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Speakers

Meet Significant and Inspiring Field Experts

Keynote Speaker

Prof. Roshanka Ranasinghe

Professor of Climate Change Impacts & Coastal Risk
AXA Chair in Climate Change Impacts and Coastal Risk
IHE Delft Institute for Water Education
Netherlands

Prof. Dr. Roshanka (Rosh) Ranasinghe holds the AXA Chair in Climate Change Impacts and Coastal Risk at the Department of Coastal & Urban Risk & Resilience, IHE Delft and at the Department of Water Engineering and Management, University of Twente. He is also a Senior Specialist at Resilient Ports and Coasts (Hydraulic Engineering Unit) at Deltares and holds an Honorary Professor position at the University of Melbourne (Australia).

Rosh obtained his Bachelor of Science Engineering (1st Class Honours) from the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka in 1993 and his PhD in Coastal Engineering and Oceanography from the Centre for Water Research, University of Western Australia in 1998. Since then he has worked in the Academic and government sectors in Australia, USA and The Netherlands.

To date, Rosh has published over 200 peer reviewed articles (more than 15 in Nature journals) and delivered numerous presentations around the world. He is regularly invited to provide expert advice on adaptation to climate change and coastal zone management by national and local governments and international agencies.

Rosh has supervised/co-supervised 10 Post-doctoral fellows, 25+ PhD candidates and numerous MSc students to date and has lead several capacity development projects in Sri Lanka, India, VietNam, Thailand, Sao Tome and Principe.

He actively contributes to the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) process. Rosh was Coordinating Lead Author in Chapter 12, a lead author of the Summary for Policy Makers, and contributing author in Chapters 9, 11 and Atlas of the Working Group I contribution to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (AR6). He is also an expert advisor to the European Commission on identifying knowledge gaps in climate change research for the Horizon Europe 2024–27 program with a budget of €95.5 billion.

Plenary Speakers

Harsha Wickramasinghe

PLENARY SPEAKER
Deputy Director General (DSM)
Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority
Sri Lanka

Harsha Wickramasinghe, the Deputy Director General (DSM) of the Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority, is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer by profession. He holds a BScEng (Hons.) degree from the University of Moratuwa and earned his MBA from the University of Colombo. Mr. Harsha’s focus areas encompass energy policy, energy efficiency, renewable energy development, and project financing, as well as enhancing operational efficiency in industries and processes. Notable achievements include leading the drafting of Sri Lanka’s National Energy Policy & Strategies and contributing to the development of technology-specific tariff regimes for renewables. He has played a pivotal role in introducing concepts like net-metering and enhancing them to net accounting and Net + Plus schemes. Mr. Harsha is recognized as one of the architects of the Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority.
In various roles, including National Project Director for the UNDP NAMA project and leading the National Energy Efficiency Improvement & Conservation Programme of Sri Lanka, he has made significant contributions to sustainable energy initiatives. Additionally, Mr. Harsha has provided consultancy services to several agencies in India, the national electricity utility of Kenya, and the Maldives Energy Authority. His expertise and dedication continue to drive advancements in sustainable energy practices and policies in Sri Lanka and beyond.

Prof. Keith Paustian

Prof. Keith Paustian

PLENARY SPEAKER
University Distinguished Professor
Colorado State University
United States

Keith Paustian is University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences and Senior Research Scientist at the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory at Colorado State University. A major focus of his work involves modeling, field measurement and development of assessment tools for soil carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions from soils. He has published over 280 journal articles and book chapters. Previous and current research activities include development of models and inventory methodology used to estimate US soil C and N2O emissions that are reported annually by EPA to the UNFCCC; development of a web-based tool (COMET-FarmTM) for estimating on-farm greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and carbon sequestration used by USDA (http://cometfarm.nrel.colostate.edu/) and project-scale systems for GHG assessment of sustainable land management projects in developing countries (http://www.carbonbenefitsproject.org/). He also serves as project director for the Bioenergy Alliance Network of the Rockies (BANR – http://banr.nrel.colostate.edu/) which is a consortium of universities, industry and the US Forest Service, researching the potential for sustainable bioenergy production from beetle-kill trees and forest residues. Professional service activities include Coordinating Lead Author for the IPCC 2006 National Greenhouse Gas Inventory Methods and the IPCC 2003 Good Practice Guidance for Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) and two National Academy of Science committees (in 2010 and 2018) related to land use, greenhouse gases and climate change mitigation. He served as a member of the US Carbon Cycle Science Steering Group, which provides expert input to Federal Agencies involved in climate and carbon cycle research. He also served on the Voluntary Carbon Standard Steering Committee for Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU) and on numerous other national and international committees involving climate and carbon cycle research. He is a Fellow of the Soil Science Society of America and 2015 recipient of the Soil Science Society of America’s Outstanding Research Award.

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