BIOGRAPHY

Department of Mass Media, Sri Palee Campus, University of Colombo

Email: drpradeep@spc.cmb.ac.lk

Professor Pradeep N’ Weerasinghe is a Professor in Mass Media at the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, with an academic and professional career spanning more than two decades in higher education, media and broadcasting, development communication, public policy, and institutional management. He is an interdisciplinary scholar whose work brings together media, communication, democracy, development, policy, economics, and institutional management.

Professor Weerasinghe has received sustained recognition for research excellence at the University of Colombo. He was awarded the University of Colombo Senate Awards for Excellence in Research consecutively in 2023, 2024, and 2025, and received the prestigious University of Colombo Vice Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research in 2025.

His research has been published in international academic journals and scholarly publications, including works published through internationally recognised academic publishers such as SAGE, Routledge, and Dignity Press. His scholarship reflects a strong interdisciplinary orientation and addresses contemporary challenges at the intersection of media, communication, democratic governance, development, public policy, and citizen empowerment.

Professor Weerasinghe has established a significant international scholarly presence, having presented research papers at international conferences and academic forums in South Africa, Russia, China, Germany, Sweden, Greece, Thailand, and India. His international academic engagement has enabled him to contribute to comparative and cross-cultural discussions on media, communication, development, and public policy.

Media Reform and Public Policy Leadership

Professor Weerasinghe is also recognised as a prominent advocate and contributor to media reform and the advancement of the Right to Information (RTI) in Sri Lanka. His academic and policy engagement has focused on strengthening media freedom, public service broadcasting, media regulation, access to information, democratic accountability, and the development of a more independent and pluralistic media environment.

He has played a leading role in several national-level policy and professional forums on media reform. He has chaired national conferences on media reforms and media law, as well as the first National Symposium of Broadcasters in Sri Lanka. Through these forums, he has brought together academics, media professionals, policymakers, broadcasters, civil society representatives, and other stakeholders to deliberate on the future of Sri Lanka’s media sector and its regulatory and institutional environment.

His expertise has also been recognised through his involvement in government-appointed media policy committees, where he contributed academic and professional perspectives to discussions concerning media policy, regulation, and reform. In addition, he has served as a member of national media awards judging panels and juries, contributing to the professional recognition and evaluation of excellence in journalism and broadcasting.

Academic and Professional Career

Prior to joining the University of Colombo, Professor Weerasinghe developed extensive professional experience across the media, broadcasting, development, and banking sectors. He served as a Broadcast Journalist and Programme Manager at the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) and subsequently worked as a Media Expert at China Radio and Television International in Beijing.

He later served as Executive Director of the Regional Development Bank, Sri Lanka, and as a National Communication Consultant for ADB-funded development projects. His professional and consultancy experience also encompasses development communication, health-risk communication, institutional communication, media development, and citizenempowerment.

The combination of academic scholarship, professional media experience, development-sector engagement, and policy leadership gives Professor Weerasinghe a distinctive perspective on communication as both an academic discipline and an instrument of democratic and social transformation.

Research and Scholarly Interests

His principal research and professional interests include Media and Communication, Radio and Television Journalism, Media Management, Media Policy and Regulation, Public Service Broadcasting, Community Media, Development Communication, Citizen Empowerment, Political and Strategic Communication, Health Communication, Communication Economics, Digital Journalism, Media Reform, Freedom of Expression, and the Right to Information.

His current scholarly work particularly examines the transformation of media and communication in the digital environment and the implications of technological, economic, institutional, and regulatory changes for democracy, public service media, media freedom,citizen participation, social development, and inclusive communication.

Through his academic scholarship, international research engagement, professional media experience, policy advocacy, and national-level leadership, Professor Weerasinghe has contributed to contemporary media and communication scholarship as well as to wider debates on media reform, democratic governance, public accountability, access to information, social development, and citizen empowerment in Sri Lanka.