Consultants

Dr. Sisira Pinnawala is a retired University academic. He completed his undergraduate education at the University of Peradeniya in 1974 and joined the academic staff of the Department of Sociology as an Assistant Lecturer in 1975. Dr. Pinnawala has a Master’s Degree in Human Settlements Development Planning from the Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok in and obtained his Ph.D. in Sociology from the Australian National University in Canberra. From August 1993 to July 1994. Dr.  Pinnawala was a Senior Fulbright Research Fellow in the Peace Studies Program of the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies at Cornell University. He has also served as Director of the Sri Lanka Foundation in Colombo from 2003 to 2005.

After retirement from the University Service in 2016 Dr. Pinnawala was appointed as Academic Consultant of the newly established Postgraduate Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences (PGIHSS) of the University of Peradeniya where he served for two years.  He also has served as consultant to number of national and international organizations including the World Bank and the Asian Development. Dr. Pinnawala’s research interests are Ethnic Conflict, Peace building and reconciliation, Human rights, Poverty and Social Protection.

Sirimal Abeyratne obtained his PhD in Economics from the Free University of Amsterdam, Master’s degree in Development Studies from the International Institute of Social Studies (IISS) in the Hague and the Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Colombo. Prior to joining CEPA, he has served as an academic staff member of the Department of Economics of the University of Colombo and, retired from the University. His teaching and research activities covering a wide area of subjects, under Macroeconomics, International Economics and Development Economics. During his academic career running over 35 years, Sirimal has also served as a researcher and a consultant to several international organizations such as ADB, ILO, UNDP, JICA, JBIC and World Bank, local and international research institutes, government agencies and corporate sector organizations in Sri Lanka. He has authored a series of publications as books, book chapters and journal articles, while continued to be a newspaper columnist for the “Sunday Times” newspaper in Sri Lanka.

Areas of interest:  Policy reforms, Development issues including crises, poverty, conflicts, Trade and export promotion, Social protection and access to basic services