Elías Cisneros

Elías Cisneros is an Assistant Professor of Political Economy and Sustainability at the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences at the University of Texas at Dallas. His research focuses on the causes and consequences of land-use change, deforestation, and conflict, combining remotely sensed data with market and political shocks to analyze human behavior and landscape transformations. He holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Bonn (2017) and an M.S. in Economics from the University of Freiburg (2011).

Key research interests include Environmental Economics and Policy, Agricultural Economics, Development Economics, and Conflict Economics. His work highlights how local political incentives drive deforestation and the importance of considering governance structures in conservation strategies.

Notable awards include the Friends of ZEF Prize (2018), the T.W. Schultz Award (2015), and the BMZ/GIZ Public Policy Award (2013). He served as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Göttingen (2018–2023) and a Research Associate at the University of Bonn (2015–2017). Current affiliations include the University of Texas at Austin’s Department of Geography & the Environment and the Collaborative Research Centre 990 at the University of Göttingen.

His research has received funding from the Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship (€264,669.12, 2021–2024), focusing on global land-use impacts of the pandemic. Projects include studying deforestation politics in Indonesia and evaluating conservation programs like the Amazon Fund and Bolsa Floresta.