Wing Commander Gayan Kahandawalaarachchi

Non-Resident Fellow, London Dialogue : 
Wing Commander Gayan Kahandawalaarachchi, USP, psc (Retired) is a doctoral candidate in the International Peace and Co-existence Programme at Hiroshima University, Japan, where his research critically examines post-conflict reconciliation in Sri Lanka, drawing lessons applicable to other deeply divided societies. He holds a Master of Defence and Strategic Studies from Sir John Kotelawala Defence University, Sri Lanka, and a Master of Business Administration from the Open University of Sri Lanka.
Over a distinguished twenty-four-year career in the Sri Lanka Air Force, he held numerous operational and administrative appointments and served as a Senior Lecturer at the Defence Services Command and Staff College, where he mentored senior military officers in international relations, research methodology, public administration, and leadership.
His research interests encompass peace and conflict studies, national security, power-sharing arrangements, institutional governance, structural inequality, and multi-track peacebuilding frameworks. He has published peer-reviewed articles in international journals on post-conflict reconciliation and on the national security implications of information-technology-enabled systems in military forces.
At London Dialogue, Wing Commander Kahandawalaarachchi’s expertise strengthens the institute’s research across its South Asia Security and Advanced and Emerging Technologies programmes, bringing important Sri Lankan and Indo-Pacific analytical depth alongside a distinctive practitioner perspective on the intersection of conflict resolution and strategic affairs.