Senior Lecturer Dr. Sagarika Kannangara was assigned as the Head of the Department of Botany of the Faculty of Science, University of Kelaniya. The appointment letter was handed over to Dr. Sagarika Kannangara by the Vice- chancellor, Prof. D.M. Semasinghe on the 19th of November 2018 at the Office of the Vice- chancellor. Present at the occasion were Senior Prof. Lakshman Senevirathne, Deputy Vice- chancellor, Mr. W.M. Karunarathne, Registrar and Ms. Dhammika Ambegoda, Assistant Registrar- Academic Establishment Division.

She obtained her BSc Degree from the University of Kelaniya and her PhD in Soil Microbial Ecology from a split PhD programme conducted by the University of Calgary, Canada and the University of Kelaniya. Her research interests are in the fields of Soil Biology, Bio Remediation and Applied Mycology.

She has won the Presidents’ Award for Scientific Publications for her publications in international scientific journals cited in the science citation index in 2009 and has obtained senate awards for national and international publications in indexed journals. She also received VC Awards for the same in 2014.

Dr. Kannangara received SUSRED Awards for the year 2017 in recognition of the supervision of PhD degrees. She has contributed to the development and recognition of the department by obtaining research grants from the NSF, HETC and Ministry of Education.

She has served at the Environment Committee of SLAAS (Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science) as the secretary in the years 2009, 2010 and as its chairperson in 2012. She has rendered her service to the Centre for Gender Studies, University of Kelaniya as the Director from 2014- 2017. Dr. Kannangara was certified as a trainer of ENNEAGRAM and thus, she served as a resource person for workshops on personality development conducted by the University of Kelaniya and the other universities.

During the years 2010, 2011 and 2012 Dr. Kannangara made her contribution as one of the secretaries to the Alumni Association of the Faculty of Science, University of Kelaniya and as its President in the years 2013, 2014 and 2015.