Rubber Research Institute gets first chairwoman

Dr. Vishaka Sooriyabandara receives the appointment letter from Plantation Industries Minister Navin Dissanayake

Dr. Vishaka Sooriyabandara has been appointed as Chairperson of the Rubber Research Institute of Sri Lanka.

The appointment letter was handed over to Sooriyabandara by Plantation Industries Minister Navin Dissanayake on January 31, 2019, at the ministry premises, in Sethsiripaya.

A ministry statement said this was the first time Dissanayake appointed a chairwoman to head a key institution under his ministry. 

Sooriyabandara is also the first female chairperson of the history of the Rubber Research Institute of Sri Lanka.

Sooriyabandara, a Special Degree holder in Political Science and a lawyer, has completed the postgraduate programmes at the University of Peradeniya and 
University of Oslo.

Since 2001, she has been serving as a lecturer at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura.