reunification of West and East Germany.

When Stent asked Gorbachev what world leader he most admired, his answer was "Ronald Reagan was the greatest western statesman with whom I dealt.

"[10] Stent's 2014 book, The Limits of Partnership: US-Russian Relations in the Twenty-First Century,[11] examines the difficulties for the United States in establishing a productive relationship with post-Soviet Russia.

[16][17] Stent argues that "as the Trump team accelerates the U.S. retreat from the Middle East, Mr. Putin has been quick to spot and take advantage of openings, and he operates without many of the constraints of his Soviet predecessors.

[24] She is a contributing editor to Survival: Global Politics and Strategy[25] and has written numerous articles for academic and general publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The New York Times.