Dr Upul Wickramasinghe
Job Title
ESRC/SGSSS Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Room number
5.14Building (Address)
Chrystal Macmillan BuildingStreet (Address)
15a, George SquareCity (Address)
EdinburghCountry (Address)
United KingdomPost code (Address)
EH8 9LDResearch interests
Research interests
Medical Anthropology; Sri Lanka and South Asia; Political Anthropology; Citizen science; Environmental anthropology; Social movements; Right to Health; patients' rights
Background
I am a social and medical anthropologist working at the intersection of citizen science, global health and social studies of science who is passionate about making direct, tangible social impacts through academic research on chronic disease and health philanthropy in Sri Lanka. Interdisciplinarity is at the heart of my academic and professional career as it shows a remarkable transformation over the last decade or so. As a chemist-turned anthropologist, I started my professional career as a laboratory water chemist with a background in chemistry and microbiology and completed my PhD in anthropology at the University of Durham in 2023 with a component of water chemistry and citizen science. My PhD was focused on chronic kidney disease unknown origin (CKDu) in Sri Lanka and funded by a Wellcome doctoral studentship.
Qualifications:
PhD in Anthropology (Durham University)
MA in Environmental Management & Development (Australian National University)
MSc in Analytical Chemistry (University of Colombo)
Works within
Publications by user content
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Wickramasinghe U. People are afraid of getting injections: Feasibility of community-placed atropine autoinjectors in treating pesticide poisoning in Sri Lanka. Clinical Toxicology. 2025 Oct 2. |
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Wickramasinghe U. Citizen science in anthropological research: A tool of enacting the ontological turn. 2025. Paper presented at Health, Environment, and AnThropology (HEAT) conference. |
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Wickramasinghe U. Rise of left-wing populism in South Asia: Victory of the National People’s Power (NPP) in Sri Lanka. 2025. Paper presented at Critical Junctions, Birmingham, United Kingdom. |
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Wickramasinghe U. People’s Commission on Pandemic Justice and Right to Health – ensuring right to health in post-pandemic Sri Lanka. 2025. Paper presented at Health Activism, Amsterdam, Netherlands. |
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Perkins J, Street A, Wickramasinghe U, Weerasinghe M, Eddleston M, Brandt Sørensen J. Situational analysis of pesticide poisoning and perceptions of autoinjector devices in rural communities in Sri Lanka – a study protocol. Global Health Action . 2024 Dec 31;17(1):1-11. 2434372. Epub 2024 Nov 29. doi: 10.1080/16549716.2024.2434372 |
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Wickramasinghe UK. Screening charity recipients: Health philanthropy, medical diagnosis, and kidney disease prevention in Sri Lanka. Medicine Anthropology Theory. 2023 Sept 27;10(3):1-29. doi: 10.17157/mat.10.3.7764 |
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Wickramasinghe UK. Anthropological reflections on water consumption patterns around CKDu in Ginnoruwa. Sri Lanka Journal of Advanced Research Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences. 2021 Dec 31;11(2):29-46. |
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Widger T, Wickramasinghe U. Monsoon uncertainties, hydro-chemical infrastructures, and ecological time in Sri Lanka. In Kirtsoglou E, Simpson B, editors, The Time of Anthropology: Studies of Contemporary Chronopolitics. 1st ed. Routledge. 2020. p. 123-141 Epub 2020 Dec 29. doi: 10.4324/9781003087199-7 |
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