Professor Janelidze obtained his DSc from the St Petersburg State University in 1992 where he was the first DSc in category theory in the former USSR. Later, he was a visiting professor at a number of institutions in Europe, North America, and Australia. He was appointed as professor at UCT in 2004, and became an honorary member of the A Razmadze Mathematical Institute of the Georgian Academy of Science.

Janelidze has published extensively and is the editor of four international journals. His current research is devoted to various topics of categorical algebra, including abstract Galois theory, with applications in classical algebra, geometry and topology.