Professor Nilwala Kottegoda

Background

“Manipulating matter at molecular level to uplift human well-being”

Nilwala Kottegoda has exhibited exceptional merit by obtaining her first class degree in Chemistry from University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka and her PhD in Materials Chemistry from the University of Cambridge. She is a Professor at the Department of Chemistry, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka and a visiting academic/ Fulbright scholar at Rice University, USA.

She has enormously contributed towards the advancement of the field of smart materials with a particular emphasis on uplifting human well-being using next generation drug/nutrient delivery systems based on natural products. She is a principal inventor of over 20 granted patents along many high-indexed journals. A couple of research projects carried out by her team have also resulted in commercial success and technology transfer.

She was denominated as one of the nine most inventive women scientists by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in 2018 as an honour to celebrate her revolutionary inventions in many fields of nanotechnology. As a result of her exceptional merits, she was awarded Fulbright fellowship in 2018 and the World Academy of Science Young Scientist Award.

Current activities

Project collaboration and research advice.