University of Colombo e-Repository

UCER (University of Colombo Electronic Repository) is a collection of scientific research publications by researchers at the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. This e-Repository serves to manage, preserve and make available the academic works of the faculty, postgraduate students, and research groups. The collection includes faculty publications, master's and doctoral theses abstracts. This repository is updated regularly, and new works are added to collections on a continuous basis

Guidelines

Authors are responsible for obtaining copyright permission from the publisher and submitting the signed declaration to ir@lib.cmb.ac.lk.

Recent Submissions

The impact of remote work on productivity in Sri Lanka's logistics and maritime sector
(University of Colombo, 2025) Nayanalochana, P.C.J.; Perera, U.N.S.R.; Kavindya, G.V.T.
This study investigates the impact of remote work on employee productivity in Sri Lanka's logistics and maritime sector, focusing on administrative, logistics management, and customer service roles at the Port of Colombo. While remote work has been extensively studied in knowledge-based sectors like IT, its effect on productivity in the maritime industry remains underexplored. Using an Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) multiple regression model, the research examines how work-life balance, communication effectiveness, work flexibility, and the physical work environment influence productivity in remote settings. The sample comprises 100 employees engaged in remote roles at Colombo Port, selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected via a structured questionnaire, measuring both independent variables and employee productivity using self-reported indicators such as task efficiency and job satisfaction. The regression analysis reveals that work-life balance, effective communication, and work flexibility all significantly contribute to productivity, with work-life balance showing the strongest effect, increasing productivity by 27%. Communication practices, with a coefficient of 0.220, also significantly enhance productivity by reducing errors and improving coordination in logistics and maritime operations. Work flexibility increases productivity by 23%, enabling employees to better manage personal and professional responsibilities. However, the physical work environment has a minimal, non-significant effect (12%) on productivity, highlighting that process efficiency and coordination are more critical in this sector. Demographic factors such as gender, age, experience, and salary also influence productivity, with female employees facing additional challenges due to domestic responsibilities. Age positively impacts productivity, especially for employees aged 26-35, whereas older employees over 36, often in management roles, experience a decline in productivity due to remote work challenges. The study concludes that understanding these factors is crucial for optimising remote work policies and addressing sector-specific challenges in Sri Lanka’s maritime industry.
Always present, never seen: Precarity and cleaning work in a Sri Lankan university
(University of Colombo, 2025) Peiris, P.; De Silva, T.H.R.; Shashikala, P.S.; Fernando, W.A.I.
This study examines the political economy of precarious cleaning labour within the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Drawing on our long-term observations as faculty members and on qualitative research with cleaners, supervisors, academic staff, students, and community members, the paper situates the lived experiences of these workers within broader neoliberal transformations in Sri Lanka’s labour regime. The cleaners—many beyond retirement age, physically and mentally unfit for the strenuous work they perform—labour under hazardous conditions. They lack basic protective equipment, clean toilets without proper footwear, and handle waste barehanded. Paid only for days worked, without medical leave or insurance, they often continue working despite illness to finance medication. Most come from economically devastated neighbourhoods, marked by drug abuse, crime, and extreme poverty. Interestingly, despite their daily presence, these workers remain socially invisible to much of the university community, with their continued exploitation rationalised as “benevolent” employment. Analytically, the paper engages with neoliberal political economy, Foucault’s governmentality, and Achille Mbembe’s necropolitics to explore how the state’s long retreat from welfare responsibilities—intensified since the structural adjustment era—has enabled forms of labour control that commodify marginalised bodies. In a context of economic crisis and disaster capitalism, these workers’ bodies are acknowledged, yet rendered into calculable units of value under neoliberal ethics of “honest work,” productivity, and individual responsibility. The study reveals how precarity is normalised within a premier public university—an institution ostensibly committed to critical thought—highlighting the contradictions of intellectual spaces that overlook the exploitation embedded in their everyday operations.
Patients’ right to safe medication: Legal framework relating to private pharmacy practices in Sri Lanka
(University of Colombo, 2025) Jeyarednam, J.
The right of patients to safe and quality medication is a fundamental aspect of the right to health recognized under international law. World Health Organization (WHO) emphasizes safe medication practices as a core element of health systems. Pharmacies are part of an integrated medical structure that provides healthcare services. Sri Lanka has an enriched health care system including both public and private sector. The National Medicines Regulatory Authority Act, No. 5 of 2015 is the main piece of legislation that aims to ensure the availability of safe, effective, and affordable medical products in Sri Lanka. It established the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) to oversee the regulation, registration, licensing, and control of medicines, medical devices, and borderline products. However, successful implementation of private pharmacy regulations appears to be uncertain. Also, there is no explicit guarantee for the right of patients for safe medication or the right to health under the Sri Lankan constitution. Although, private pharmacies play a vital role in a healthcare system, concerns have emerged about the quality of medicines dispensed, ethical practices, regulatory oversight, protection of patients’ rights, counterfeiting, inadequate public awareness and overall patient care in Sri Lanka. This study examines the laws governing medication dispensing by private pharmacies in Sri Lanka, focusing on patients’ right to safe medication as an integral part of the right to health under Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR, 1966). It includes a comparative analysis of international law and Sri Lankan legislation to assess compliance and identify gaps. The study further evaluates key challenges to safe medication, including existing legal frameworks, implementation gaps, the absence of constitutional guarantees, and the role of professional ethics and regulatory oversight. Employing doctrinal research method, the analysis draws on a comprehensive review of primary and secondary sources. Finally, this paper proposes legal and policy reforms aimed at strengthening patient rights, enhancing pharmacy regulation, and improving access to safe medicines with reference to relevant legal and institutional protections in India.
Do we possess the healthy deck to make them confident to stand: The child and the Sri Lankan constitution
(University of Colombo, 2025) Thanikumar, T.K.
Constitution is the grund norm of modern democracies. This has, in reality, led the United Nations Charter on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) to obligate state parties to move to constitutionalize child rights for better manifestation alongside other supplementary measures. To achieve this, state parties around the globe have embraced two unique approaches referred in this paper as ‘explicit constitutionalization’ and ‘implicit constitutionalization’ of child rights. The paper argues that the Second Republican Sri Lankan Constitution has embraced implicit constitutionalization of child rights within the legal culture that has historically viewed the child as a passive object under parental authority. The study examines the decisions of the appellate courts on child – related issues and emphasize on the reasons why the judicial activism and legal resilience of the Sri Lankan system have thus far failed to provide adequate legal and institutional architecture to treat the child as an autonomous rights holder. The paper elucidates that the judicial activism that the country has witnessed is ad-hoc, despite the interventions being thoughtful and aimed at specific child issues. To strengthen the relationship between the child and Sri Lankan Constitution, the paper proposes for the recognition of cardinal principles of child rights – right to life, right to participation, right to survival and development and best interest of the child – into the Sri Lankan Constitution, thereby establishing all of them as the guiding tenets for child-related matters in the country by utilizing lessons from Indian and South African constitutional jurisprudence.
Spatiotemporal analysis of vegetation cover influence on land surface temperature in Gampaha DSD, Sri Lanka (2015–2025)
(University of Colombo, 2025) Kaushalya, G.N.; Wijeratne, V.P.I.S.
Urbanisation significantly alters land surface characteristics, leading to vegetation loss and increased surface temperatures. This study investigates the spatiotemporal dynamics of vegetation cover and land surface temperature (LST) in the Gampaha Divisional Secretariat Division (DSD) in Sri Lanka, between 2015 and 2025. The research mainly aims to assess changes in the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Land Surface Temperature (LST). Further, it explores their interrelationship and identifies urban heat-affected zones. Landsat 8 and 9 satellite images were used to calculate NDVI and LST for the years 2015 and 2025. Spatial analyses, including Pearson correlation, scatter plots, and concentric ring buffers around Gampaha town were done to evaluate the spatial patterns and relationships between vegetation cover and surface temperature. The results indicate a general increase in NDVI values and slight vegetation recovery. However, urban areas like Gampaha, Yakkala, Miriswatta, and Kalagedihena exhibited noticeable vegetation loss. LST values showed a clear upward trend intensifying the urban heat island effect. A negative correlation between NDVI and LST was observed, with Pearson coefficients of -0.4308 in 2015 and -0.4823 in 2025. It highlighted the role of vegetation in surface cooling. The concentric ring analysis confirmed higher temperatures and lower NDVI values in central urban zones compared to other areas. These findings emphasize the critical role of green cover in moderating urban heat and underline the need for integrating vegetation-based strategies into urban planning. The study offers practical insights for policymakers to implement targeted green infrastructure in rapidly urbanizing areas. It also contributes to the broader understanding of urban climate dynamics in tropical regions.