Dr. Ranjith Dayaratne

Dr. Ranjith Dayaratrne is the Head of the School of Asian School of Architecture, Melbourne, Australia. He was a Professor, an Associate Professor and an Assistant Professor at the Department of Architecture and Interior Design at the University of Bahrain from 2000-2022. He has been a Senior Lecturer at the University of Moratuwa (1992-2000), Sri Lanka and a Visiting Research Scholar at the University of Melbourne (2004-2006), Australia. A Commonwealth Scholar (1988-1992) and a Fellow of Commonwealth Understanding (1995). He held the positions of Secretary and Chairman of the Board of Architectural Publications of the Sri Lanka Institute of Architects (SLIA) and edited the ‘Sri Lanka architect Journal’, ‘Built-environment-Sri Lanka’, and Vastu journals (1995-2000). He has published on the Vernacular Sri Lankan settlements, Environmental sustainability, Architectural Identity of Bahrain, and Sri Lankan Diaspora architecture of Melbourne, among others. He authored three articles on Sri Lanka in Oliver, P. (edited) (1997) The Encyclopaedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World, published by the Cambridge University Press.

Having been the Chair of the Department of Architecture and Interior Design at the University of Bahrain from 2015 to 2019, Dr. Dayaratne now leads the M.Arch program offered by the University of Bahrain.

In 2015, he founded the International Conference on Urban Environments titled "Cities People Places" annually organised by the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. He is currently the editor of ISVS e-journal and coordinates the activities of the International Society for the Study of Vernacular Settlements (ISVS). He also edits ‘Built-environment Sri Lanka’ published by the Sri Lanka Institute of Architects and ‘Cities people & Places’ Journal published by the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka.