University of Peradeniya Team

The University of Peradeniya is the heir to a sixty year old University tradition which commenced with the inception of the University of Ceylon, the first institution of its kind established in Colombo in 1942. Since 1978 renamed as University of Peradeniya. The University is located in Peradeniya in the Central Province, which bares lush greenery vegetation and mist-clad mountains, approximately 6 km from the City of Kandy, the historic Capital of the last independent Kingdom and 110 km from Colombo, Capital of Sri Lanka. The University of Peradeniya hosts 9 Faculties, 79 Departments, 3-PG institutes, 11 Service Centres/Units. In the vision of being a centre of excellence in higher education with national, regional and global standing, University of Peradeniya strives to offer globally recognized knowledge and education to knowledge seekers at undergraduate, postgraduate and non-graduate levels and deliver education, training and research programs by conducting professional and curriculum-based teaching and learning and conduct high quality research for national, regional and global needs whilst maintaining highest levels of efficiency, effectiveness, integrity and transparency in contributing to the development of a knowledge-based society.

Upul Bandara Dissanayake, Toolkit Local Team. Professor Upul Bandara Dissanayake is the Vice Chancellor of the University of Peradeniya since 2015 to date and he is the Legal Representative and the CEO of the University. Prof. Dissanayake acts in the capacity of a Teacher/ Researcher in the TOOLKIT Project. He graduated from the Faculty of Dental Sciences, University of Peradeniya and joined the Ministry of Health as a Dental Surgeon in 1990.  Prof. Dissanayake obtained his M.Phil degree (Master of Philosophy), from the University of Peradeniya in 1997 and Ph.D at Kings’ College, London, United Kingdom in 2000. His contribution to the scientific domain has been substantial and he published a number of research papers in both International and local journals. He was awarded with the President’s Research Bonus for his publications figuring in the International Scientific Journals cited in the science citation index. Prof. Dissanayake also authored 2 text books related to his speciality which are currently used by undergraduate and postgraduate dental students and has written other publications targeting the general public. Prof. Dissanayake was a member of the Commission on Dental Education of the Asia Pacific Dental Federation for the year 2008/2009, and a member of National Science Foundation (NSF) Board of Governors in 2018 and currently serves as a member of the Board of Governors of National Institute of Fundamental Studies (NIFS). He has served as Head of the Department of Oral Pathology in 2007 and Dean of the Faculty of Dental Sciences since 2010 to 2016. Further, Prof. Dissanayake has been an ex-officio member of the Sri Lanka Medical Council from 2010 to 2015, and an ex-officio member of the Board of Management, Postgraduate Institute of Medicine (PGIM) during the same period. He too served as the Vice President of the Federation of University Teachers’ Association from 2008 to 2010. Prof. Dissanayake was the President of the Sri Lanka Dental Association in the year 2007/2008, and Editor of the Sri Lanka Dental Journal from 2008 to 2013 which is the apex journal in the dental profession.

Nimal Dharmasena , Toolkit Local Team. Dr. Nimal Dharmasena is a professor at the Department of Agricultural Engineering and also serves as the present Director of the Career Guidance Unit of University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. Prof. Dharmasena has started his career as a Science & Mathematics teacher in 1983. Then earned his first degree in Agriculture with specialization in Agricultural Engineering in 1990 and completed the PhD in Postharvest Engineering & Technology from the Cranfield University UK in 1997. He received short-term trainings on postharvest technology from UK, Israel, India, Korea and Vietnam after his PhD. He acquired professional training in Ergonomics from Uppsala University, Sweden and became a founder member of the Sri Lanka Ergonomics Society in 1998. He has served as the secretary and president of the Agricultural Engineering Society of Sri Lanka. He also serves as a Cleaner Production Auditor since 2003 and greening in food production plants since 2012. He also holds a Diploma in professional counseling and served as a freelance student counselor and a career advisor for last 14 years.

Prof. Dharmasena served in number of administrative positions including Head of the Department, Non-executive Director of the Institute of Postharvest Technology (IPHT), a member of the National Postharvest committee of the Council for Agricultural Research Policy (CARP), a research advisor to IPHT& Coconut Research Institute (CRI), Chairman of a private limited company and as the Director of the postgraduate Institute of Agriculture, university of Peradeniya for a short-term. He is also a member of the Standing Committee on Career Guidance of the University Grants Commission, Sri Lanka.

His major research focus is on Food Process Engineering and published more than 100 scientific research publications. He has also involved in number of national and international development and research projects under NSF, NRC, World Bank, World food Programme, Food and Agriculture Organization, German Technical Corporation (GTZ), Cap-Net, India Sri Lanka Foundation, World Vision and Chrysalis.

Shameen Jinadasa, Toolkit Local Team. Dr. Shameen Jinadasa is currently a Senior Lecturer of Department of Civil Engineering, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. Dr. Jinadasa earned his BScEng from the University of Peradeniya and MEng degree from National University of Singapore in Civil Engineering. Subsequently, he obtained his PhD from Saitama University, Japan in 2006. Then he started his career as a senior lecturer at the department of Civil Engineering, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. Dr. Jinadasa has many years of experience in coordinating international research projects, collaborating with the researchers from Singapore, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Netherlands, Germany, USA and Sri Lanka. He is a regionally recognized as an expert in the area of environmental engineering specially on developing sustainable wastewater management technologies for tropical developing countries.

Thanks to his international profile, he serves as Acting Director of the International Affairs Office, University of Peradeniya. He also acts as the Project Manager of the Toolkit Project of University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. In this capacity, Dr. Jinadasa coordinates all international collaborations of University of Peradeniya, ranging from the establishment of MoUs, student/staff exchange programs to the management of international research projects. Dr. Shameen Jinadasa is currently a Senior Lecturer of Department of Civil Engineering, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.

Thusil Weerasekara, Toolkit Local Team. Mr. Thusil Weerasekara is an executive grade administrator in Sri Lankan University system and at present serves as a deputy bursar of revenue and treasury operations to University of Peradeniya. Mr. Weerasekara obtained his B (com) special degree from University of Colombo, Sri Lanka in 2002. Then, he completed his Master’s degree in business administration from the postgraduate institute of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka in 2018. He also has completed the intermediate examination (in business finance & decision, financial accounting and commercial law & tax) of institute of Chartered Accountant of Sri Lanka.  He has many years of experience in accounting, finance management, auditing and corporate governance. He has teaching interest in financial accounting, management accounting and corporate finance. He is an associate member of Association of Public Finance Accountants and Association of Accounting Technicians of Sri Lanka.

Mr. Weerasekara acts as a team member of the Toolkit Project of University of Peradeniya and serves as a certified business accountant of Institute of Charted Accountants. He has served as an accountant of few private companies in Sri Lanka.