Rajiv Tiwari was born in 1967 at Raipur in Madhya Pradesh, India. He graduated with a BE in 1988 (Mechanical Engineering) from Government College Engineering and Technology, Raipur under Pt. Ravishankar University, Raipur, and an M. Tech. (Mechanical Engineering) in 1991 and a PhD (Mechanical Engineering) in 1997 from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur, India. He started his career as lecturer in 1996 at Regional Engineering College, Hamirpur (Himachal Pradesh), India, and worked there for 1 year. In 1997, he joined the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati as assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. He worked as a research officer at the University of Wales, Swansea, UK, for 1 year in 2001 on deputation.

He was elevated to associate professor in 2002 and to Professor in 2007 at IIT Guwahati. He was the head of the Center of Educational Technology and Institute Coordinator of the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) during 2005-2009, and the National Coordinator of the Quality Improvement Programme (QIP) for engineering college teachers during 2003-2009. He also visited University of Darmstadt Germany under DAAD fellowship during May-July 2011.