Vajira Lasantha studies the role of water in earth system and socioeconomic resilience

Lasantha is a PhD candidate and a member of the SAFER project which aims to assess the global water resilience loss and its teleconnected impacts. Within the SAFER project, he focuses on detecting water resilience loss, studying the role of green water for water resilience, and investigating the interacting and remotely-felt impacts of water resilience loss, taking a multifaceted approach that includes land surface modelling, moisture tracking, and network analysis.

Lasantha has a diverse background spanning hydrology, environmental engineering, water resources, and water infrastructure. Before joining Stockholm Resilience Centre, he was a joint double masters scholar at the University of Tokyo and the United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability, where he studied Urban Environmental Engineering and Sustainability. His thesis projects focused on sustainable sanitation and global water resources. Previously, he worked as a water and environmental engineer in Sri Lanka, designing water and sanitation infrastructure and conducting hydrological studies and environmental assessments. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from University of Moratuwa in Sri Lanka.

Supervisors

• Lan Wang-Erlandsson (Main Supervisor)
• Juan Rocha (Co-supervisor)