Prof. Maithree Wickramasinghe (PhD) is Professor in English at the Department of English and was the founding Director of the Centre for Gender Studies at the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. She is also a Visiting Professor at the School of Education and Social Work, University of Sussex, United Kingdom. She has written extensively on gender mainstreaming, sexual and gender-based violence, women and development as well as feminist research methodology. Her publications include Towards Gender Equity / Equality: A Scan of Gender Sensitive Laws, Policies and Programs (2012), Feminist Research Methodology – Making Meanings of Meaning Making (2010), Gender Dimensions in Disaster Management (2003/2005) co-authored with Madhavi Malalgoda Ariyabandhu (translated into Urdhu, Hindi, Tamil and Sinhala). She is also the author of From Theory to Action - Women, Gender and Development (2000) and has formulated a comprehensive training module for workshops on gender mainstreaming in universities. Professor Wickramasinghe counts over twenty five years of experience as a gender expert in formulating gender mainstreaming polices, conducting gender trainings and evaluating women’s and gender programs for local and international organizations including the ILO, the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), CARE International and Practical Action. She has also delivered keynotes and addressed a number of plenaries for academic and professional organizations in China, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Pakistan, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, the UK, the US and Zimbabwe.