Professor Champika Liyanage

Champika is the Co-director of UCLan’s Centre for Sustainable Transitions. She is the Research Degree Tutor within the Civil Engineering and Construction (CCE) side of the School of Engineering and Computing. As part of this role, she is responsible for recruiting and managing PhD students in CCE. Champika is also the MSc Dissertation Coordinator within CCE. She supports, guides and manages MSc students (in UCLan Mauritius) in Project Management and Construction Project Management courses.

Our School of Engineering and Computing was awarded the Athena SWAN Bronze Award in April 2021. It is only the second department to be awarded this accolade here. This submission was successfully led by Champika with other members of the Athena SWAN Self-Assessment Team of the school. The Athena Swan Charter is a framework which is used across the globe to support and transform gender equality within higher education and research.

Furthermore, Champika is a member of the University’s Charter Marks group. This provides a public opportunity to focus on equality strands, to celebrate successes and stretch our ambitions. Moreover, she is the Research Excellence Framework (REF) lead for Unit of Assessment (UoA) 13 on Architecture and Built Environment.

Champika is actively involved in a wide array of research relating to sustainability; facilities and infrastructure management; and capacity building in disaster resilience. She has published over 150 peer-reviewed publications (journal and conferences papers) to-date. Through sheer hard work and perseverance, she was able to access a range of opportunities and experiences, such as developing a strong international research portfolio. By securing funding, including from Horizon 2020 and EU ERASMUS+, Champika has been able to carve a research path, developing a range of internal, national and international projects and networks.