She is the leader of the Ecosphere Resilience Research Center, Faculty of Applied Science at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka, Visiting Associate Research Professor, National Institute of Fundamental Studies, Sri Lanka and an Adjunct Associate Research Professor at the University of Southern Queensland, Australia. Dr. Vithanage’s research approach builds on enabling measurements of concentrations and reaction rates in environmental samples for key/emerging pollutants in the environment in order to assess their fate and transport to discover solutions to remediate those using different geo/bio/nano materials. Dr. Vithanage is particularly interested in elucidating the mechanistic understanding of release/remediation of pollutants with contrasting physical and chemical properties that can be used to obtain insights into environmental partitioning, chemical persistence and ultimate accumulation in biota. To this end, her current research interests are focused on monitoring atmospheric deposition, landfill leachate, water and soil for pollutants, develop and enhance the properties of biochar, nano/geo substances and composites as material for environmental remediation. She has received several awards from,TWAS-NSF Award for the Young Scientist, American Geophysical Union, Presidential Awards for Publications, Awards for science popularization and for post graduate supervision by the National Science Foundation, Sri Lanka. She is a Young Affiliate of the Third World Academy of Sciences. She was the Chairperson of the Young Scientists Forum on the National Science and Technology Commission of Sri Lanka in 2017. Currently, she is the President of the Engineering, Architecture, Surveying Section of the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science. She has contributed more than 80 Science Citation Indexed journal articles and 25 book chapters. Her citation record is now passed 2300 with an H index of 24. Dr. Anwesha Borthakur is a research fellow at the Centre for Studies in Science Policy, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She has an M.Phil and PhD in Science Policy Studies. The area of her both M.Phil and PhD studies was waste management and policy implications in India. She has published more than 30 papers/chapters in international peer-reviewed journals and books. Presently working as a Post Doctoral Fellow. Dr. Prasad is Emeritus Professor, School of Life Sciences, University of Hyderabad (India). He has made outstanding contributions to the fields of bioremediation, bioresources, biomass energy sources, bioeconomy, and to the broad field of environmental biotechnology, all of which are his main areas of expertise. Dr. Prasad has served the Government of India’s Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change as a member of various advisory committees on biodiversity conservation, ecosystem services, pollution control and abatement, environmental information systems and bioremediation of contaminated sites. He is an active visiting scientist for several international universities.
