Dr. Premakumara is a development planner, specialising in participatory environmental planning and sustainable urban development. He holds a PhD in Management Development from the Nihon Fukushi University, Japan in 2006. He has over 25 years’ experiences in working with academic, government, non-governmental, bilateral and international agencies. After serving as a postdoctoral fellow at the Meijo Asian Center, Meijo University, he started working for IGES, Kitakyushu Urban Centre in Japan in 2010. At the Kitakyushu Urban Centre, he focused on participatory planning and community-based development in establishing sustainable and low carbon cities. Currently, he works as a Senior Researcher/ Deputy Director of the IGES Centre Collaborating with UNEP on Environmental Technologies (CCET) and provides technical support for developing countries in improving waste and resource management. His work focuses on developing integrated/ holistic waste management strategies, policies and institutions at national and local levels, application of participatory learning and action methods to promote 3Rs (reduce, reuse and recycling) and circular economy/ ecological local circular societies, integration of informal sector and women participation in waste management, and linkages between waste and climate change as well as sustainable development goals (SDGs). He is a member of academic societies and regional networks and written regularly for academic and policy journals.
