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Professor Pradeep N’ Weerasinghe is a distinguished scholar and researcher in Mass Media at the Sri Palee Campus. As the Chairman of the National Secretariat for Media Reforms (NSMR), he has made exceptional contributions to advancing media scholarship and driving progressive media reforms in the country. Professor Weerasinghe also serves as the National Communication Consultant for ADB-funded projects, as well as for the IOM, IMS, and LAPCS initiatives, where his expertise effectively bridges academia, public policy, and development communication. His scholarly work focuses on media policy, broadcast journalism, and civic engagement, with numerous publications featured in reputed international journals and edited volumes. A committed civic activist and mentor, Professor Weerasinghe continues to inspire excellence in research, critical inquiry, and public service. This award recognizes his outstanding contributions to academic excellence, media research, and national development through communication and mass media.

Dr Sandamali Wijeratne earned her B.A. degree with First-Class Honours in Geography from the ����ԭ�� in 2011. She was awarded the Professor Kusuma Abeysinghe Gunawardana Memorial Award for the best performance in the final degree examination in Geography. She completed her M.Sc. in GIS and Remote Sensing at the Postgraduate Institute of Science, University of Peradeniya, in 2014, and obtained her PhD in Physical Geography from the School of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Northwest University, China, in 2022.
Currently, Dr Wijeratne serves as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Geography, Faculty of Arts, ����ԭ��. Her research interests include hydrology, GIS and Remote Sensing, disaster management, and climate change. Dr Wijeratne has published around ten scientific articles in indexed journals and several book chapters, achieving an H-index of 9 with 258 citations. Her research papers have appeared in the Science Citation Index (SCI) Q1-ranked international and national refereed journals. She has contributed to more than ten international scholarly book chapters published by reputed academic publishers and has presented full papers in both indexed and non-indexed conference proceedings.
In recognition of her research excellence, Dr Wijeratne received the CVCD Excellence Award 2024 as the Most Outstanding Young Researcher in Social Sciences and Legal Studies. She has also received the ����ԭ�� Senate Awards in 2020, 2021, and 2023. Dr Wijeratne has been the recipient of several national and international research grants, including the Xi’an City and One Belt One Road International Student Scholarship (2019–2022), the Foreign PhD Grant from the ����ԭ�� (2020), and a Small Research Grant (2024). In 2024, she was also honoured with the Asian Universities Alliance Scholar Award. Since joining the ����ԭ��, Dr Wijeratne has actively contributed to numerous national and international research projects, demonstrating her strong commitment to advancing the field of Geography.

Professor Pathirgae Kamal Perera has completed BAMS (Hons) (Colombo), Master’s Degree/PhD in Pharmacology (PR China), and he is the Founder Dean of the Faculty of Indigenous Medicine. He is a Professor of Ayurvedic Medicine and a Senior Consultant Physician at the Faculty of Indigenous Medicine. He specialised in Pharmacology, Therapeutics, and Clinical Immunology. He is certified and trained in Pharmacovigilance and Drug Safety in the WHO Collaborating Centre of Uppsala Monitoring Centre (UMC), Sweden. Further, he obtained post-doctoral training in the clinical drug development process and achieved the Diploma in Research & Development of Products to Meet Public Health Needs from Nagasaki University, Japan.
Professor Perera served as a senior consultant to the World Health Organisation (WHO), project on “A review of traditional medicine research in Sri Lanka: 2015–2019” and Project on “Intellectual Property Rights (IPRS) and trade in traditional medicines (TM) in Sri Lanka, 2015”.Currently, he is engaging in a project on developing and popularising Sri Lankan traditional medicine health tourism in Europe and the Asian region. He is a leading clinical researcher in the fields of herbal clinical pharmacology, Ayurveda medicine, clinical trials and traditional medicine in Sri Lanka. Currently, Professor Perera is lecturing and supervising UG and PG programs of MSc/MD/MPhil/PhDs. Professor Perera has over 100 publications in indexed and peer- reviewed journals, and more than 100 of numerous abstracts and has contributed to many guest talks. Currently he is an associate editor in Frontiers in Medicine, and Associate Editor in Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, John Wiley publishers. He has received the ����ԭ�� Research Awards five time in 2018 to 2025, the Vice Chancellor’s Awards 03 times and the National Research Council awards Sri Lanka. Also with his research teams he has innovated and commercialized clinical herbal products. He was the founder of the Unit for Research and Development of Natural Products to conduct experimental and clinical trials in the Faculty of Indigenous Medicine.

Professor Tharusha Gooneratne is the Chair Professor of Accounting at the Faculty of Management and Finance. She has previously served as the Head of the Department of Accounting and as the Coordinator of the Doctor of Business Administration programme. Prof. Gooneratne holds a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree with first-class honours and a Master of Philosophy Degree from the ����ԭ��, as well as a Doctor of Philosophy Degree from La Trobe University, Australia. During her academic journey, she received several awards, including the Aitken Spence Gold Medal for Management Accounting in her undergraduate studies and the Timely Completion of Thesis Award for her PhD. A Fellow Member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), UK, Professor Gooneratne was also the recipient of the B.R. De Silva Memorial Prize for Best Performance in Sri Lanka in Strategic Financial Management.
Her research work has been widely published both locally and internationally. She has co-authored several books on management research and research methodology, benefiting research students and early-career academics. Professor Gooneratne also serves on editorial boards, reviews for leading academic journals, and has delivered invited speeches at various academic and professional forums. Her co-authored papers have gained recognition at the Emerald Literati Awards, including the Mary Parker Follett Award for Outstanding Paper in the Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal (2013) and a Highly Commended Paper Award in 2018. Among her other recognitions are the CIMA Research Excellence Award (2020) and the CGMA Asia Pacific Regional Excellence Leadership Award (2024).

Professor Ranil Jayawardena is a Professor in Nutrition attached to the Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine. After graduating from the Faculty of Medicine, ����ԭ��, he completed his MSc in Clinical Nutrition and holds two PhDs. He is a Fellow of the Sri Lanka College of Nutrition Physicians and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. He has over 15 years of clinical experience as a nutrition specialist. Prof. Jayawardena’s research interests are primarily in clinical nutrition and non-communicable diseases. More recently, he has focused on sports nutrition, completing the IOC diploma in Sports Nutrition in 2023 and obtaining a PhD in 2025. Over the past three years, he has been dedicated to enhancing sports performance in national-level athletes through culturally acceptable, evidence-based sports nutrition research, applying his findings to support Sri Lankan athletes and contributing to their medal-winning performances at Asian and South Asian competitions.
He has published over 200 peer-reviewed research papers, eight books and book chapters. He holds two patents. He has supervised several PhD and MPhil students, both locally and internationally. He has also been part of research teams that have received EU, MRC and NSF grants.
He is ranked among the top two most-cited researchers currently at the ����ԭ��, with an impressive H-index of 55 and over 45,000 citations. Since joining the ����ԭ��, he has received senate awards consecutively, and this is his third Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Research Excellence. Prof. Jayawardena has been listed among the World’s Top 2% Scientists in the database prepared by Elsevier and Stanford University for four consecutive years. He has also been ranked as the highest-ranked medical researcher in Sri Lanka for two years.

Professor Jeyasingam Jeyasugiththan serves as Professor of Medical Physics and Head of the Department of Nuclear Science, Faculty of Science. He obtained his BSc in Physics from the University of Jaffna and his MSc in Medical Physics from the University of Peradeniya. He began his professional career as a Medical Physicist at the Cancer Treatment Centre, Tellippalai, Jaffna, under the Sri Lanka Scientific Service. Later, he pursued his PhD in Physics at the University of Cape Town, specialising in Proton Beam Radiotherapy, and joined the ����ԭ�� in 2016. With an unwavering commitment to advancing medical radiation imaging and radiotherapy research and education, Professor Jeyasugiththan has made outstanding contributions to the field. He has published over 25 research papers in peer-reviewed international journals and more than 50 conference abstracts, while delivering numerous invited talks at national and international scientific forums. He has also served as a Member of the Board of Directors of the Sri Lanka Atomic Energy Board, a Member of the Scientific Committee of the Asia–Oceania Federation of Organisations for Medical Physics (AFOMP), and as the National Coordinator for several IAEA Technical Cooperation and Regional Projects.

Dr Navod Neranjan Thilakarathne is a Senior Lecturer in Computer Science at the Faculty of Technology. He joined the University in 2020 and has since demonstrated exceptional commitment to advancing research and innovation in computing and intelligent technologies. He holds a PhD in Systems Engineering from the University of Brunei Darussalam, an MSc in Information Security from Asia e University, Malaysia, and a BSc in Management and Information Technology from the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. Dr Thilakarathne’s multidisciplinary research bridges artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things IoT, and cybersecurity, with a strong emphasis on developing cloud-enabled IoT systems and AI-driven decision-support frameworks for sustainable smart agriculture and digital resilience. His work integrates intelligent sensing, data analytics, and automation to enhance productivity, optimise resource use, and strengthen cyber defence in connected environments. He has authored over 60 peer-reviewed publications, including more than 30 indexed journal papers, numerous book chapters, and international conference papers. He actively contributes to the global research community as an editorial board member and reviewer for leading journals published by Elsevier, Springer, and IEEE. In recognition of his outstanding research excellence, Dr Thilakarathne has received five consecutive Senate Awards for Research Excellence from 2020 to 2024, reflecting his sustained academic impact and innovation.

Dr Kasun Karunanayaka is a Senior Lecturer at the ����ԭ�� School of Computing and founder of the Mixed Reality Lab. His research focuses on Mixed Reality, Multisensory Communication, and Ubiquitous Computing. Kasun earned his BSc (Hons) in IT from the University of Moratuwa in 2008 and a PhD in Electrical & Computer Engineering from the National University of Singapore in 2014. He has held key roles at Imagineering Institute, Malaysia, and the Interactive and Digital Media Institute, NUS. His work has been showcased at global events such as CHI, IEEE VR, and Laval Virtual, and featured in media outlets like IEEE Spectrum and NBC News. Kasun has received multiple awards, including IEEE VR and SIGCHI Honourable Mentions. He also serves as an associate editor and contributes actively to international conferences and journals.