Senior Lecturer Ven. Galkande Dhammananda Thero was appointed as the new Head of the Department of History, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya.

The appointment letter was handed over to the Head by the acting Vice- Chancellor, Senior Prof, Lakshman Senevirathne on the 6^th of April 2019 at the Vice- Chancellor’s Office.

Present at the occasion were Ms. Dhammika Ambegoda, Assistant Registrar- Academic Establishment Division and academic staff members of the Department of History.

Ven. Galkande Dhammananda Thero obtained his bachelor’s degree from the University of Kelaniya. After winning the Commonwealth Scholarship he proceeded to Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi where he completed his MA and MPhil degrees.

History of religion, role of religion in contexts, social healing and reconciliation are some of his research interests.

He is the founder and director of Walpola Rahula Institute (WRI), where programmes are being conducted to heal the society bringing together divided communities due to the armed conflict and due to the recent religious tensions in Sri Lanka. He also uses social media as a tool to disseminate the message of peace and is well known as a monk who has a different worldview.