Sharma is a veteran of the Indian Army, a graduate of Defence Services Staff College, Wellington (India) and a Doctorate from a university in Zurich. He served as a military observer in UNTAC (Cambodia) and assisted in the build-up, training and induction of troops in Somalia, Angola, Mozambique and Rwanda. He established the first UN Cell in the Army Training Command with another colleague and trained various contingents and peacekeepers. He was also the co-founder of the Centre for UN Peacekeeping, where as a member of the visiting faculty, trained multi-national peacekeepers for nearly eight years. As a member of the research team with the Norwegian International Peacekeeping (NUPI) team, he contributed to the effectiveness of the peace Operation network (EPON) study. He has also participated in Challenges Seminars in Ankara, and New Delhi; and researched and written about various issues of UN Peace Operations in peer-reviewed journals. He also headed the research team for the earlier version of historical records of the Indian Army’s participation in the UN peacekeeping, published under the USI of India in 2009.