Anu Ekanayake
- Position: Research Impact, Innovation and Engagement Officer
- Areas of expertise: Respiratory microbiome; Mcirobiology; Molecular biology; Research communication
- Email: E.M.Ekanayake@leeds.ac.uk
- Location: 7.10 L C Miall Building
- Website: LinkedIn | Researchgate | ORCID
Profile
I have joined University of Leeds in 2024 as Faculty of Biological Sciences RIIE officer. I am assisting academics working with the research support staff to explore the impact of their research, explore innovative and engagement opportunities for maximising their reach. This includes impact case study development towards REF 2029 and working with wider faculty and university teams to support external stakeholder engagement.
Before joining UoL, I have been a researcher since 2014 working on different research themes, mainly human respiratory microbiome. I was a research assistant at National Institute of Fundamental Studies, Sri Lanka (2015- 2020) where I conducted my MPhil. work and during my PhD, I was employed as a Teaching Fellow in Biomedical Science at University of Hull (2023- 2024).
Responsibilities
- Research imapact, REF impact case studies
- Research innovation mapping
- Impact and engagement
Qualifications
- BSc. (Hons) Biomedical Science, Northumbria University, UK (2014)
- MPhil. Thesis on Respiratory microbiome, Universilty of Colombo, Sri Lanka (2020)
- PhD Medical Sciences, Hull York Medical School, UK (reading)