Although the records are available about Sri
Lanka forest management since 161 BC (that was the year which the Great King
Dutugemunu came into the thrown) and even before the current forestry sector
has been suffered in lack of research. Due to this reason, Dr. Upul Subasinghe,
a Senior Lecturer of the Department of Forestry and Environmental Science of
the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, thought of forming a “Forest Management
Group” in Sri Lanka to cover the need of “multi-disciplinary research in Sri
Lanka forestry sector”. Since it has become a trend in the science world to
conduct group research to provide more benefits by covering a larger area, than
individual research which covered a small scope, it is obvious that group
research provide more benefits. In order to cover a vast area in a single
research in collaboration with a number of experts in different fields, Dr.
Upul Subasinghe thought of having multi-disciplinary research since 2005 at MSc
level and brought the concept into the BSc level since 2009. The group members
are listed below.
Dr. Upul Subasinghe (Senior Lecturer,
Forest and Forest Plantation Management, Natural Resource Modelling, GIS and
Remote Sensing), Department of Forestry and Environmental Science, University
of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka
Mr. Dhanushka Hettiarachchi (Research
Associate, Pharmacology), School of Pharmacy, Curtin University of Technology,
Western Australia
Dr. K.M.A. Bandara (Research Officer,
Silviculture), Forest Research Institute, Badulla, Sri Lanka
Ms. Chandani Edussuriya (Assistant
Director, GIS Unit), Central Environmental Authority
It is expected to conduct such
collaborative research with the renowned scientists in Australia, India,
Indonesia and US in the future to share the knowledge, experience and expertise
to enhance mutual benefits. However, The National Research Council already
funds a collaborative research conducted by Dr. Upul Subasinghe as the
Principal Investigator with the collaboration of Mr. Dhanushka Hettiarachchi
and Prof. John Fox of the Curtin University of Technology of Western Australia.
