After obtaining a postgraduate diploma from the IIMA in 1982, Prof Vijaya Sherry Chand worked for eleven years in social development. He joined the Ravi J Matthai Centre for Educational Innovation (RJMCEI) at the IIMA as Fellow in 1993, obtained a PhD in Education (educational philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi) from Gujarat University in 1997, and was appointed to a faculty position the same year.  Areas of specialization are innovation in education, management of education, social entrepreneurship and the non-profit sector.

From 1982 to 1993, he worked with social development organizations, planning and implementing a variety of developmental programs for socio-economically marginalized dalit and tribal communities in western and central India, within an educational framework that combined augmenting social awareness and justice with concrete economic development. Most of these had a special focus on countering gender and caste as ideologies. As a Fellow at the RJMCEI (1993-1997), undertook research projects in basic and rural education, with doctoral work on Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy of education, and its application to institutions of higher education in Gujarat that offer rural studies programs.
He was awarded the Hewlett-Packard Sustainability and Social Innovation Award (Education Innovation Fund for India, supported by the India Council for Integral Education), November 2012. This Award is being used to scale-up ongoing work to develop a clearinghouse for educational innovations of elementary school teachers working in state- and panchayat-run schools. 

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