Dr. D. Shireesha joined as Subject Matter Specialist (Extension) at KVK, Palem, in 2013, where she successfully handled RAWE for four years, ABE for one year, and the Experiential Learning Programme for ARS probationers. She conducted numerous On-Farm Trials, Frontline Demonstrations, vocational trainings and extension programmes for small and marginal farmers and farm women in Nagarkurnool district. She also undertook extension studies on constraints, impact assessment, risk-coping strategies and information-sharing behaviour of farmers, besides documenting ITKs and farmer success stories.

She promoted ICT-enabled extension initiatives through AKPS (Presently KisanSarathi), information kiosks and farmer portals and facilitated three farmer networks Master Trainers in Groundnut, Telangana YuvaRythuSaagubadi Farmers and Innovative Farmers Networkto promote farmer-led extension. She also authored the book “Innovative Farmers Network of the District.” She actively organized farmer scientist interactions, exposure visits, field days, Kisan Melas, exhibitions, awareness programmes and other extension activities.

She worked under the RAH-ACT project on “Resilient Agricultural Households through Adaptation to Climate Change” in collaboration with EPTRI and ICRISAT and was involved in training State Department officials and NGO personnel on agricultural technologies. Dr. Shireesha has published research papers in peer-reviewed journals and has received Best Research Presentation Awards for papers presented at the International Extension Education Conference, Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi, and theNational Conference on “Futuristic Agricultural Extension for Livelihood Improvement and Sustainable Development” at Hyderabad.

She also has significant experience in teaching, student guidance and research supervision, particularly guiding M.Sc. and Ph.D. scholars. She served as Assistant Professor at the College of Agriculture for seven months, teaching undergraduate and post graduate courses and contributing to academic activities. She also served as NSS Programme Officer and Village Adoption In-charge, facilitating studentcommunity engagement and extension activities, besides actively participating in institutional and student-oriented programmes.

Presently, she is working as Assistant Professor at the Extension Education Institute (EEI), Hyderabad, where she is actively involved in online, on-campus and off-campus training programmes for extension officers and skill-development programmes for rural youth. She served as Team Lead for the externally funded project “Phygital Facilitation for Enhancing Profitability of Farming Community” (MASS) and is also involved in the action research project on “Upscaling of Farm Diversification Models in YadadriBhuvanagiri District of Telangana.”

Overall, Dr. Shireesha has made significant contributions to agricultural extension, teaching, research, farmer capacity building, digital extension, farmer-led extension, training and rural development.