Who We Are

SLYCAN Trust is an internationally recognized non-profit think tank working on climate change, adaptation and resilience, sustainable development, environmental conservation, social justice, animal welfare, and related thematic areas. Our presence extends to Asia, Africa and Europe though our main office in Sri Lanka and regional offices in Niger and Germany. We are active on the global, regional, national, and local level, with a particular focus on the countries of the Global South.

SLYCAN Trust works on legal and policy research, education and awareness creation, capacity-building, solution finding, and implementation of ground-level actions to facilitate and contribute to multi-stakeholder driven, inclusive, and participatory actions for a sustainable and resilient future for all.

Our Team

Vositha Wijenayake

Executive Director

SLYCAN Trust Global

Vositha is an attorney-at-law specialising in public international law, with a focus on international environmental law, UN human rights law, refugee law and EU law. She has over a decade of experience in working on climate change, at national and international level.

Dennis Mombauer

Director

Research & Knowledge Management

Dennis Mombauer currently lives in Colombo as a freelance writer and researcher on climate change and education. He focuses on ecosystem-based adaptation and sustainable urban development as well as on autism spectrum disorder in the field of education. Besides articles and research, he has published numerous works of fiction in German and English.

Kavindu Ediriweera

Director Youth Programme

Deputy Director Programmes

Kavindu Ediriweera is a longstanding member of the SLYCAN and serves as the Programme Coordinator of the organization. He is a graduate in Law and is currently a Law Student at the Sri Lanka Law College studying for his Attorney-at-Law qualification.

Shehan Liyanage

Senior Manager

Admin & Legal Affairs

Sani Ayouba

Co-coordinator

SLYCAN Trust Niger

Issa Garba

Co-coordinator

SLYCAN Trust Niger

Sajani Ranasinghe

Legal and Policy Analyst

Sajani Ranasinghe has an LLB from the University of London and a BA in International Relations from the University of Colombo. She is also a President's Guide, and has also received many environmental awards including President Environment Pioneer Medals (Swarna, Rajatha and Haritha) for her actions on environment protection.

Thilini Gunathilake

Research and Programme Officer

Thilini works as a Research and Programme Officer at SLYCAN Trust, and works on thematic areas of climate change, mangroves, and agricultural insurance. Her areas of interest include coastal ecosystems and climate change. Thilini has a BSc in Fisheries and Marine Sciences from the Ocean University of Sri Lanka. She has a diploma in Information Technology and E-Commerce from the Esoft Metro Campus. She also completed an 8-week internship in the Marine Biological Resources Division at the National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency (NARA). Her experience in fisheries, coastal sciences, ocean sciences, and seafood technology led her to publish her first research paper at the Ocean University of Sri Lanka.

Chathuri Patinayake

Programme and Administrative Officer

Ashan Karunananda

Junior Programme Manager

Mayantha Madurasinghe

Assistant Manager Programme and Finance

Thadshajiny Kandasamy

Assistant Manager

Research & Programmes

Ahalya Arulnayagam

Research Fellow

Thaybah Mohamed

Intern

Dilanya De Silva

Intern

Iroshan Kulatunga

Manager

Technology

Charuka Udayanga

Field Officer

Raquel Abeyrathne

Administrative Assistant

Dr. Thusitha Sugathapala

Senior Technical Expert, Climate Change & Sustainable Development

Dr. Sam Daniel

Senior Technical Expert, Farm Animals & Animal Welfare

Anura Sathurusinghe

Senior Technical Expert

Ecosystems & Conservation

He has been Conservator of Forests and Head of the Forest Department Research and Education Division from 2003 to 2014, Deputy Conservator of Forests from 1993 to 2003, and Assistant Conservator of Forests from 1982 to 1993. Furthermore, he has been Chair of the Asia Pacific Forestry Commission, National Programme Director for Sri Lanka's UN-REDD Programme, and member of several advisory committees and expert panels.

Ramesh Warallagama

Senior Consultant

Media & Communications

Ramesh works as a senior consultant on communications and media. He has over 15 years of experience in print media. He was former editor of Rivira newspaper, and has worked in the capacity of news editor, and a senior journalist in his years in the field of journalism.

Prof. Anoja Wickramasinghe

Senior Technical Expert, Gender & Ecosystems

Dr Anoja Wickramasinghe is an Emeritus Professor of Geography, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. She has significantly contributed to the field of energy, forestry, resource management, rural development, poverty, and also as a policy and institutional analyst, gender activist, community mobiliser and trainer.

Prof. Hemanthi Ranasinghe

Senior Technical Expert, Climate Change & Forestry

Prof Hemanthi Ranasinghe is a Senior Professor in Forestry and Environmental Science at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka. She has more than 35 years of experience as an academic, researcher, consultant, and communicator in the areas are forest management, environmental assessment, agroforestry, and social forestry, integrated natural resource management, climate change, and monitoring and evaluation.

Dr. Ranjith Punyawardena

Senior Technical Expert, Climate Change & Agriculture

Dr Ranjith Punyawardena has over three decades of work experience in climatology and agro-climatology, agro-ecology, climate change and adaptation to climate change, climate vulnerability and disaster risk reduction at national and international level.