Senior Research Fellow (Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London)
Senior Associate (Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge)
Research Associate (Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages and Linguistics)
First Professor Sarath Amunugama Visiting Professor (University of the Visual and Performing Arts, Colombo)
Discretionary Associate (Faculty of History, University of Oxford)
Visiting Research Fellow (National Centre for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences, Colombo)
Collaborative Researcher (Department of Sociology, University of Colombo)
Elected Fellow, National Academy of Sciences of Sri Lanka
Elected Fellow, Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland
Chair, National Scientific Committee on Intangible Cultural Heritage, ICOMOS Sri Lanka
Winner of the Distinguished Rama Watumull Collaborative Lecture Series award from the Center for South Asian Studies & Student Equity, Excellence and Diversity Award, University of Hawaii, USA, (March 2020). Shihan de Silva Jayasuriya, PhD, FRAS, is an esteemed scholar, writer, editor, musician and filmmaker, focusing on migration, commerce, and cultural exchange in the Indian Ocean specialising in linguistics, music and history. She is recognised as a UN expert on Afro descendants in Asia and has contributed significantly to the UNESCO Slave Route Project. Her monographs, books and articles concern People of African Descent in Asia, both historical and contemporary cultural interactions in the Indian Ocean, language and music. Her edited special volumes are published in international journals: African and Asian Studies, Journal of African Diaspora Archaeology and Heritage and Musiké. Her ethnographic films are screened at international venues, shedding light on the global African diaspora and Creole cultures. Her research encompasses Sri Lanka Malay and Portuguese burgher peoples language and culture and Sri Lankan society at large.
Former Visiting Positions
● Visiting Fellow, Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge.
●Visiting Professor, College of International Relations, Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto, Japan.
● Collaborative Lecturer, University of Hawaii, USA.
● Visiting Lecturer, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science: Unfree Labour from a Historical Perspective.
●Visiting Fellow, International Institute of Social History (IISG), Amsterdam
Editorial Boards
● Adviser, Editorial Board, An Encyclopedia of the African Diaspora, ABC-CLIO, California, USA.
●Adviser, Editorial Board, Information, Society and Justice, a Journal of the London Metropolitan University.
●Adviser on the Editorial Board, Journal of Research in Music, University of Visual and Performing Arts, Colombo.
● Member, Editorial Board, African Diaspora Archaeology & Heritage, UK.
● Member, International Advisory Board, African Diaspora, Leiden, Netherlands.
● Editorial Advisor, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, UK.
● Member, Editorial Board, Sri Lanka Journal of Aesthetic Studies.
Qualifications
●PhD – University of Westminster, UK, 2004.
Dissertation: Indo-Portuguese of Ceylon: History, Linguistics and Literature.
Supervisor: Professor Philip Baker
Examiners: Professor David Brookshaw and Dr Patricia Odber Baubeta
●MSc – Finance, University of London, UK, 1995.
Dissertation: Corporate Governance and the Takeover Market.
Supervisor: Professor Norvald Smith.
●BSc – Economics (Honours Second Class Upper Division) University of London, UK, 1993.
Dissertation: Central Banks and Monetary Policy. Supervisor: Professor Vittorio Grilli.
●Diploma – Linguistics, University of Westminster, UK, 1998.
●Diploma – Piano Performance, London College of Music. University of West London, 2015
Awards
● International Institute of Macau Award for trilingual (English, Portuguese, Sinhala) translation of book on Luso-Asians of Sri Lanka, 2021.
●Cassal Trust Award Fund: to Organise a tribute conference for the distinguished Creole Linguist late Professor Philip Baker, 2021.
● Coffin Fund Award: to convene a symposium on Transoceanic Lusitanian Linguistics and Cultures, 2021.
● University of Hawaii Distinguished: Rama Watumull Collaborative Lecture Series award from the Center for South Asian Studies & Student Equity, Excellence and Diversity Award, University of Hawaii, USA, March 2020.
● Institute of Commonwealth Studies Award for film Screening on global slavery ‘Les routes de L’esclavage’ 2018.
● Coffin Fund Award: to convene the annual Symposium on Global Portuguese at the University of London (2017 and 2018).
● British Library (London) Award: to conduct fieldwork on Afro-Sri Lankan Music, 2013.
● University of Graz (Austria) Award: as an international collaborator on the Hugo Schuchardt Archives Project to work on the manuscript collection, 2012.
● British Library (London) Award: for fieldwork on Baila and Kaffrinha in Sri Lanka, 2008.
● Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Award: for field work on language, music and dance of the Creole communities in Sri Lanka, 2003.
● Fundação Oriente Award: to conduct fieldwork on Indo-Portuguese, music and dance of the Creole communities in Sri Lanka, 2003.
Other Profiles
