Others

Professional Positions

  • 2022: Chairperson – Committee of Clinical Psychologists, Ceylon Medical College Council
  • 2019-2020: Member – Expert Committee on Eliminating Ragging in Universities and Corporal Punishment in Schools, Sri Lanka Medical Association
  • 2019-to date: Member – Core Group on Communication in Healthcare, Sri Lanka Medical Association
  • 2019: Advisor – Steering Committee of the DivorceeCare Project, Sumithrayo, Colombo
  • 2018- to date: Member – Steering Committee of the North East England South Asia Mental Health Alliance, United Kingdom
  • 2018: Member – Advisory body of the Legal Aid for Remand Prisoners project, Legal Aid Unit, Faculty of Law, University of Colombo
  • 2018-2019: Member – Steering committee on the Development of a Life skills Program for Adolescents to Reduce Violence among Peers, UNICEF-Shanthi Maargam, Colombo
  • 2017- to date: Member – Palliative and End of Life Care Task Force, Sri Lanka Medical Association
  • 2017-2019: Curricular developer/resource person – Manohari project, World Health Organisation, Sri Lanka
  • 2016-2017: Member – Expert panel of the National Child Protection Authority website, National Child Protection Authority, Sri Lanka
  • 2016-2017: Member – Committee to Eradicate Torture by Police Practices, Ministry of Law and Order and Southern Development, Sri Lanka
  • 2012-2015: Member – Committee of the Section A of the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science, Sri Lanka
  • May 2015-to date: United Nations Certified External Stress Counsellor, Critical Incident Stress Management Unit (CISMU), UNDSS
  • 2007-2012: Member – National Mental Health Advisory Council, Ministry of Health Care and Nutrition, Sri Lanka
  • 2007-2012: Member – National Steering Committee on Child Rights, Ministry of Women’s and Children’s Affairs of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka
  • 2001-2002: Member – Advisory Committee on Psychological Matters of the Rana Viru Seva Authority, Presidential Secretariat, Sri Lanka
  • 2001: Member – National Task Force on Preventing Child Trafficking for Exploitative Purposes, National Child Protection Authority, Sri Lanka
  • 2000-2001: Consultative group member – Rana Viru Surekum Ekakaya, Presidential Secretariat, Sri Lanka
  • 1999-2004: Member of the Board – National Child Protection Authority, Sri Lanka.
  • 1999-2000: Expert resource person – Health Watch Page, Ceylon Daily News Newspaper, Sri Lanka
  • 1998: Member – Board of the Federation of NGO’s for Mental Health and Well-being, Sri Lanka.
  •  1997-1999: Consultant – Family Rehabilitation Centre, Sri Lanka

Establishment of the Sri Lanka Psychological Association

In 1997, together with a group of psychologists, I started work on establishing a national association of psychology in Sri Lanka. This contribution to psychology in Sri Lanka was recognized in 2008 at the founding meeting of a psychology association in Sri Lanka where I was unanimously elected the first president of the Sri Lanka Psychological Association (SLPA). Under my guidance, among other activities, the SLPA made an application to the International Union of Psychological Sciences (IUpsyS) to become its national member from Sri Lanka, which was accepted. As a national member of the IUpsyS, the SLPA contributed to the revision of the Mental and Behavioural Disorders section of the International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10). Further, the first psychology conference of the SLPA was organized during my tenure, titled: Psychology in Contemporary Sri Lanka: Theory and Practice

Membership in Professional Bodies

  • 2021 to date: Charted psychologist – British Psychological Society
  • 2016-2018: Committee member – Sri Lanka Psychological Association
  • 2008-2016: Founder President – Sri Lanka Psychological Association
  • 2005-2006: Member – National Academy of Psychology, India
  •  2005-to date: Registered Clinical Psychologist – Sri Lanka Medical Council
  •  2002: Member – International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse & Neglect
  • 2001-2021: Graduate Member – British Psychological Society
  •  2000- to date: Member – Medico-Legal Society of Sri Lanka
  • 1999-2000: Executive Committee Member – South Asian Association of Psychologists
  • 1999: Member – South Asian Association of Psychologists
  • 1999-to date: Member – Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science

Contributions to Advancing Research

  • 2016-to date: Member of the editorial committee – Ceylon Medical College Congress 2022, Colombo
  • 2022: Member of the organising committee – Scientific Conference on Communication in Healthcare, Sri Lanka Medical Association
  • 2021: Member of the organising committee – Bust Stop Talks 2021, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo
  • 2020: Member of the organising committee – Annual Research Symposium, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo
  • 2018: Member of the organising committee – International Conference on Medical Humanities, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo
  • 2017: Editor – 3rd Biennial Meeting of the South Asian Society for Sexual Medicine, Colombo
  • 2016: Editor – Annual Research Symposium, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo
  • 2016-to date: Member of the editorial board – Peshawar Journal of Psychology and Behavioural Sciences, Pakistan
  • 2012-2014: Member of the editorial board – Sri Lanka Journal of Social Sciences, National Science Foundation, Colombo
  • 2011-2013: Member of the editorial board – Journal of Psychology and Psychotherapy, OMICS Publishing Group, USA
  • 2019: Book proposal reviewer – Psychology Section, Routledge Publishers
  • 2022: Reviewer – Sri Lanka Journal of Psychiatry, Sri Lanka College of Psychiatrists
  • 2022: Reviewer – The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, Springer Publishers
  • 2021: Reviewer – Trauma, Abuse & Violence, Sage Publishers
  • 2021: Reviewer – Asia Pacific Journal of Counselling and Psychotherapy, Taylor and Francis Group Publishers
  • 2020: Reviewer – Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Sage Publishers
  • 2020: Reviewer – BMC Public Health, Springer Publishers
  • 2020: Reviewer – Asian Journal of Women’s Studies, Taylor and Francis Group Publishers
  • 2020: Reviewer – Women’s Studies International Forum, Elsevier Publishers
  • 2019; 2020: Reviewer – Journal of Humanistic Psychology, Sage Publishers
  • 2018: Reviewer – European Journal of Physiotherapy, Taylor and Francis Group Publishers
  • 2017; 2018; 2022: Reviewer – Mindfulness, Springer Publishers
  • 2017: Reviewer – Mental Health, Religion, & Culture, Taylor and Francis Group Publishers
  • 2017: Reviewer – Transcultural Psychiatry, Sage Publishers
  • 2017: Reviewer – International Journal on Adolescent Medicine and Health, De Gruyter Publishing House
  • 2016; 2017: Reviewer – Sage Open, Sage Publishers
  • 2016: Reviewer – International Journal on Disability and Human Development, De Gruyter Publishers
  • 2016; 2019: Reviewer – Journal of the Post Graduate Institute of Medicine, Post Graduate Institute of Medicine, Colombo
  • 2015; 2018; 2020; 2022: Reviewer – Psychological Studies, Springer Publishers
  • 2015: Reviewer – Disability and Rehabilitation, Taylor and Francis Online Publishers
  • 2014: Reviewer – Current Issues in Criminal Justice, The University of Sydney Law School
  • 2014: Reviewer – Child Abuse & Neglect, Elsevier Publishers
  • 2013: Reviewer – South African Journal of Psychology, Sage Publishers
  • 2011; 2017-2018; 2020-2021: Reviewer – Sri Lanka Journal of Social Sciences, National Science Foundation
  • 2011: Reviewer – Culture, Health and Sexuality, Taylor and Francis Group Publishers
  • 2011: Reviewer – Journal of Violence against Women, Sage Publishers
  • 2021: Judge – Psychotherapy Essay Competition, Sri Lanka College of Psychiatrists
  • 2022: Reviewer of abstracts – 8th Biennial South Asian Association of Physiologists Conference, Sri Lanka
  • 2021: Reviewer of abstracts – Young Scientists’ Conference on Multidisciplinary Research 2021, National Institute of Fundamental Studies, Sri Lanka
  • 2018: Reviewer of abstracts – First International Open University Research Sessions, Open University of Sri Lanka
  • 2018: Reviewer of abstracts – International Conference on Medical Humanities, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo
  • 2013; 2015: Reviewer of abstracts – Annual Scientific Sessions, Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science
  • 2011; 2013; 2018; 2020: Reviewer of abstracts – Annual Research Symposium, Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Colombo
  • 2020-2021: Reviewer of abstracts – Annual Research Symposium, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo
  • 2012; 2014; 2019: Reviewer of research proposals – Ethics Review Committee, Medical Research Institute, Colombo
  • 2020: Reviewer of research proposals – Ethics Review Committee, Post Graduate Institute of Medicine, Colombo
  • 2022: Reviewer of research proposals – Ethics Review Committee, Faculty of Arts, University of Peradeniya
  • 2014: Co-chair of Academic Sessions – Section A, Annual Scientific Sessions, Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science
  • 2017: Expert resource person to develop national guidelines on ethics of research in psychological therapies, National Health Research Council, Education, Training and Research Unit, Ministry of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine, Sri Lanka
  • 2016-2019: Member – Ethics Review Committee, Post Graduate Institute of Medicine, University of Colombo
  • 2018; 2020: Reviewer of Research Grants – National Research Council, Sri Lanka
  • 2018: Reviewer of Research Grants – Medical Research Council, United Kingdom