Professor Samantha Karunaratne of Qujing Normal University and Sugath Rathnayake, a lecturer in the Department of Sinhala Studies at Yunnan University in China, have been awarded the Yunnan Friendship Award.
This is the first time that a Sri Lankan has been awarded this award, and it is special that two Sri Lankans have received the Yunnan Provincial Friendship Award this time.
This is an award given by the Yunnan Provincial Government to recognize foreign experts who have made invaluable contributions to the development of Yunnan Province.
Foreign experts who have made outstanding contributions to the introduction of advanced concepts, advanced technologies, and the latest achievements in the fields of science and technology, education, health, news, publishing, culture, art, and sports are recognized here.
The winners of the Yunnan Friendship Award are conferred medals, certificates, and a one-time bonus. Along with these two Sri Lankans, eight other foreign experts have been granted this award.
Professor Samantha Karunaratna works at Qujing Normal University in China and was previously a postdoctoral researcher at the Kunming Institute of Botany, the Chinese Academy of Sciences. To date, Prof. Karunarathna has published approximately 250 SCI publications with an H-index of 44 and 12,750 citations and has co-authored four books. According to the rankings by Stanford University, Prof. Karunarathna was recognized as one of the world’s top 2% scientists in 2022, 2023, and 2024. His research interests are taxonomy, phylogeny, and domestication of mushrooms.
Sugath Rathnayake is the founding foreign lecturer of the Sinhala Studies Department of Yunnan University, and he previously worked as a foreign expert in the Sinhala Service of China Radio International in Beijing. He has rendered outstanding service to the establishment and development of the Sinhala Studies Department of Yunnan University. Among his contributions is taking the initiative to establish the “Sri Lanka-China Friendship Library” with a donation of 1000 Sinhala books.
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