PhD Candidate
Deakin Marine Research and Innovation Centre
Deakin University, Burwood campus
221 Burwood Hwy, VIC 3125
Nipunika's research
At BCL Nipunika will be working with the Teal Carbon Group on the Project ‘Reducing Green House Gas Emissions from Agricultural Farm Dams’ led by Dr. Martino Malerba. As a student with a background in aquatic ecosystem management and conservation her aim is to identify novel nature-based solutions to ensure high water quality and water security in farm dams to enhance the farm productivity, local wildlife, and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In particular, the study aims to develop a tool to measure water security and deploy tailor-made sensors to monitor the water quality parameters in order to develop sustainable management strategies to cope with future climate change impacts on farm dams.
Keywords
Aquatic ecosystems restoration and conservation, aquatic pollution, climate change impacts
Career Highlights
- Graduate Teaching Assistant at Ocean University of Sri Lanka (March – Oct 2023)
- Vice Chancellors Award for the best Performance in BSc (Hons) Aquatic Resources Technology (2023)
- Dean’s List Academic Achievement, Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka (2021, 2022 and 2023)
- Science Intern at International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Country Office, Sri Lanka (July – Nov 2022)
- BSc (Hons) Aquatic Resources Technology (1st class), Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka (2017 – 2022)
Selected Publications
Research papers
Hansani, K.U.D.N., Thilakarathne, E.P.D.N., Koongolla, J.B., Gunathilaka, W.G.I.T., Perera, B.G.D.O., Weerasingha, W.M.P.U. and Egodauyana, K.P.U.T., 2023. Contamination of microplastics in tropical coral reef ecosystems of Sri Lanka. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 194, p.115299.
Conference Proceedings
Hansani, K.U.D.N., Thilakarathne, E.P.D.N., Abeygunawardana, A.P., Egodauyana, K.P.U.T., Perera, B.G.D.O., Gunathilaka, W.G.I.T., Weerasingha, W.M.P.U. First evidence of microplastic pollution in reef-building corals of Sri Lanka. Postgraduate Institute of Science Research Congress, Sri Lanka. October 2022;37
Gunathilaka, W.G.I.T., Thilakarathna, E.P.D.N., Abeygunawardana A.P., Warnasuriya, T.W.S., Egodauyana, K.P.U.T., Hansani, K.U.D.N., Weerasingha, W.M.P.U., Perera, B.G. D.O. Application of drone (UAV) technology for mapping seagrass beds compared to high-resolution Sentinel-2 satellite images. International Research Conference of Uva Wellassa University (IRCUWU 2022), Sri Lanka. July2022;13
Weerasingha, W.M.P.U., Thilakarathne, E.P.D.N., Abeygunawardana, A.P., Warnasuriya, T.W.S., Sandamali, G.A.J., Gunathilaka, W.G.I.T., Hansani, K.U.D.N., Perera, B.G.D.O. Long-term variations of sea surface temperature in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and the territorial sea of Sri Lanka from 2003 to 2021. International Research Conference of Uva Wellassa University (IRCUWU 2022), Sri Lanka. July 2022;139
