Edward L. Miles was born December 21, 1939 in Trinidad, West Indies. He received a B.A. in history from Howard University in Washington, D.C in 1962, and a Ph.D. in international relations from the University of Denver in 1965. He served on the faculty of the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver 1965-1974. Miles joined the University of Washington faculty as Professor of Marine Studies and Public Affairs in the Institute for Marine Studies in 1974 and remained there for the remainder of his career. From 1982-1993 he served as Director of the School of Marine Affairs (formerly the Institute for Marine Studies). He was appointed the Virginia and Prentice Bloedel Professor of Marine Studies and Public Affairs in 1994, Senior Fellow of the Joint Institute for the Study of Atmosphere and Oceans (JISAO) in 1995, and co-director of the Center for Science in the Earth System (CSES) in 2002. Miles founded and directed the UW Climate Impacts Group (1995-2010) in order to develop a regionally-based, integrated science and policy approach to addressing climate risks.

Miles' fields of specialization included international law and organization; science, technology, and international relations; marine policy and ocean management; and the impacts of climate variability and climate change. His early research and engagement included the allocation of electronic spectrum in outer space. He then focused on negotiations designed to restructure and significantly expand the entire legal regime for the world ocean, negotiations that led ultimately to the Law of the Sea Convention. This marine focus continued with projects on regional ocean governance, global tuna management, sub-seabed disposal of high-level radioactive wastes, the employment of social sciences in ocean management, the effectiveness of international environmental regimes, and finally assessment of global climate change with specific application to the Pacific Northwest.

He played a major role in the third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III) and he later published a book about his experience titled "Global Ocean Politics: The Decision-Process at the Third United Nations Conference of the Law of the Sea, 1973-1982" Miles was elected to membership in the US National Academy of Sciences in 2003.

Edward Miles died on May 7, 2016 at the age of 76.