Born in Sri Lanka, Dr. Gamini Wijesuriya is a renowned heritage conservation and management professional with over 40 years of experience. He is known internationally for his work on World Heritage and pioneering work on living heritage and on people-centred approaches to conservation of nature and culture. He has held positions as Head of the Conservation of the government of Sri Lanka, as a Principal Regional Scientist of the Department of Conservation, New Zealand and as a project manager of the International Centre for the Study of Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), Rome, Italy. He has obtained PhD from the Leiden University, the Netherlands; MA from University of York, United Kingdom; MA from Carnegie- Mellon University, USA; MSc and BSc from Sri Lanka on a variety of heritage related subjects. He has served in major heritage related international organisations in diverse capacities and published widely. Currently, he is a Special Advisor to the Director General of ICCROM; a Special Advisor to the Director of the World Heritage Institute of Training and Research for the Asia and the Pacific Region under the auspices of UNESCO (WHITRAP); Honorary Senior Lecturer, Institute of Archaeology, University College London and a Facilitator for Capacity Building Programme of the Intangible Heritage Convention, UNESCO.