Chaminda Wijethilake

Dr. Chaminda Wijethilake serves as a Senior Lecturer in Accounting at Essex Business School, University of Essex, where he contributes to sustainability accounting education and research. His academic journey spans Sri Lanka, Taiwan, and Australia, culminating in impactful work at the intersection of accounting, sustainability, and governance across diverse global contexts.

Education:

• Bachelor of Commerce with First Class Honours, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka (2007)
• Master of Business Administration, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan (2011)
• PhD in Accounting and Corporate Governance, Macquarie University, Australia (2016)

Chaminda's research pioneers the application of accounting frameworks to urgent sustainability challenges, particularly examining how management control systems mediate organizational responses to environmental pressures. His work spans waste management governance, sustainable supply chains in emerging economies, and accountability mechanisms during disasters, consistently revealing how formal control systems interact with cultural and institutional factors to drive (or hinder) sustainability outcomes. Current projects investigate digitalization in NGOs and sustainability core values in risk management.

His publication portfolio demonstrates a clear trajectory toward increasingly complex global sustainability challenges, evolving from firm-level sustainability controls to transnational waste governance and pandemic response systems. Recent work shows growing emphasis on Global South contexts and the political dimensions of environmental accountability.

Scientific Awards:

• President’s Award for Scientific Research by the Government of Sri Lanka
• Best International Impact Research Award by the University of Essex

Chaminda actively supervises four PhD candidates researching sustainability management accounting in healthcare, Thailand's primary care system, and public sector accountability. His research program is supported by significant grants from PEFA-World Bank Group, Innovate UK, and the Global Challenges Research Fund, including a 2021 ESRC IAA project developing an Essex employability toolkit and a 2020 GCRF project integrating climate change into South Asian public finance policies.