National Award

2021: National Research Council Sri Lanka Merit Award for Scientific Research

Saja received National Research Council Sri Lanka Merit Award for Scientific Research in 2021 for the publication in IJDRR in the year 2018. [Each year, a merit award is given for each of the second 100 papers published by Sri Lankan academics in journals with the highest SCImago Journal Ranking]

International Fellowships

2024: Community Engagement Exchange Specialist/Mentor, IREX – USA/Dept. of State, USA 

2023-2025: Commonwealth Fellow of the Commonwealth Futures Climate Research Cohort, Association of Commonwealth Universities, UK 

2022-2023: Climate Action Champions Network (CACN) – South Asia Fellowship

Saja received National Research Council Sri Lanka Merit Award for Scientific Research in 2021 for the publication in IJDRR in the year 2018. [Each year, a merit award is given for each of the second 100 papers published by Sri Lankan academics in journals with the highest SCImago Journal Ranking]

2020: Fellowship for World Risk and Adaptation Futures Academy, United Nations University, Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS), Bonn, Germany

2019: Fellowship for ProSPER.Net 2019 Young Researchers’ School, United Nations University Institute of Advanced Sustainability (UNU-IAS), Japan

2018: Community Solutions Fellow, IREX, United States of America

Saja received National Research Council Sri Lanka Merit Award for Scientific Research in 2021 for the publication in IJDRR in the year 2018. [Each year, a merit award is given for each of the second 100 papers published by Sri Lankan academics in journals with the highest SCImago Journal Ranking]

2017: International Young Professional Fellow 

Saja received National Research Council Sri Lanka Merit Award for Scientific Research in 2021 for the publication in IJDRR in the year 2018. [Each year, a merit award is given for each of the second 100 papers published by Sri Lankan academics in journals with the highest SCImago Journal Ranking]

2017 – to date: Integrated Research on Disaster Risk Young Scientist 

Saja received National Research Council Sri Lanka Merit Award for Scientific Research in 2021 for the publication in IJDRR in the year 2018. [Each year, a merit award is given for each of the second 100 papers published by Sri Lankan academics in journals with the highest SCImago Journal Ranking]

2017 – Global Fellow of Centre for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies (CHRHS), Brown University, USA

2016 – to date: International Fellow – Humanitarian Innovation Initiative

Saja received National Research Council Sri Lanka Merit Award for Scientific Research in 2021 for the publication in IJDRR in the year 2018. [Each year, a merit award is given for each of the second 100 papers published by Sri Lankan academics in journals with the highest SCImago Journal Ranking]

2015: Fellowship for Summer Academy, Humanitarian Response and Post-Conflict Reconstruction: Increasing Effectiveness and Accountability in the Age of Complex Emergencies, Brown University International Advanced Research Institutes (BIARI)

2006: Recipient of Netherlands Fellowship Program (NFP)

Grants (Research/Projects)

International

Project Lead, Youth Entrepreneurship Sustainability (YES) Hub Sri Lanka, award-winning Alumni Engagement Innovation Project from US department of state, 2020 (Only project from Sri Lanka among projects in 64 countries) [US$19,460]

Project Lead, Online Research Leadership Workshop for 26 Commonwealth Futures Climate Leaders Cohort of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU)/British Council with MIND Sri Lanka, April 2021 [£2,500]

Project Coordinator, Climate Change Adapted Water Management for Graduates, under EU ERASMUS+ Capacity Building for Higher Educational Institutions Project led by NMBU, Norway with 11 HEIs in Europe and Asia, €1 Million, 2021-2024

Project Lead/Investigator, Exploring the (In)coherence between Climate Risk Mitigation  and  Energy in the Policy Frameworks, funded by US Embassy in Sri Lanka,2023-24 [US$ 4,700]

Co-Investigator, Enhancing Resilience in Urban Informal Settlements: Understanding and Strengthening Informal Systems, ACU Knowledge Exchange Climate Cohort Grant [£37,496]

Training Seed Grant in collaboration with UCAN (Youth Creative Action Network) for “Developing an awareness training module on Humanitarian Essentials for Youth” supported by Humanitarian Innovation Initiative at Brown University, USA, 2018. https://watson.brown.edu/chrhs/files/chrhs/imce/education/Humanitarian%20Essential%20for%20Youth%20-Trainer%20Guide.pdf

Research Seed Grant from Brown International Advance Research Institute (BIARI) Alumni fund for “assessing the effectiveness of health systems – case of Nepal post-earthquake in 2015“.

Research Seed Grant in collaboration with Brown University, USA and Boston University USA on “assessing the effectiveness of health systems – case of 2015 Kathmandu earthquake“, selected under R2HC (Research for Health in Humanitarian Crises) by Enhancing Learning & Research for Humanitarian Assistance (ELRAH), UK, 2016.

Research Seed Grant in collaboration with COMSAT University, Pakistan for undertaking a research study on the “Effectiveness of Faith Based Organizations in disaster response – Case studies in Sri Lanka and Pakistan“, supported by Humanitarian Innovation Initiative at Brown University, USA, 2017.

Training Seed Grant in collaboration with Field Ready for “Developing a training module on “Managing Innovation – The future of humanitarian aid’  funded by the Humanitarian Innovation Initiative at Brown University, USA, 2019. https://watson.brown.edu/chrhs/education/seed-grants-managing-innovation

SPIN (Sri Lanka, Pakistan, India and Nepal) regional seed grant for the research on “Examining The Heat Stress Impact on the South Asian Vulnerable Urban Population – A System Thinking Approach” supported by IRDR-ICoE Taipei under the 2018 Advanced Institute – Heat Stress Sensors, Early Warning and Information Technology in collaboration with Academia Sinica, Taiwan and International Science Council Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Malaysia, Jan 2019.

National

“Examining heat wave comfort level of students in Sri Lankan urban schools” under School Heat Health Pilot Project, (2019) supported by the consortium of Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI), Janathakshan (GTE) Limited, SLYCAN Trust and Integrated Development Association (IDEA), formed to develop the Research and Communication Strategy for addressing the Climate Change issues in Sri Lanka, supervised by the Climate Change Secretariat of the Ministry of Mahaweli Development and Environment.