SLAYS

Senior Lecturer

&

Head of the Department

Department of Chemistry

CINEC Campus

Dr. Nimshi Fernando holds the positions of Senior Lecturer and Head of the Department of Chemistry at the Faculty of Science, CINEC Campus. Additionally, she serves as the Deputy Head of the Center for Quality Assurance, and she oversees the Research Office and career guidance unit.

With a profound dedication to scientific research, Dr. Fernando’s primary interests lie in the fields of Materials Science, Nanotechnology, and Surface Chemistry.  Her extensive research findings have been published in numerous reputable journals and presented at various symposiums, including those organized by the European Materials Research Society and the American Chemical Society.

Recognizing her significant contributions to postgraduate research in Sri Lanka, Dr. Fernando has received several awards, notably from the American Chemical Society and The Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science.

Senior Lecturer

College of Chemical Sciences

Institute of Chemistry Ceylon

Dr. Dinusha Udukala graduated from the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka with a BSc in Chemistry and completed her PhD at Kansas State University. Her research interests include isolation and characterization of bioactive compounds from natural products, development of bio-pesticides to control agricultural pests in Sri Lanka, and synthesis and evaluation of Quinazolinone derivatives as urease inhibitors.Dr. Udukala has served as a visiting lecturer at the South Eastern University of Sri Lanka and currently serves as a Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Chemistry Ceylon where she has worked as an academic for the past eight years, while holding many key positions including the Secretary of the Women Chemists Committee (2019-present), Secretary for Educational Affairs (2021/22), Assistant Treasurer of IChemC (2016-2018) and as a member of the Editorial & Publicity Committee (2020/21). She also serves as an active Council member of the Sri Lanka Academy of Young Scientists (SLAYS), and the committee member of the section E2 of Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science (SLAAS)

Senior Lecturer

Department of Biosystems Technology, Faculty of Technology, University of Sri Jayewardenepura.

Dr. Danushika Manatunga is a Senior Lecturer attached to Department of Biosystems Technology, Faculty of Technology, University of Sri Jayewardenepura. She is a Nanomaterialist who works more towards drug delivery and water purification applications. She has graduated from University of Colombo with a first class honours in Chemical Biology. Later she pursued her PhD in Nanomedicine in UOC. In her career she has also served as Research Scientist in Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology. Her post doctoral research work include trandermal drug delivery using smart fabrics. To date she has published her work in more than 16 peer review journal articles while holding a US patent. She also works as a visiting research fellow for UOC and UCL, UK.

Deputy HOD/ Senior Lecturer

Department of Cosmaceutical sciences

Faculty of Health Sciences

CINEC Campus

Dr Kalpani Ratnayake is a deputy HOD/ Senior lecturer in Department of Cosmetic Science, Faculty of Health Sciences, CINEC Campus, Malabe. She completed her B.Sc. Human Biology (Special) degree at Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura. She obtained her PhD in Biochemistry from the same university in 2018. She has won certain national and international awards including “Postgraduate Research Award 2019” from the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science (SLAAS), Section E2, “International Award” at the 64^th Annual Meeting, Japanese Association for Laboratory Animal Sciences (JALAS) in 2017 in Fukushima, Japan. Also, she is an awardee for the Asian Federation of Laboratory Animal Science/ Korean Association for Laboratory Animal Science (AFLAS/ KALAS) Next Generation Academic Exchange Program in 2019. She is the current president of the Sri Lanka Association of Laboratory Animal Science and treasurer in the Sri Lanka National Chapter of Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (SLNC-OWSD)- 2021/2022. Also, she is an executive committee member of the College of Biochemists Sri Lanka (CBSL) since 2019 and the Society for Alternatives to Animal Testing in Sri Lanka (SAAT-SL)- 2021/2023. Her research interests include the anti-inflammatory action of natural products.

Department of Plant Sciences

University of Colombo

Dr. Thilini A. Perera is a lecturer in Plant- Biotechnology and is attached to the Department of Plant Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Colombo. Her research interests include, Plant-Microbe interactions, Soil biology and IoT usage in crop cultivations etc. She has won a Senate Award for Research Excellence awarded by the University of Colombo for the year 2017. Dr. Perera has been a member of SLAYS from the year 2017 and has held many prestigious positions through the years as a council member of SLAYS. She was a gold medalist and the  1st runner up in the first ever 3MT thesis competition organized by SLAYS in 2017. She has held the positions of Chairperson 3MT competition, 2019; Secretary SLAYS, 2020 and the President-Elect SLAYS in 2021. Dr. Perera has represented SLAYS in the GYA (Global Young Academy) meetings in the years 2020 and 202

Director, Undergraduate
Studies / Senior Lecturer

Department of Earth Resources Engineering

University of Moratuwa

Dr. Chulantha Jayawardena holds a PhD in Neotectonics from the School of
Earth & Environmental Sciences of the University of Wollongong and a
bachelor’s degree in Earth Resources Engineering from the University of
Moratuwa. His enthusiasm towards multidisciplinary collaborations has
paved path towards research on mine rehabilitation related rock
mechanics, sustainable consumption of earth resources and incorporating
inclusive engineering aspects to the engineering education, in which his
scholarly contributions have been recognized with distinction awards. Dr
Jayawardena has also served the industry in the capacity of Mining &
Geotechnical Engineer associated with nationally significant development
projects, during his early career prior to joining the academia. At present,
his contributions and involvements are primarily focused on academic
administration and student management in addition to the regular
teaching, research and mentoring activities as an academic.

Lecturer 

Faculty of Technology

University of Sri Jayawardhenepura

Dr. Shalini Thiruchittampalam is the inaugural winner of the SLAYS 3MT competition (2017), where she won both the Champion and People’s Choice Awards. In addition, she was a semifinalist in the 2018 Asia-Pacific 3MT competition held at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. She was the first to represent Sri Lanka in the Asia-Pacific 3MT competition, in which only the 3MT competition winners from the countries of the Asia-Pacific region were invited. Dr. Thiruchittampalam was also the recipient of several other awards for her research in computational chemistry at the University of Colombo, including the Postgraduate Research Merit Award in the 78th Annual sessions of Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science (SLAAS) and the Session’s Best Presentation Award at the 3rd International Conference on Bioscience and Biotechnology organized by TIIKM, Colombo. She has been an active member of SLAYS since 2017 and was a resource person at SLAYS events in 2018 and 2019.

Senior Lecturer (visiting)

Edith Cowan University-Sri Lanka, Campus

&

ICBT, Colombo Campus, Affiliated to University of Cardiff Metropolitan, UK

Dr Chrishani Rodrigo, currently a senior lecturer in Molecular Biology, graduated from University of Bangalore, India with a Bachelor’s degree in Microbiology and completed her Master of Science in Molecular Life Sciences at Institute of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IBMBB), University of Colombo. Further to her a strong passion for scientific research she obtained her PhD in Molecular Medicine related to Breast Cancer from Institute of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IBMBB), University of Colombo. Dr Rodrigo was awarded several awards including “Daphne Attygalle Prize for the best paper in Cancer” at the SLMA 129th Anniversary International Medical Congress 2016,     “Best Oral Presenter” Sessions on Molecular Medicine, at “2^nd International Conference on Frontiers in Molecular Life Sciences”, 2014, “W.Wijewardena award” – Award of appreciation for the contribution to teaching & research towards young generation” BMS, Northumbria University Regional Centre for Sri Lanka, 2014. During her past 13 years in academia she has contributed to develop scientific research among young students by teaching, mentoring and academic administration.

Senior Lecturer, Institute of Technology

University of Moratuwa, Diyagama, Homagama

Dr. Ruchira is an accomplished materials researcher and senior lecturer at the Institute of Technology, University of Moratuwa. With extensive experience in nanotechnology and advanced materials, he has made notable contributions in academia, government, and the private sector. Dr. Ruchira holds visiting positions at various universities and has a significant track record of commercialized innovations, granted patents, and scholarly publications.

In addition to his academic pursuits, Dr. Ruchira actively participates in committees and forums across different sectors, influencing policies and initiatives. His impact is evident through prestigious national-level awards, recognizing his outstanding achievements.

Dedicated to knowledge dissemination, Dr. Ruchira seeks to bridge the gap between academia, industry, and society. His goal is to foster progress, intellectual curiosity, and innovation in a broader public context.

Research Assistant

Department of Zoology and Environment Sciences

Faculty of Science

University of Colombo

Praneeth Ratnayake graduated in Immunology and Integrative Molecular biology in 2017 from the Department of Zoology and Environment Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Colombo.  Currently he is reading for his MPhil degree and engaged in the field of stem cells. He is currently working on developing naturally derived compositions to enhance skin regeneration and melanogenesis