Daniel C. Miller

Biography & Research

Daniel C. Miller is the Coyle Mission Collegiate Professor in the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame and a core-affiliated faculty member of the Pulte Institute for Global Development. 

Miller’s research and teaching focus on international environmental politics and policy. He is especially interested in understanding the socioeconomic and ecological impacts of conservation funding in tropical countries and the political factors shaping those impacts. His research also explores the contribution forests and trees make to human well-being in rural areas around the world.

Miller has carried out fieldwork in more than 10 countries, particularly in Africa. His research has been published in Nature, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS,) Global Environmental Change, and World Development, and other journals. He is the coordinator of the Forests and Livelihoods: Assessment, Research and Engagement (FLARE) network.

Miller completed his Ph.D. in the School for Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science at the University of Illinois. Prior to joining the faculty at Notre Dame, he was an associate professor in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois, where he maintains an adjunct affiliation. Before that, he was a senior forestry specialist at the World Bank.

Recent Work

• Global forest dataset incongruence creates high uncertainties for conservation, climate, and development policy (One Earth)
• "International climate and biodiversity funding: does allocation follow need in Global South countries?" (World Development)
• "Influence of funding fads and donor interests on international aid for conservation in Madagascar" (Conservation Biology)
• "Five principles to enhance conversations about conservation" (Conservation Biology)
• "Mapping the social-ecological suitability of agroforestry in the US Midwest" (Environmental Research Letters)
• "Conservation Social Science: Understanding People, Conserving Biodiversity" (Wiley)
• "The number of forest- and tree-proximate people" (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations)

Courses

• Research Methods (Ph.D. in sustainable development)
• Climate Change and Environmental Policy (elective for master of global affairs)
• International Conservation and Development Politics (elective for undergraduate program)

News & Media

• Forest data disagreements (Nature Ecology & Evolution)
• New study reveals major gaps in global forest maps
• How can we have better conversations about environmental conservation? New Notre Dame research charts a path.
• Fighting poverty while preserving forests: new research aims to balance economic gains and environmental conservation
• "The world is obsessed with forests’ climate benefits. Here’s the problem." (Grist)