The Committee of Vice Chancellors and Directors (CVCD) Excellence Awards 2022 was held on the 9^th of June 2023, at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall, Colombo.  

The ‘CVCD Excellence Awards recognizes and honors outstanding contributions and achievements in research, innovation, and invention by scholars in the Sri Lankan university system.

The awards were presented under three categories: Most Outstanding Senior Researcher, Most Outstanding Young Researcher, and Most Outstanding Inventor. In this year’s awards ceremony, the Most Outstanding Senior Researcher and Most Outstanding Young Researcher awards were conferred in eight fields of study.

Under these categories, two members of the academic staff of the University of Kelaniya were listed as awardees, for their outstanding contribution to research. Professor L. B. D. R. P. Wijesundera, from the Department of Physics, was awarded The Most Outstanding Senior Researcher under Field VII – Natural Sciences and Dr. M. B. Kavinda Chandimal Dayasiri, from the Department of Pediatrics, was awarded The Most Outstanding Young Researcher under field VI – Medical and Dental Sciences.

Professor Wijesundera is the incumbent cadre chair of the Department of Physics and Electronics, in the Faculty of Science at Kelaniya. His academic qualifications include a BSc Special in Physics and an MPhil in Physics from the University of Kelaniya, and a DSc in Physics from Kyushu University, Japan. He has 45 papers in peer-reviewed indexed journals, 3 papers in non-indexed journals, and 28 full papers in conference proceedings, 1 book and 16 book chapters, and a Google Scholar H-index of 14 at the time of application. In addition, he has won many national and international awards and held many important positions.

Dr. Dayasiri is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Paediatrics in the Faculty of Medicine at Kelaniya. His academic qualifications include an MBBS from the University of Colombo and an MD in Paediatrics from the PGIM, University of Colombo, together with an MPhil in Paediatrics from the University of Kelaniya. He had 83 publications in peer-reviewed indexed journals, another 19 in non-indexed journals, 4 book chapters, and a Google Scholar H-index of 9 at the time of application.

This year’s award ceremony was graced by the presence of His Excellency President Ranil Wickremesinghe, the chief guest of the ceremony, and Honourable Minister of Education, Dr. Susil Premajayantha, Secretary to the Minister of Education, Mr. M. N. Ranasinghe, Chairman and members of the UGC, Vice Chancellors, Rectors, and Deans. Prof. Nilanthi De Silva, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Kelaniya, compered the proceedings. Further, award winners, their family members, and other distinguished invitees were present at the occasion.