Ms. Piyumani Ranasinghe

Piyumani Panchali Ranasinghe (she/her) is a Senior Research Fellow at the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute. An Attorney-at-Law and interdisciplinary researcher, she specializes in gender, environmental and climate governance, and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). Piyumani is also a certified International Negotiator, a distinction awarded by the Center for Human Rights at the University of Padova, Italy.

Her extensive academic portfolio includes an M.Sc. in Human Rights and Multiculturalism from the University of South-Eastern Norway (2021-2023), an LL.B. from the University of Peradeniya (2014-2018), and a B.Sc. in International Relations from the University of London (2013-2016). She is currently reading for her second Master’s degree in Women and Gender Studies at the University of Colombo.

Recognized by Echelon as a “Shine 50” awardee among Sri Lanka’s top emerging trailblazers in Law, Policy, and Human Rights, Piyumani previously served as a Social Policy Officer for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and as a Researcher at the Centre for Policy Alternatives. Beyond her research, she is a Visiting Lecturer in Environmental Law at the University of Peradeniya and teaches International Relations at the Royal Institute of Colombo. Her published work focuses on international human rights and environmental governance, with a specific interest in pluriversal approaches to environmental security. Her recent publications
include:

• Ranasinghe, P. P. (2025). The Epistemological Deficit concerning the “Scheduled Tribes” Juridical Identity and the Reservations System in Post-Colonial India: Reflections on the Systematic Misrecognition and Non-Recognition of Adivasis, In L. Jubilut, G. Garcez, F. Ribeiro, E. de Siqueira, M. Velásquez, C. Bandeira & A. Gaida (Eds.), Direitos humanos e vulnerabilidade e questões raciais. Editora Universitária Leopoldianum.

• Ranasinghe, P. P., Mezzanotti, G. (2024). Critical Climate Justice, The Right to a Healthy Environment and the Struggles towards Biocentric Transitions: A Critical Discourse Study on the Greenpeace Nordic Case, In L. Jubilut, F. Rai and G. Garcez (Eds.), Justiça Climática e
  Vulnerabilidade. Editora Foco.

• Ranasinghe, P. P., Gunawardana, A. (2023). Small State Diplomacy for Wetland Conservation: Bilateral Partnership between Singapore and Sri Lanka, In Cooke, Attanayake & Iyer (Eds.), Singapore and Sri Lanka at 50: Perspectives from Sri Lanka. Sarasavi Publishers.

• Mezzanotti, G., Ranasinghe, P. P. (2022). Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour? A Critical Discourse Analysis of Sri Lanka’s Challenges Implementing SDG16. In Å. Valen-Sendstad & J. S. Kumara (Eds.), Human Rights and Reconciliation in the Post-Conflict Multicultural Society in Sri Lanka. S.
  Godage & Brothers.