Fellows

Over the past 20 years, Udan has held leadership positions in Sri Lankan development organisations and was a senior staff member in a research and consultancy organisation in the Netherlands, working in Europe, East and West Africa and Southeast Asia. Also, he has functioned as a freelance consultant in Sri Lanka and abroad. He has had academic and professional training in management, law, labour studies and international development cooperation. He has taught in universities in Sri Lanka and the Netherlands as a visiting academic.

Areas of interest: Aid Policy, Development Cooperation, Communication for Social Change/Development, Strategic Planning and Organisational Development

Priyanthi Fernando, has a Masters Degree in Mass Communications from the University of Leicester and a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Peradeniya. A social development professional with over 30 years of experience both in Sri Lanka and overseas, she has worked in the areas of technology, infrastructure and poverty. She has led a specialist global network, managed the Sri Lankan arm of an international NGO, and worked with a grassroots women’s organization.  Priyanthi was the Executive Director of the Centre for Poverty Analysis till February 2015 and is now an international consultant on gender, post war, transport, and communication.

Areas of interest: Inclusive Development, Institutional Change, Gender, Networking and Communication

Dileni Gunewardena is Professor (Chair) of Economics at the University of Peradeniya. She holds a doctorate from the American University and a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Peradeniya. Her research is mainly in Development Microeconomics and includes empirical analyses relating to poverty measurement, child nutrition, gender wage inequality and ethnic inequality in Sri Lanka and Vietnam. Dileni has been involved in the design of Policy Frameworks for Poverty Alleviation in Sri Lanka and in analyses for progress towards the Millennium Development Goals in Sri Lanka. Having been a Fulbright Scholar at the University of California-Riverside, and a visiting scholar at University of Warwick, U.K, she is currently an Echidna Global Scholar at the Brookings Institute, Washington, D.C. Areas of Interest: Development Microeconomics, Poverty and Inequality

Arusha Cooray served as Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Norway, Finland and Iceland. She holds a PhD in Economics from the University of New South Wales, Australia, and a MA(Economics) and BA(Economics) from the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. She has lectured at the University of New South Wales, University of Sydney, Victoria University, University of Wollongong, University of Tasmania, Macquarie University, the University of Colombo, and held a Professorship in economics at the University of Nottingham Malaysia. Arusha has held visiting positions at the University of Oxford, United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, University of Gottingen, Australian National University, and Macquarie University. She is a fellow of the United Nations UNU-WIDER and Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis, Australian National University. Arusha has undertaken research on several issues and has published widely in academic journals including the Journal of Macroeconomics, Macroeconomic Dynamics, Oxford Economic Papers, Public Choice among others. She has additionally been a consultant for international, government and private organizations and has contributed to economic debates with newspapers, research institutes, and banks.

Nihal Perera is Professor Chair of the Department of Urban Planning at Ball State University and the founder and Director of CapAsia, an immersive semester programme based on collaboration in Asia for American students.  In addition to teaching in the USA, he has taught in Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.  The two-time Fulbright Scholar awardee: to China (2006–07) and Myanmar (2015-16) was also Senior Research Fellow at the National University of Singapore (2010) and Melting Pot Fellow at KMITL, Bangkok.  He has also received three Fulbright-Hays awards and a Graham Foundation award.  Dr. Perera, a leading scholar of social space, focuses his research on how people create/negotiate their own spaces (i.e., create lived spaces).  His publications include articles on Feminizing the City, competing modernities in Chandigarh, competing visions for Dharavi and books entitled Decolonizing Ceylon, Transforming Asian Cities, and People’s Spaces.  His recent publication is a special issue of the Bhumi journal on Development.

Georg Frerks has a PhD in Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, and a Master’s in Rural Development Sociology from Wageningen University, the Netherlands. He has been Professor of Conflict Prevention and Conflict Management at the Centre for Conflict Studies, Utrecht University, holds the Chair of International Security Studies at the Netherlands Defense Academy and was the Professor of Disaster Studies at Wageningen University till mid-2014. Trained as a sociologist, he specialises in contemporary conflict and emergencies. With a long-term experience in diplomacy and policy advice, Frerks is interested in the sociological and governance aspects of conflict and disasters. Frerks has a distinguished record in the evaluation and monitoring of development, conflict and disaster programmes and has published widely on the subject of his research.

Areas of interest: Contemporary conflict, Emergencies, Conflict and disasters, Policy & Governance

Kulasabanathan Romeshun, was the Team Leader of Basic Services and Social Protection thematic and Senior Research Professional at CEPA carried out an overseeing and advisory function on most of CEPA’s quantitative research related work. He has worked in the development sector for the past 25 years before joining CEPA and has extensive work experience in government and funding organisations. He has a Master’s degree in Financial Economics from the University of Colombo. He joined CEPA in 2010 as a Senior Researcher and has worked on studies related to poverty, education, employment/ livelihood, financial intermediation. 

Mr. Kulasabanathan is currently working with CEPA on a few ongoing projects.