Dr Asela K. Kulatunga

I am a Lecturer in Industrial Systems (E&R) attached to the Department of Engineering, Faculty of Environment, Science, and Economics, University of Exeter, UK, and currently serve as the Director of the MSc Programme in International Supply Chain Management too. I hold two decades of academic and research experience in working in different parts of the world. I graduated as a Production/Manufacturing Engineer from the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, in 2000 and did my PhD in Industrial Engineering from the University of Technology, Sydney, Australia, in 2013. My research focuses on sustainability aspects of industrial and supply chain engineering problems. I prefer to work on transdisciplinary, complex problems pertaining to supply chains and industrial problems, which requires systems thinking. I adapt systematic review, modelling & simulation, data analytics, and novel innovations to provide optimal & near-optimal solutions to complex engineering & management problems. Prior to joining the University of Exeter, I served as a Fulbright Advance Research and Teaching Scholar at the Institute of Sustainable Manufacturing, University of Kentucky, USA, in 2023; a gLink Erasmus Mundus Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Bremen, Germany, in 2015/2016; a Professor and Head of the Department of Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering from 2020 to 2023; and a Senior Lecturer from 2013 to 2020 at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. I have served in various international forums and committees, which include IISE-USA, GCSM-Germany, IEOM-USA, CPSL-Germany, and some national committees related to ministries of environment, industries, agriculture, vocational training, etc., in Sri Lanka.