Coordinators – HRNCET – NORPART Project

Senior Professor of Physics and Coorinator/HRNCET project

Senior Professor Punniamoorthy Ravirajan earned his PhD in Physics from Imperial College London in 2004 as a recipient of the prestigious Commonwealth Postgraduate Scholarship. Following postdoctoral research at Imperial College, he returned to the University of Jaffna, Sri Lanka, where he rapidly advanced through the academic ranks, from Senior Lecturer in 2005 to Professor of Physics in 2009, and Senior Professor in 2017.

A distinguished researcher in nanoscience and clean energy, Senior Professor Ravirajan has secured over LKR 300 million (approx. USD 890,000) in competitive research funding. His support spans major national bodies, including Sri Lanka’s National Research Council (NRC), National Science Foundation (NSF), and Ministry of Science, Technology and Research, as well as international organizations such as the International Foundation for Science (Sweden) and the Royal Society (UK). Demonstrating exceptional resilience, he established two state-of-the-art facilities at the University of Jaffna: the Nanoscience Research Laboratory and the Clean Energy Research Laboratory, both founded despite challenging regional conditions before 2009.

To foster global research exchange, he has established up to ten Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with premier international institutions, including Imperial College London, the University of Edinburgh, the University of Illinois Chicago, Kyungpook National University, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, the University of Bergen, and Coimbatore Institute of Technology.

His scholarly record includes over 140 research articles—nearly 70 in high-impact international journals, accumulating over 3,680 citations with an h-index of 23. Recognized as one of the Top 100 Scientists by Asian Scientist Magazine, his work has earned him numerous accolades, including the CVCD Excellence Award for Most Outstanding Young Researcher in Physical Sciences (2006), the NSF/Scopus Young Scientist Award (2008), multiple Presidential Awards for Scientific Publication, and fellowships from the Royal Society and the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission.

Beyond his research output, Senior Professor Ravirajan is a dedicated mentor who has supervised more than 25 Master’s and PhD/MPhil candidates, over 15 of whom were co-supervised in collaboration with international partner institutions, with a focus on nanostructured materials, clean energy, and health applications. He has also served as an external examiner for numerous doctoral and MPhil theses.

Complementing his academic contributions, Senior Professor Ravirajan has held several key executive leadership roles at the University of Jaffna, serving two terms each as Dean of the Faculty of Science, Head of the Department of Physics, Director of the Staff Development Centre, and Director of the International Collaboration Unit.

Brief CV

Professor Dhayalan Velauthapillai, Head of the research group, Advanced Nano materials for Clean Energy Applications (ANCEA) at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (HVL), Campus Bergen, Norway

Dhayalan Velauthapillai is Professor in Physics and Technology at Western Norway of Applied Sciences, Campus Bergen. He received his PhD degree from University of Bergen in the field of electromagnetic modeling in 1996 and has had a Post Doc at University of Neuchatel, Switzerland and at University of Bergen. He has received external funding for his research projects including personal PhD and Post Doc research funding from the Research Council of Norway (RCN). He is also the primary investigator of a number of international collaborative research projects on clean energy technologies funded through INCP, UTFORSK and NORPART programs run by Norwegian Center for International Cooperation in Education. Velauthapillai in association with international partners has organized a number of international conferences on clean energy technologies with the funding from RCN and other international funding agencies.

Professor Dhayalan Velauthapillai has versatile research activities in the field of physics and nanotechnology. The ANCEA research group of Dhayalan Velauthapillai focuses on mathematical modeling, computer simulation, synthesis, characterization of advanced nano materials with particular emphasis on third and fourth generation solar cells and fuel cells. The research group has the vision to develop low weight, flexible and low cost solar cell technologies based on metal oxides, dyes, polymers and perovskite materials.concentrates on computational and experimental studies on advanced nanomaterials for clean energy and health applications. He has also research activities in electromagnetic modeling, crystal optics, diffractive optics, microlenses and focusing and propagation of electromagnetic waves in isotropic and isotropic medium. Velauthapillai leads also a project on energy policy and management with external funding. He has been supervisor for several master and PhD candidates in the field of computational modelling and clean energy technologies. He is currently supervising 13 PhD candidates from HVL and collaborating international institutions from India, Sri Lanka, South Korea and UK. He has also served on the evaluation committee for several PhD theses. He has over 125 research and conference articles with peer-review to his credit, and serves as a reviewer for several international journals on nanomaterials, optics and clean energy technologies. He has also guest edited a special issue on third generation solar cells for the Solar Energy journal.

Professor Dhayalan Velauthapillai has won several awards and recognition including ‘Excellence in teaching award’, ‘Top 10’ award and ‘Best Professor’ awards. He has also served as an expert member in Norwegian advisory committees for higher education and integration of immigrants.

Brief CV

Prof. Punniamoorthy Ravirajan

Professor Punniamoorthy Ravirajan

Professor Dhayalan Velauthapillai

Professor Dhayalan Velauthapillai,