Laksiri Fernando

Dr Laksiri Fernando was senior lecturer, Political Science, University of Peradeniya before appointment as associate secretary, Asia/Pacific, WUS International from 1984 to 1991. Laksiri studied in Sri Lanka (BA Economics), Canada (MA Political Science) and Australia (PhD Human Rights) and migrated to Australia in 1991. He was deputy director, Human Rights Centre, University of NSW (1991-2); PhD scholar University of Sydney while teaching (1992-1995); executive director of the Diplomacy Training Program at the University of NSW (1995-97); returned to Sri Lanka as professor, Political Science and Public Policy, University of Colombo (1997-2010) where he served as dean, Faculty of Graduate Studies; Director, Centre for the Study of Human Rights, and Director, Peace Building Project, Ministry of Constitutional Affairs. He was also a member of the advisory committee to the president on Constitutional Reforms; director, Sri Lanka Foundation Institute and Television Training Institute; director and Chair, National Centre for Advanced Studies; and a director of the Colombo Stock Exchange. A Japan Foundation scholar (2005-6), and a visiting scholar in several countries, his two major academic publications are: Human Rights, Politics and States: Burma, Cambodia and Sri Lanka and Thomas More’s Socialist Utopia and Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Since retirement to Australia to join his family, he has focused on popular writing with many publications, and is now enjoying a focus on art.