Devindi Geekiyanage

Known as

Devindi Geekiyanage

Contact Details

THINKlab
7th Floor Maxwell Building
University of Salford
Salford
M5 4WT

View full profile

D.Geekiyanage@salford.ac.uk

Current positions

Lecturer

Biography

Dr Devindi Geekiyanage is a Lecturer in Quantity Surveying in the School of Science, Engineering and Environment at the University of Salford. With nearly a decade of academic experience in the UK and internationally, she brings expertise spanning construction education, curriculum leadership, research supervision, and academic citizenship across the built environment disciplines. She is a Fellow of Advance HE (FHEA) and holds a Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice.

Dr Geekiyanage teaches across undergraduate, degree apprenticeship, and postgraduate programmes in Quantity Surveying, Construction Management, Project Management, and related built environment disciplines, with subject expertise in Construction Economics, Procurement, Contract Management and Practice, Risk and Value Management, and Research Methods. As a module leader at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, she directs curriculum design, assessment strategy, moderation, and continuous enhancement, and leads teaching for cohorts exceeding 200 students across full-time, part-time, apprenticeship, mature, and international communities, sustaining an inclusive and supportive learning environment recognised in consistently positive student feedback. Her commitment to academic standards extends across institutions: she serves as verifier and moderator for Salford provision and transnational partner delivery in Bahrain and Sri Lanka, and contributes to institutional teaching quality assurance and review. 

Dr Geekiyanage is dedicated to developing the next generation of built environment professionals and researchers. She supervises research from undergraduate to doctoral level, with current doctoral projects spanning infrastructure risk management, construction safety, and the digital transformation of project management practice, and has supervised more than 45 postgraduate and undergraduate dissertations across her career in the UK and Sri Lanka. Her supervision interests encompass regenerative and liveable cities, climate-resilient built environments, sustainable construction, energy retrofit and building performance, and digital and emerging technologies that support sustainable, adaptive urban development. She serves as internal and external examiner for research degrees and mentors early-career academics and researchers internationally. 

Dr Geekiyanage holds a portfolio of formal leadership roles that shape research culture and academic community at Salford. She leads the Climate Change and Sustainable Construction Postgraduate Research Development Group, driving researcher development, interdisciplinary collaboration, and knowledge exchange for a community of doctoral researchers. She is Deputy Lead of the BuHu Climate Resilience Research Group and Convenor of the Community and Stakeholder Engagement Research Cluster, championing collaborative research and its translation into societal impact. She represents the School in university-level initiatives, including the development of the University's Knowledge Equity Declaration, and contributes to wider academic service through recruitment and selection panels for academic posts and research quality evaluation.

 Externally, Dr Geekiyanage is a visible contributor to the international built environment community. She is Chair of the AMPS Liveable Cities Conference (Salford, 2026) and serves on scientific committees for international conferences including the Pacific Association of Quantity Surveyors Congress and the World Construction Symposium. She holds editorial roles with international journals, reviews for leading built environment and sustainability titles, and delivers invited lectures and professional development sessions in the UK and internationally.

Areas of Research

•Community engagement and participatory research for resilience-building
•Anticipatory action for climate change
•Regenerative city building
•Risk-sensitive and inclusive urban planning
•Community-centred digital solutions for disaster risk management
•Knowledge co-production for equitable and healthier cities

Research Profile Overview:

Devindi Geekiyanage is a researcher with expertise in community engagement and participatory research, creating impact by enabling sustainable and equitable community resilience and shaping healthier, more inclusive cities. She holds significant research responsibilities contributing to the Research Excellence Framework (REF) impact of the University of Salford (USAL) and is also a Researcher at ThinkLab (https://thinklab.salford.ac.uk/), where her work focuses on community-centred and digital solutions for disaster risk management and resilience across the UK and South Asia, particularly in regions vulnerable to floods and landslides.

Her doctoral research, fully funded through the GCRF/ESRC TRANSCEND project (https://transcend-project.org.uk), advanced the field of risk-sensitive urban planning by developing a theory of change for promoting community engagement in inclusive planning (Thesis: https://salford-repository.worktribe.com/output/2158070). Using grounded theory and participatory methods, she tested multiple engagement strategies and established local networks for data collection and framework validation. Building on this foundation, she continues to pioneer participatory methodologies that bridge academic knowledge, community voices, and policy-making.

As a co-investigator on the ENSEMBLE project (https://www.ensemble-photovoice.science/en/home), funded by NFRF/SSHRC, Devindi employs photovoice, community-based concept mapping, and participatory evaluation. This global initiative, conducted in six cities across Canada, Spain, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso, and the UK, addresses the UN Research Roadmap for COVID-19 Recovery by exploring how community spaces can enhance social resilience and cohesion, while developing strategies for sustainable, inclusive, and resilient cities. In Manchester, ENSEMBLE has fostered collaborations with over 16 humanitarian organizations and local councils, creating lasting pathways for participatory research and a Digital Storytelling Platform (https://photovoice.ekisia.uk).

Currently, she leads the APRISE project, which develops a community-based anticipatory action framework for Sri Lanka’s agricultural sector, contributing to a national initiative for comprehensive anticipatory action strategies (Participatory Research Funds 2024/25). In parallel, she leads the anticipatory action framework development at the Kalutara Living Lab (https://kalutara.mobilise-srilanka.org/), that co-creates anticipatory actions with local stakeholders in disaster-prone districts. This work strengthens the capabilities of ThinkLab’s MOBILISE digital solutions, enabling communities to take proactive measures that reduce hazard impacts.

Previously, Devindi was the principal researcher for the community engagement work package of the TRANSCEND project, developing approaches for inclusive and resilient urban development in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Malaysia. Earlier in her career, she contributed to projects on BIM-enabled cost modelling, disaster-induced resettlement, and labour productivity management in construction, including collaborations with the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, and Deakin University, Australia.

She has published over 20 peer-reviewed articles and conference papers, authored a book chapter, and received nine research awards, including four Best Paper Awards and two Best Presentation Awards. At USAL, she leads a growing doctoral research group of over 30 PhD students focused on sustainable, climate-resilient built environments. Beyond her own projects, she contributes to shaping the global discourse on construction management and disaster risk reduction through active roles on scientific committees for conferences such as World Construction Symposium (https://ciobwcs.com), International Research Conference of Faculty of Architecture Research Unit (FARU - https://faru.uom.lk/FARU%202025/#scientific), University of Salford Postgraduate Annual Research Conference (SPARC), and University of Salford International Postgraduate Research Conference (IPGRC - https://hub.salford.ac.uk/ipgrc-conference/).

Areas of Supervision

Leveraging Artificial Intelligence for Improved Retrofit Planning and Project Management in the Construction Industry (Paria Nostrati)

Evolving Paradigms of Project Management in the Digital Era: A Comprehensive Study (Ahmed Sanusi)

Stakeholders Perceptions on Risk Management Practices in Public Infrastructure Projects in Nigerian Construction Industry (Maryam Bayawo)

Impact of Nigerian Building Code on Sustainability of Nigerian Construction Industry: A Case of Lagos State (Ernest Ekwunife)

Teaching Qualifications and Recognitions Publications

Teaching

- Construction Economics (Module Leader) (Level 5 - Quantity Surveying)
- Risk and Value Management (Level 6 - Quantity Surveying)
- Procurement and Administration (Level 5 - Quantity Surveying)
- Procurement (Module Lead) (Level 7 - MSc/PgDip/PgCert Construction Management; MSc/PgDip/PgCert Project Management in Construction; MSc/PgDip/PgCert Quantity Surveying; MSc/PgDip/Pg Cert Quantity Surveying (M&E))
- Contract Management and Practice (Level 7 - MSc/PgDip/PgCert Construction Management; MSc/PgDip/PgCert Project Management in Construction; MSc/PgDip/PgCert Quantity Surveying; MSc/PgDip/Pg Cert Quantity Surveying (M&E))
- Research Dissertation (Level 7 - PGT)

- UG and PGT research supervision
- PhD Supervision
- PGR Development Group on Climate Change and Sustainable Construction (Lead)

Qualifications and Recognitions

Qualifications

PGCAP
2025 - 2025
BSc (Hons)
(MPhil) Construction and Project Management
PhD in Disaster Management

Recognitions

Frontiers Award for Best Technical Paper
Built Environment Project and Asset Management (BEPAM) Best Paper Award
Built Environment Project and Asset Management (BEPAM) Highly Commended Paper Award
People’s choice award at the 3MT Thesis Competition

Publications

View all Publications