Educational Qualification:

• Ph.D. in Plant Science, University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka (2023)
• B.Sc. Agric. (Hons), University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka (2016)
• Certificate in Teaching and related Initial Practices (CTrIP) in Higher Education, Eastern University, 
• Sri Lanka (2022)

Work Experience:

• 2023.11.03 to present: Senior Lecturer Gr. II, Department of Agricultural Biology, EUSL
• 2022.03.28 – 2023.10.31: Lecturer (Prob.), Department of Biosystems Technology, EUSL
• 2021.06.21 – 2015.03.26: Instructor, Department of Agricultural Technology, Faculty of Technology, University of Colombo

• Google Scholar
  https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ojduVlMAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao
• ResearchGate
  https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Asanka-Tennakoon
• ORCiD
  https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3743-6361

1. Sandamal, S., Tennakoon, A., Meng, Q.L., Marambe, B., Ratnasekera, D., Melo, A. and Ge, S., 2018. Population genetics and evolutionary history of the wild rice species Oryza rufipogon and O. nivara in Sri Lanka. Ecology and evolution, 8(23), pp.12056-12065. doi:10.1002/ece3.4665. 
2. Asanka Tennakoon; Sandamal Salinda; Parakkrama Wijerathna; Song Ge; DABN Amarasekera; Buddhi Marambe; Sara M. Elwany; Sobhy Sorour; Ayman El Sabagh; Mohamed M. Hassan; Disna Ratnasekera; 2022. Phenotypic Characterization of Wild Relatives of Rice (Oryza nivara (Sharma et Shastry)) Collected from different ecological niches of Sri Lanka, Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany. 
3. Sandamal, S., Tennakoon, A., Amarasekera, D.A.B.N., Marambe, B. and Ratnasekera, D., 2021. Functional trait diversity of wild rice species in Sri Lanka: implications for field identification and application. Journal of the National Science Foundation of Sri Lanka, 49, p.369. 
4. Tennakoon, A., Sandamal, S., Ge, S., Marambe, B. and Ratnasekera, D., 2023. Weedy rice: An insight into genetic diversity and population structure for effective weed management. Journal of Tropical Agricultural Research and Extension, 26 (2), p. 135-150. (https://doi.org/10.4038/tare.v26i2.5660).
5. Ratnasekera, D., Tennakoon, A., Sandamal, S., Wijerathna, P. (2022). Perception of Advanced Techniques in Conservation and Utilization of Wild Genetic Resources of Rice. In: Ramamoorthy, S., Buot, I.J., Chandrasekaran, R. (eds) Plant Genetic Resources, Inventory, Collection and Conservation. Springer, Singapore (https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-7699-4_21). 
6. Tennakoon, A., Galahitigama, G.A.H., Tharindi, P.W.M., Suthajini, T., Abeysinghe, N.P.M., Sandamal, S., Rajendran, K., Hadifa, A.A., El Sabagh, A. and Ratnasekera, D., 2023. Accumulation and Toxicity of Arsenic in Rice and Its Practical Mitigation. In Climate-Resilient Agriculture, Vol 2: Agro-Biotechnological Advancement for Crop Production (pp. 463-498). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
7. Asanka Tennakoon; Salinda Sandamal, Nishadini Wasana; Disna Ratnasekera., 2023. Plant-Assisted Bioremediation of Heavy Metals in Soil and Water. Phytoremediation and Biofortification (pp. 99-131)Apple Academic, CRC Press, Taylor and Francis Group (https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003402084-5)

Research papers published in abstract form

1. Asanka Tennakoon; Salinda Sandamal; Parakkrama Wijerathne; Disna Ratnasekera. Origin, evolution and genetic basis of weedy rice in Sri Lanka. International Conference on Emerging Trends in Biotechnology (ICETB) – 2020, Vellore Institute of Technology, India.
2. Asanka Tennakoon; Salinda Sandamal; Disna Ratnasekera; Arthur Melo. Genetic structure and diversity of weedy rice populations in Sri Lanka. The 27th Asian-Pacific Weed Science Society conference - 2019, Riverside Majestic Hotel, Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia.
3. Asanka Tennakoon; Salinda Sandamal; Disna Ratnasekera. Habitat preference of common wild rice species in Sri Lanka by species distribution modeling techniques. International Conference on Climate Change and its Impact on Global Food Security & Sustainability of Agriculture - 2019, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India.
4. Disna Ratnasekera; Asanka Tennakoon; Salinda Sandamal; Parakkrama Wijerathna; W.M.R.H. Wickramasinghe; Amith Iroshan; W.M.C.S. Jayaweera. Divergence pattern of life-history traits in Oryza nivara and Oryza rufipogon natural populations in Sri Lanka. Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation - Asia Pacific Conference (ATBC-AP 2019), Sri Lanka.
5. Wijerathna, P., Sandamal, S., Tennakoon, A. and Ratnasekera, D., 2023. Life-History Traits Divergence of Selected Natural Populations of Oryza rufipogon in Sri Lanka, International Conference on Building Resilience in Tropical Agro-ecosystems – 2023, The Galle Face Hotel, Colombo 3 – Sri Lanka.
6. Disna Ratnasekera; Asanka Tennakoon; Salinda Sandamal; Parakkrama Wijerathna. Molecular characterization of selected wild rice (O. rufipogon and O. nivara) populations in Sri Lanka. ICMAS 2021, International Conference on Multidisciplinary Approaches in Science, Faculty of Science, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.

1. Plant Science
2. Plant Physiology
3. Plant Speciation and Adaptation
4. Evolutionary Biology
5. Molecular Biology
6. Population Genetics
7. Plant Breeding
8. Agriculture

• AB 4113 Stress Physiology

• Overseas Special Training Program (OSTP Travel Award) National Science Foundation, Sri Lanka (2016-2017)

1. Committee Members - Proposal Writing for the AHEAD Project, Phase II, FoA, EUSL (2023)
2. Member - Self-Evaluation Report (SER), Centre for Quality Assurance, Eastern University, Sri Lanka (2022-2023).
3. The Senate Nominee, Faculty of Technology, Eastern University, Sri Lanka (2022).
4. Coordinator – Annual Research Session 2022 (ARSFOT-2022), Faculty of Technology, Eastern University, Sri Lanka (2022).