Professor Premakumara de Silva is the Chair Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at the Department of Sociology, University of Colombo. He earned a PhD and MSc in Social Anthropology from University of Edinburgh, UK and MA and BA (Hon.) in Sociology from University of Colombo. He held the positions of an Honorary Research Professor at Deakin University, Australia and a Senior Research Fellow at University of Birmingham, UK. Former Deputy Vice-chancellor, Dean and Head of Sociology, Faculty of Arts, Senior Student Councellor, Act. Director Carrier Guidance Center of University of Colombo and the Acting Director at
National Center for Advanced Studies on Social Sciences (NCAS). Former member of UGC and the chairman of the UGC Standing Committees on Humanities and Social Sciences, Education, Fine Arts, Library and Information Science and Social Reconciliation.