Nisha Arunatilake appointed as IPS Research Director

Dr. Nisha Arunatilakehas been appointed as the Director of Research of the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka (IPS), effective from 01 January 2018. 

The Director of Research will assume all responsibilities held under the former designation of Deputy Director of IPS. 

Dr. Arunatilake has been a Research Fellow at IPS since 2000. She has more than 18 years of post-doctoral experience in conducting policy related economic research in labour market analysis, education, public finance and health. She heads the Labour, Employment and Human Resource Development unit at the IPS. Her work is published in both local and international journals, book chapters and reports.

She has collaborated with, and has been a consultant to different organizations, including the World Bank, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Asian Development Bank (ADB), Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), and International Labour Organization (ILO) in numerous research studies. She was the lead author of the second National Human Development Report (2012) for Sri Lanka. She is a Research Associate of the Commitment to Equity (CEQ) Institute of the Tulane University of New Orleans, USA.

Dr. Arunatilake has served in national level committees on labour, employment, human resource development, migration, health sector reform, and tobacco and alcohol policy formulation.

She holds a BSc in Computer Science and Mathematics with summa cum laude from the University of the South, USA and an MA and PhD in Economics from Duke University, USA.