Dr. Shivakumar Kandekar has a Ph.D. in Education, teaching Assistant professor experience at higher education institutions like NIEPA-Department of Higher and Professional Education, NCSL, and B.Ed. Colleges and teacher education institutions also. He worked on several research projects, including a school leadership project at the Tata Institute of Social Science (TISS-Mumbai), Good Governance in school education in India (NIEPA-NCSL), Secondary school observation study in collaboration with the University of Oxford, UK, in association with CESS, and the Foundational Literacy &Numeracy (FLN) Survey-Telangana. 

His professional expertise areas are educational leadership for Sustainable Higher Education, mental health and well-being, teacher education, Guidance and Counselling, Educational Psychology, Sanitation and hygiene, science education, and continuous professional development.

He has served as a resource person in various Faculty Development Programmes (FDPs), workshops, and academic sessions at universities, and in the Mid-May meal demonstration on the T-SAT Educational Channel in Telangana.

He has coordinated the live streaming of the PM e-Vidya Channel Programme on School Leadership for principals. Swachh Bharat - Swachh Vidyalaya Campaign -Appreciation certificate received from the Government of Rural, Tribal, and Urban schools in Telangana.

He is an active member of professional academic bodies such as the India Higher Education Research Network (IHERN), All-India Association for Educational Research (AIAER), and All India Association of Teacher Educators (IATE). His present role is as a NAAC Committee Member for the Internal NAAC Cycle-II process at the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), and he contributed as a core committee member in institutional quality initiatives.

He is the Editor of the 2-book chapter “Futuristic Trends in Social Science and “Frontiers in Psychology: Insights into Behaviour, Cognition, and Mental Health” and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Contemporary Educational Psychology (JCEP), as well as an Editorial Board Member of the International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts (IJCRT).

Dr.Kandekar has coordinated various National-level training programmes and workshops at the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA).

As a mentor, he mentors the students enrolled in the Master of Arts in Education and Development programme and currently supervises three Ph.D. research scholars. Dr.Kandekar has published several research papers in national and international journals and conferences.