Vice Chancellor
Snr. Prof. Upul Subasinghe
Contact:
Tele: +94 11 2803474,
+94 11 2802350
email: vc@sjp.ac.lk
Fax: +94 11 2801604
Senior Professor Subasinghe began his academic journey at Maliyadeva College, Kurunegala — one of the oldest and most prestigious schools in Sri Lanka, founded in 1888, with a long tradition of nurturing distinguished alumni who have excelled in various fields.
He graduated from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura with an Honours Degree in Botany and later joined the Department of Forestry and Environmental Science as a lecturer. He earned his Ph.D. in Forest Management from the University of Bangor, UK.
Academic Credentials
Senior Professor Upul Subasinghe
B.Sc.(Hons), Ph.D.(Wales), C.I.Biol (Sri Lanka)
A Career Defined by Research Excellence
Professor Subasinghe’s areas of expertise and research interest span:
He has over 35 national and international publications and many communications to his credit, especially in the fields of Sandalwood and Agarwood, as results of high-quality research conducted in collaboration with universities in Australia. He also holds three international patents, including a landmark method for inducing agarwood resin in Gyrinops walla, Sri Lanka’s native agarwood-producing tree species. ResearchGate
International Standing
Professor Subasinghe won scholarships from the Asian Development Bank to study Remote Sensing and GIS in Thailand and received a Commonwealth Fellowship at the University of Bangor. He has also conducted joint research with experts from Curtin University and Edith Cowan University in Western Australia, as well as the World Wildlife Fund. Since 2021, he has been serving as an Environment and Disaster Management Program Associate at the World Wildlife Fund, Washington, DC, USA.
He has been actively involved in international collaborations, serving as the President of the Institute of Biology, Sri Lanka (2006–07), Chair of the International Forestry and Environment Symposium (2014, 2018–2022), and a Director of the Taiwan Agarwood Society since 2013.
Leadership and Service
Professor Subasinghe has held several key administrative positions at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, including Head of the Department of Forestry and Environmental Science, Coordinator of the MSc Programme in Forestry and Environment, Deputy Proctor of the Faculty of Applied Sciences, and Chairman of the Faculty Research Committee. He also served as Acting Vice Chancellor of the University from December 2022 to August 2023, and was subsequently re-elected as Dean of the Faculty of Applied Sciences for a second consecutive term.
At the national level, his expertise has been instrumental in initiatives such as the United Nations Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (UN-REDD), the Haritha Lanka National Action Plan, the Ecosystem Conservation and Management Project, and the Forestry Sector Master Plan. He also led the development of Forest Certification Standards stipulated by the Forest Stewardship Council for Sri Lanka during 2019–20.