Varuni Jayasooriya

Dr. Varuni Jayasooriya is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Geography, Geomatics, and Environment at the University of Toronto Mississauga. Varuni obtained her Ph.D. from the School of Engineering and Science, Victoria University, Australia, with a focus area of Environmental Engineering. She completed her B.Sc. (Hons) in the area of Earth Sciences and Engineering, from the Department of Earth Resources Engineering, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. Varuni is also acknowledged as a finalist of the Institute of Engineering Technology (IET) Young Woman Engineer (YWE) of the year 2021. Currently, she is one of the Rising Stars in Sustainability Fellows of the Climate Positive Energy (CPE) Initiative, working under the mentorship of Prof. Matt Adams.

Dr. Jayasooriya’s research background is in the modeling of urban microclimates. Her current research examines how the different attributes of the urban fabric (with a specific focus on hard/paved surfaces), affect the urban microclimates and the urban energy demand. She aims to develop guidelines to design energy-efficient hardscapes for cities, to contribute to NetZero Emission Goals 2050.

Publications

Jayasooriya, V., Fernando, S., Silva, C., & Muthukumaran, S. (2023). Comparative analysis on the effectiveness of green roofs and photovoltaic panels as sustainable rooftop technologies. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 1-16.

Kahatapitiya, C., Jayasooriya, V. M., & Muthukumaran, S. (2022). GIS-based weighted overlay model for wind and solar farm locating in Sri Lanka. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 1-19.

Senevirathne, D. M., Jayasooriya, V. M., Dassanayake, S. M., & Muthukumaran, S. (2021). Effects of pavement texture and colour on Urban Heat Islands: An experimental study in tropical climate. Urban Climate, 40, 101024.

Sirimanne, A.P., Jayasooriya, V.M. (2023). Impacts of Selected Urban Tree Species on Outdoor Thermal Comfort in the City of Colombo. In: Dissanayake, R., et al. ICSBE 2022. ICSBE 2022. Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering, vol 362. Springer, Singapore.

Jayasooriya, V. M., Ng, A. W. M., Muthukumaran, S., & Perera, B. J. C. (2017). Green infrastructure practices for improvement of urban air quality. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 21, 34-47.