Dr. Kiran Shinde is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at La Trobe University in Australia. As the Convener of the Community Planning and Development Program, he led the delivery of undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Urban and Regional Planning. 

As a professional planner, he has 20+ years of consulting experience throughout Australia and Asia wherein he blends evidence-based research with hands-on planning expertise. His focus areas include policy research, project management, strategic planning, stakeholder engagement, tourism, heritage, and destination governance. He received UN-Habitat’s coveted international “Asian Townscape Award” for a project “Adaptive Reuse of historic Bund Garden Bridge into Arts Plaza, Pune, India”. His work experience ranges across multi-sectoral areas with international organizations including UNEP and Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre. He is also the Founder of Pune Biennale Foundation – a Not for Profit organization working in the field of urban aesthetics in India.

As a scholar, he has published six books and 70+ research articles in high-ranking journals across diverse areas such as religious and cultural tourism, heritage, tourism impacts, urban planning, destination management. Considered as a leading scholar on cultural heritage and tourism, he serves as an Associate Editor with Tourism Geographies and on the Editorial Review Board with Annals of Tourism Research and Tourism Planning and Development. He was commissioned by UNWTO (World Tourism Organisation) to lead a project on “Buddhist Tourism in Asia: Towards Sustainable Development” that covered Buddhist heritage and tourism 16 countries. His books include

1. Dallen Timothy & Kiran Shinde (2026). (eds.). Religious Heritage and Tourism in Asia. Routledge.
2. Kiran Shinde & Joseph Cheer (2024). (eds.). A Research Agenda for Religious Tourism. Edward Elgar.
3. Shinde K.A. (2021) (ed.). Sacred Sites, Rituals, and Performances: New Perspective for Religious Tourism Development. MDPI.
4. Kiran Shinde & Daniel Olsen (2020). (eds.). Religious Tourism and the Environment. CABI: Wallingford.
5. Shinde K.A. (2020). Buddhist Tourism in Asia: Towards Sustainable Development. UNWTO: Madrid.
6. Ashwini Pethe & Kiran Shinde (2016). A Religious-cultural Atlas of the Kullu Valley. New Delhi : Intach Heritage Academy.

He holds a Ph.D. in Geography and Environmental Science from Monash University, Australia. He has delivered talks at conferences in Canada, Turkey, Australia, Portugal, Singapore, the UK, and US.

ORCID ID:  https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9678-7335   Scopus Author ID: 20436836900

Dr. Shinde is a member of Planning Institute of Australia.