Devaka Weerakoon

Professor Weerakoon is a pedagogue, who has been on the academic staff of the University of Colombo since 1986. He has 36 years of teaching experience at tertiary level, of which seven were in the USA. He has taught a range of courses such as environmental science, biodiversity conservation, wildlife management, ecology, behavioural ecology and socio-biology for both undergraduate and post graduate students. As part of his teaching duties, developing curricula and other teaching material comes naturally to him. During 1994-1995, he trained and participated in a distance learning programme, using computer technology at Heartland Community College, Normal, IL, USA. In 2019, he received training at the University of Colombo on ‘blended learning’ as part of a programme to transform all the teaching staff to the blended mode of delivery.
Professor Weerakoon has also been a consultant for IUCN Sri Lanka since 1995 and has carried out two short-term assignments as a biodiversity expert for IUCN Asia's Regional Office (2008-2009) and IUCN Sri Lanka (2015-2017). He has trained various groups on a range of topics such as red listing, integrating biodiversity into land use planning, disaster risk management and coastal area management.