Professor Nalin Ratnayake got his BSc Honors degree with a second-class upper division in Geology from the University of Peradeniya in 1992. He has completed his MSc in Marine Geology at Shimane University, Japan, in 1999 and his PhD in Marine Geology at Hokkaido University, Japan, in 2003. Based on his scientific contribution and international publications, he was awarded the Center of Excellence research fellowship award from Hokkaido University, Japan, from 2003 to 2004. Professor Ratnayake is currently working as a professor in Geology at the Department of Earth Resources Engineering, University of Moratuwa. His research and teaching focus on marine geology-related areas of coastal geology, sediment dynamics offshore geophysical methods, and mineral exploration inland, coast, and continental shelf sediments. He has published over a hundred research communications, including 14 Q1 research articles and 10 Q2 articles. His google scholar h index is 12 while the i10 index is 14. He is a chartered geologist who practices as a consultant geologist in engineering applications. Further, Professor Ratnayake was a past president of the Geological Society of Sri Lanka, a former General Secretary of the Institute of Geology, Sri Lanka and a former Vice-Chancellor of the Ocean University of Sri Lanka.

Dr Priyanie Amerasinghe is an Emeritus Scientist (Human and Environmental Health) attached to the International Water Management Institute, headquartered in Sri Lanka. Her areas of specialisation are human and environmental health. She has over 40 years of research and development experience and currently focuses on developing integrated solutions for safeguarding natural ecosystems, and their ecosystem services important for livelihoods and human well-being. She has carried out collaborative research studies in a number of South Asian, South East Asian and African countries.

Dr. Priyanie Amerasinghe works across multidisciplinary research teams, focussing on system- wide/landscape approaches for ecosystem preservation, livelihood enhancement, natural resource utilization by underserved communities as well as policy advocacy studies. Her current areas of interest are nature-based solutions for resilient ecosystems; spatiotemporal interactions within ecosystems and their trade-offs, particularly in regard to water and land resources for food production; upstream and downstream water quality as well as safe use of used water for irrigation. She is also interested in the wise-use and conservation of wetlands, environmental drivers of contaminants, including antimicrobial resistance in the environment. She engages in policy advocacy activities and works very closely with governments and academia in the countries where she works. Prior to joining IWMI, she served in the department of Zoology at the University of Peradeniya for 25 years. She was also the founding head of the Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Faculty of Science, University of Peradeniya, and was responsible for its establishment and curriculum. She has published widely.

I.M. Dharmadasa (IMD) is Senior Staff Grade Professor of Applied Physics and leads the Electronic Materials and Solar Energy Group at Sheffield Hallam University (SHU), UK. He is a graduate from Univ. of Peradeniya [1], and completed his PhD in 1980, from Univ. of Durham. After working in Dept. of Physics at Peradeniya as a lecturer, he returned to UK in 1984 because of his interest in solar energy conversion research. Since then, he has worked on this subject, in Univ. College Cardiff, British Petroleum Research in London and Sheffield Hallam University in the UK. During his 31 years of service at SHU, he has supervised 29 PhD students, 14 years of postdoctoral years, and published 6 GB patents, over 250 scientific articles and three books in solar energy field. Over the past 3 decades, he was actively promoting renewables, and designed, piloted, monitored, and now replicating “Solar Village” project in Sri Lanka. Five solar villages have been established with personal donations and support from APSL-UK (Association of Professional Sri Lankans – UK) and Helasarana charity organisations. IMD is one of the founding members of APSL-UK charity, the President of APSL-UK during 2009-2011 period and now serving as a senior Ex-Co member of this charity organisation. He is a dual citizen of Sri Lanka and UK and involved in several development projects through APSL-UK and Helasarana charities.

Dr Palitha Edirisingha is an Associate Professor of Education at the School of Education, University of Leicester, UK. Palitha’s research, teaching and PhD supervision interests are on digital technologies and their application to teaching and learning, within the UK and internationally. He also carries out research on international education in distance learning contexts. He leads three distance learning programmes at the School: International PGCE, PGC Learning Technologies, and MA International Education.