Duminda Perera

Dr. Duminda Perera is a Civil Engineering graduate of the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. He holds M. Eng and D.Eng in Urban and Environmental Engineering from the Kyushu University. Fukuoka, Japan.

Prior to joining UNU-INWEH, he served as a Research Specialist at the International Centre for Water Hazard and Risk Management (ICHARM) under the auspicious of UNESCO and as an adjunct lecturer at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS), Japan.

During his tenure at ICHARM, he involved in various water related disaster projects and activities including; Development and implementation of an operational prototype system in the Kalu River Basin, Sri Lanka, for advanced flood forecasting, early warning, and data sharing; Climate change impact assessment for the Lower Mekong Basin under flood disasters, as part of the SOUSEI project (Program for Risk Information on Climate Change); Nutrient loading and circulation in a river basin-scale study through numerical modelling and observation to understand environmental pollution from point and non-point sources; Implementation of the Integrated Flood Analysis System (IFAS) in the Dungun River basin, Malaysia; Flood disaster assessment for the lower West Rapti River basin under the KAKUSHIN project (Innovative Program of Climate Change Projection for the 21st Century); Supervision of graduate students in the International Master’s Course for water related disaster management, jointly conducted by ICHARM, and GRIPS funded by the Japan International Corporation Agency (JICA).

Dr. Perera has extensive international experiences in the application of numerical models for flood hazards, basin climate change impact assessments, integrated flood management and capacity development activities with particularly focus on South and South-East Asia. At UNU-INWEH, Dr. Perera mainly works on the development of a new thematic direction of managing water resources variability, water-related disasters and threats.