Shingirai's scholarship focuses on the political economy of development in East and Southern Africa, particularly the governance of high-value extractive natural resources such as oil and minerals. He is currently completing his first monograph, entitled "Resourceful Kingdoms: Nations Within States and Natural Resource-Funded Development in Africa," which examines the themes of indigeneity and natural resource ownership, post-colonial state formation and political competition, and the global matrix of resource extraction and dispossession. Shingirai has also worked as a consulting regional expert for a United Kingdom-based political risk consulting company, providing business-critical analytical reports to corporate clients and media organizations. He is originally from Zimbabwe, and has lived in South Africa, Uganda, and Canada.