Daniel Nielson is Professor of Government at the University of Texas at Austin, where he is also Co-Executive Director at Innovations for Peace and Development. He is a co-founder and Chief Research Officer of Evaluasi LLC and also a co-founder and former Chief Social Scientist of AidData. He has been a principal investigator on grants from the U.S. National Science Foundation, the Hewlett Foundation, the Gates Foundation, the World Bank, and USAID. He is co-author of Global Shell Games: Experiments in Transnational Relations, Crime, and Terrorism (Cambridge University Press 2014) and co-editor of Delegation and Agency in International Organizations (Cambridge University Press 2006).

He has authored and co-authored peer-reviewed journal articles in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, American Journal of Political Science, International Organization, Journal of Politics, British Journal of Political Science, Science Advances, World Development, Comparative Political Studies, International Studies Quarterly, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, and Strategic Management Journal, among other journals.