Nelum Piyasena

Dr. Nelum Piyasena is currently a Research Fellow at the Natural Products Program of the NIFS. She obtained her B.Sc. (Hons) Chemistry special degree (2001), M.Phil. (2005) degree and PhD (2011) degree from the University of Peradeniya. She was a DAAD Research Fellow (2008-2010) at the University of Gottingen, Germany. She has been a recipient of a Kandiah Memorial Award in 2006 from the Institute of Chemistry Ceylon and a Presidential award for scientific publications in 2015. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the NIFS funded by the National Science Foundation and a visiting lecturer in the Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, University of Peradeniya. Dr. Piyasena worked as a Principal Research Officer/Head of the Biochemistry Division at the Tea Research Institute of Sri Lanka from 2017 to 2024.

Her research interest mainly focuses on Natural Products Chemistry. She communicated her research findings through peer-reviewed articles and conference proceedings. To date, she has published around 20 papers and two book chapters in peer-reviewed international and local journals and presented over 50 papers in international and national scientific sessions.