Academic Profile

• • PhD in Microbiology (University of Manitoba, Canada)
  • MPhil in Soil science (University of Jaffna, Sri Lanka)
  • BSc in Agriculture (University of Jaffna, Sri Lanka).

Academic positions held

• • Lecturer – February 2016 to date
  • Assistant Librarian – February 2014 to February 2016
  • Demonstrator – April 2013 to February 2014
  • Assistant Lecturer – November 2011 to April 2013

Research Interests

• • Understanding soil bacterial community structure and interaction using molecular analysis

• • Isolation and characterization of phosphate solubilizing bacteria 

• • Application of soil microbes in Agriculture

Faculty Level

• • Coordinator for the Social Harmony and active citizenship II course in 2018 & 2019

University Level

• • Facilitator for Social Harmony and active citizenship course offered for First year undergraduates, Faculty of Science, University of Jaffna 2017
  • University Sports Advisory Committee Member 2017-2018
  • Editor of Jaffna Science Association Section B 2016 
  • Committee Member of Jaffna Science Association Section B 2015

Regional/ National Level

International Level

Undergraduate Teaching:

• • Soil and Environment
  • Soil properties and processes
  • Soil Classification and soils of Sri Lanka
  • Soil fertility and plant nutrition
  • Social harmony and Active citizenship
  • Soil chemistry
  • Soil physics
  • Soil biology and Fertility

Postgraduate Teaching: 

Teaching in other Institutions: 

Diploma/ Certificate Programs:

Postgraduate Supervision:

Undergraduate Supervision:

Research Grants Received:

• • University Research Grant 2017, Screening beneficial microorganisms from onion rhizosphere and assessing their performance under field conditions, Rs.800000.00. 2017 – 2018

Consultancy Services:

Full Papers in Peer Reviewed Journals

• • Shayanthan, A., Ordoñez, P., and Oresnik, I. (2022). The Role of Synthetic Microbial Communities (SynCom) in Sustainable Agriculture.Front in Agron. 4. doi: 10.3389/fagro.2022.896307
  • Ambihai, S and Gnanavelrajah, N., 2013, “Improving soil productivity through charred biomass amendment to soil” American-Eurasian J. Agric. & Environ. Sci., 13 (10): 1345-1350 DOI: 10.5829/idosi.aejaes.2013.13.10.11065

Books

Book Chapters

Extended Abstracts

• • Ambihai, S. and Gnanavelrajah, N., “Effect of Charred Biomass addition on Fertility Characteristics of Soil”, The 2nd International symposium – 2012, pp.112 – 115, 2012.

Abstracts Presented at Conferences

• • Shayanthan, A., Motnenko, A. and Oresnik, I. (2024). Isolation of a Non-Symbiotic Plant Growth Promoting Paraburkholderia strydomiana. 73rd Annual Conference of the Canadian Society of Microbiologists, Canada. 
  • Shayanthan, A., Ordoñez, P., Lawley, Y., and Oresnik, I. (2022). The effect of soybean in crop rotations on the composition of soil bacterial communities. 71st Annual Conference of the Canadian Society of Microbiologists, Canada.
  • Shayanthan, A., Ordoñez, P., Lawley, Y., and Oresnik, I. (2022). Soybean growth stages alter the composition of soil bacterial communities. 18th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology, Switzerland.
  • Neilagini, P., Shayanthan, A., Gnanavelrajah, N., Rajapaksha, R.M.C.P., Arasakesary, S.J. and Amirthalojanan, A., (2019). Performance of Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria on Cluster Onion (Allium cepa L.) under Field Condition. Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Dry zone Agriculture held during 19th and 20th December 2019, 5: 79. 
  • Shayanthan, A., Gnanavelrajah, N., and Rajapaksha, R.M.C.P., (2019). Effect of bacterial inoculation on growth and yield of onion (Allium cepa L.) in Kilinochchi under greenhouse conditions, International Symposium on Agriculture and Environment 2019, University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka.
  • Ambihai, S., Gnanavelrajah, N., and Rajapaksha, R.M.C.P., 2016, Efficiency of microbial strains on yield of onion (Allium cepa) under greenhouse conditions, Proceedings of the Wayamba University of Sri Lanka, p278. 
  • Ambihai, S and Gnanavelrajah, N., “Impact of Charred Firewood on Selected Soil Properties of Regosols in Jaffna Peninsula”, Proceedings of Jaffna Science Association, vol. 19, pp. 21

Magazines/ Newsletters 

Scholarship/ Fellowship

• • Fellowship for Education Purposes, Faculty of Science, University of Manitoba

Medals

• • Prof. Thurairajah gold medal for all round performance in the university level in the year 2010.
  • Prof. Thurairajah gold medal for all round performance at the faculty level in the year 2010.
  • Prof. Kanthia Kunaratnam gold medal for best overall performance in pure and applied sciences (2010).
  • Late Dr. Jeyaratnam & Mrs. Jeyaratnam memorial gold medal for best GPA in agricultural chemistry (2010).

Research Awards

• • Research completion scholarship – University of Manitoba, Canada.

Travel Awards

• • Faculty of Graduate Studies Travel Award – University of Manitoba to attend ISME18 in Lausanne, Switzerland.
  • Faculty of Graduate Studies Travel Award – University of Manitoba to attend CSM in Guelph, Canada.
  • International student entrance scholarship – University of Manitoba.

Other Awards

Trainings on University Teaching: Completed induction course for University Teachers

Trainings on Research – Participated a workshop in Microbiome Analysis (September, 1-3 2021 Online)

Other Professional Trainings Attended 

• • Workshop on “Statistics for research” 24th to 25th November 2018
  • Training Course on “use of supermap GIS” on 12th to 13th November 2018 in Faculty of Engineering.
  • PCR workshop on 23rd February 2017 at Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of Jaffna, Sri Lanka.
  • WaSo Workshop on “Introduction to GIS using ARCGIS” on 16th to 17th January 2017 at Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Jaffna, Sri Lanka.
  • Active Citizens Facilitator Development Workshop (FDW) 17th to 21st September, 2016 at MAS Fabric Park, Thullhiriya, Sri Lanka.
  • Workshop on “Use of GPS and Google earth tools in research” 29th May 2016 at Postgraduate Institute of Agriculture (PGIA), University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.
  • Workshop on incorporation of Student-centered Learning and Configuration of e-portfolio on 23rd -24th November 2015.