Arun Agrawal serves as the Pulte Family Professor of Development Policy in Social Science at the University of Notre Dame's Keough School of Global Affairs. He is the founding and inaugural director of the Just Transformations to Sustainability Initiative, aimed at promoting university-wide sustainability efforts. Renowned for his scholarship in environmental politics and sustainable development, Agrawal assumed his position at Notre Dame on January 1, 2025. Prior to this, he was a professor at the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability, from which he retired as professor emeritus in December 2024. His career also includes faculty appointments at Yale University and McGill University. Through his teaching, research, and leadership, Agrawal has made significant contributions to understanding the politics of natural resource management and development policy.

Agrawal's research interests encompass institutions, governance, environmental politics, development, and sustainability. He is the coordinator of the International Forestry Resources and Institutions (IFRI) network and has conducted extensive research in Africa and Asia. His Google Scholar profile reflects substantial influence in the academic field, with more than 60,000 citations. Agrawal serves as a PNAS Member Editor and previously founded the FLARE Network, now hosted at the University of Notre Dame, to advance knowledge on forests, livelihoods, and adaptive responses to environmental change. His work critically examines indigenous knowledge and common property regimes in the context of development and sustainability. Additionally, he is associated with the Kellogg Institute for International Studies and has affiliations with the Department of Biological Sciences at Notre Dame. Agrawal has provided expert commentary on topics such as Pope Francis' Laudato Si' and its implications for sustainability.