Niluka Gunawardena is an educator, researcher and disability rights advocate based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Niluka earned a Master of Arts degree in Disability and Gender (Distinction) from the University of Leeds, and she teaches Disability Studies at the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. She is a consultant and curriculum developer for the University of Colombo. She is a faculty member of the Disability Sexuality and Rights Online Institute (DSROI) hosted by CREA. Niluka has taught Geography and Earth Science to secondary school students for several years and is currently working on introducing Mindfulness to school children and educators in conjunction with the Open University of Sri Lanka. Niluka regularly conducts community training workshops on Disability Rights using the CRPD-SDGs framework for a multitude of NGOs and DPOs. She also influences disability inclusive corporate policy
by leading disability rights awareness sessions for corporations. As a researcher, she has worked on evidence based policy for organisations like the Human Environment Research Observatory, Equal Ground and BBC. She is a co-founder of The Spectrum, a peer support group for individuals with psychosocial disabilities and Union of Abilities, a peer group for youth with physical disabilities in Sri Lanka. She is a Board member of Women Enabled International and serves on the Disability Advisory Panel of HYPE Sri Lanka.