Project Director

For Research Profile See Sri Lanka Innovation Dashboard  : https://dashboard.costi.gov.lk/profile/person.jag?pid=2501

Prof Ajith de Alwis completed his Ph.D. at University of Cambridge, UK post completing his B.Sc. (Eng) degree at the University of Moratuwa. He also has an MBA from Post Graduate Institute of Management (PIM) of University of Sri Jayewardenepura. He is the recipient of numerous awards in recognition of his work, most notable being the Senior Moulton Medal of Institution of Chemical Engineers (UK), Danckwerts-Maxwell Award from University of Cambridge for the best PhD Thesis, University of Moratuwa Research Awards from 1997 to 2007.

He is a Senior Professor at the Department of Chemical and Process Engineering at the University of Moratuwa and is also the Director of the University of Moratuwa-Cargills Food Process Development Incubator. He served as the Chairman of Engineering Research Unit (ERU) of Univ of Moratuwa from 2005-7. Prof de Alwis was also a Post-doctoral research fellow at University of Reading, UK and Visiting Scientist at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore. He has published many research articles and book chapters in various international and local journals. He was also the Science team leader for Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology (SLINTEC) from its inception in 2008 to 2011, and Chairman of the National nanotechnology committee at NSF from 2011-2012.

He is a member of various local and international professional bodies; the Cambridge Philosophical and Commonwealth Societies, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (MAIChE), the Editorial Board of the European Journal of Food & Bioproducts, Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences Sri Lanka, Life Member of Sri Lanka Society for the Advancement of Sciences, the National Expert Committee on STEM Education of the Ministry of Education to name a few, and also the founding President of Sri Lanka Biogas Association of Sri Lanka. He served as a member in the Board of Scientific Counselors of National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). He is serving in the Intellectual Property Advisory Committee of the National Intellectual Property Office (NIPO), Sri Lanka, since 2015.

He is currently the Project Director of the Coordinating Secretariat for Science, Technology and Innovation (COSTI) Sri Lanka.

He is also a regular columnist to the Daily FT (www.ft.lk/columns) on Science, Technology and National Development.