Prof. Upul Subasinghe was elected as the new Dean of the Faculty of Applied Sciences at the Board Meeting of the respective faculty held on 3 March 2022 with the chairmanship of Prof. Sudantha Liyanage; Vice Chancellor of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura. Prof. Subasinghe will assume duties on (16th March 2022).
Prof Upul Subasinghe was graduated at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura with an Honours
Degree in Botany and then he was recruited to the Department of Forestry and Environmental Science
as a lecturer. He did his Ph.D in Forest Management at the University of Bangor, UK. Prof. Subasinghe
won scholarships from Asian Development Bank to study Remote Sensing and GIS in Thailand and a
Commonwealth Fellowship a University of Bangor. He also conducted joint research with experts in
Curtin University and Edith Cowen University of Western Australia and World Wildlife Fund. Since
2021, he serves as an Environment and Disaster Management Program Associate of the World Wildlife
Fund, Washington DC, USA.
Prof. Subasinghe performed in several administrative positions at the University of Sri
Jayewardenepura such as the Head of the Department of Forestry and Environmental Science,
Coordinator of the MSc Program in Forestry and Environment, Deputy Proctor of the Faculty of Applied
Sciences, Chairman of the Faculty Research Committee etc. He was the Managing Editor of Journal of
Tropical Forestry and Environment (2013-2016) and Editor in Chief of Vidyodaya Journal of Science
(2018-2021).
Prof. Subasinghe was the elected president of the Institute of Biology, Sri Lanka in 2007-08 period. He
is also a trained Forest Certification Auditor of the Forest Stewardship Council and served as the
Chairman of the Expert Committee on Forest Certification of Sri Lanka Accreditation Board for
Conformity Assessment. His also engaged as an expert in the committees such as The United Nations
Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, Haritha Lanka
National Action Plan, Ecosystem Conservation & Management Project, Forestry Sector Master Plan
Preparation etc. He was the Team Leader of Development of Forest Certification Standards stipulated
by the Forest Stewardship Council for Sri Lanka during 2019-20 period.
He was the President of the Institute of Biology Sri Lanka in 2006-07 period, Chair of the International
Forestry and Environment Symposium in 2014, 2018-2022. He is a Director of the Taiwan Agarwood
Society since 2013.
—
