Daniel Sparringa was born and educated from basic education until bachelor in Surabaya. He completed his bachelor degree in Faculty of Social and Political Science, University of Airlangga Surabaya in 1983, then he pursued his master and doctorate degree in sociology in 1991 and 1997 respectively from Flinders University in Australia. His dissertation was Discourse, Democracy and Intellectuals in New Order Indonesia.
He has lectured in Sociology Department and postgraduate degree University of Airlangga since 1983 and he also give a lecture in postgraduate management degree in University of Surabaya. He is in charge as Head of Laboratory of Development Issues Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, University of Airlangga since 1997. He recognized as member of Research Council of Indonesia/Dewan Riser Indonesia 1997- present and Advisory Council of East Java Province/Dewan Penasehat Propinsi Jawa Timur 1999- present. He was a facilitator for 'Scenario Planning for the Working Group of Indonesia Future in 1999-2000. He was also work as Senior Advisor for UNDP and political analyst and commentator in some media.
He is an intellectual and writes productively on democracy, conflict and military issues in various academic journal and media since 1997. One of them is The Future of Democracy in Indonesia: A Discourse Analysis on the Development of Indonesian Civil Society, had been presented in Seminar of Trends in Indonesia (ISEAS), Singapore 28 April 2000. With some revisions, it also been delivered in Islamic and Modern Concept of Governance and Democracy, Friedrisch Naumman Stiftung (FNS) Jakarta 2000. Another paper work is Democracy in Transition in Indonesia: A Theoritical Reflect , presented in Convention on National Science held by LIPI (2003) and TNI: A Critical Reflection on History, presented in Sekolah Staf dan Komando/School of Staff and Command National Army (SESKO) TNI, Bandung, 2000.
He is also play as a resource person in various international seminars, such as" Memory Across Generations: The Future of Never Again (Buenos Aires, Argentine, 2002), Asia Europe Roundtable II (Oxford-UK, 2001), Alternative Truth Telling (Cape Town, South Africa, 2000), EU-Indonesia Meeting (The Hague-Netherlands, 2000), The Future of East Timor (London-UK, 1999).