Prof. Gamini Keerawella is an internationally renowned research scholar, the former Head and Professor in Modern History at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka who retired from the University in 2015 after 40 years of service. He earned his M.A. in 1992 and Ph.D. in 1998 from the University of Windsor and from the University of British Columbia, Canada respectively. His doctoral thesis was on ‘The Superpower Naval Rivalry the Indian Ocean’. Prof. Gamini Keerawella was a recipient of a number of prestigious fellowships: Fulbright Scholar-in-Resident Professorship tenable in the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, USA (2013-2014), Japan Foundation Fellowship at the Institute of Developing Economies in Tokyo, Japan (2003-04), Scholar-in-Residence, Centre for Theory, Baroda, India (2007), Senior Fulbright Fellowship tenable at the University of California-Berkeley, USA (1991-93), Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia, Perth (1991).

He has over 50 publications to his credit. His area of research includes peace and security in the Indian Ocean, regional security architecture and cooperation in South Asia, identity politics and post-colonial State formation in Sri Lanka. In 2016, University of Peradeniya honored Professor Gamini Keerawella by bestowing on him the Emeritus Professorship. He also worked as the Secretary, Ministry of Ethnic Affairs and National Integration and Mineral Resources Development (2001- 2002), the Founder Director of the National Integration Unit (1997-2000) and Advisor to the President on Ethnic Affairs (2002-2005). At present, Prof. Keerawella is the Executive Director, Regional Center for Strategic Studies (RCSS), Colombo, Sri Lanka and Prior that the Deputy Chief of Mission, the Embassy of Sri Lanka, Washington D.C., USA (October 2015 to November 2017).