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. As the former Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies of the University, she is presently the coordinator of the AHEAD project of the Faculty of Applied Sciences and Director of the International Affairs Division. Her expert areas are forestry, climate change, biodiversity, ecosystem management, agroforestry and monitoring and evaluation.

Outside the university contributes widely to the country's sustainable development in numerous capacities; as a consultant carrying out national-level environmental assessments of projects, serves on governing boards and councils of the state; Board member of the Central Environmental Authority, Council member of the Sustainable Council, etc. Internationally serves as a Co-Chair of the IUCN Commission for Ecosystem Management for South Asia. She had served as National Expert in Climate Change Mitigation in several national communications to the UNFCCC by the Climate Change Secretariat of the Ministry of Environment and presently serves in the National Expert Committee on Climate Change Mitigation and also Editorial Board of the Neela Haritha Magazine. She also serves the Advisory Board of the Internationally ranked ‘Ambio’.

Prof Ranasinghe was awarded the Professional Woman of the Year by the Women's Chamber of Commerce in the year 2000 and is the Founder and Patron of the Divisarana - the animal welfare association of the University.