Dr Dilruk Yahathugoda

Dilruk Yahathugoda has a PhD in Material Science (Technical Textiles) awarded by the School of Materials at the University of Manchester in 2005.

He has been involved in a number of research programmes at the university during the period of his PhD research. In addition to research programmes, he lectured on a number of BSc and MSc courses in textiles materials science.

Dilruk joined Pera Technology in October 2005 after completing his PhD at the University of Manchester and currently holds the position of senior project manager at Pera Technology. He has successfully delivered a number of major UK Government and European Commission funded projects. This role extends into assisting with IPR management, concept generation, proposal writing, providing innovative technical solutions for both internal customers and external clients, and securing research funding.

Dilruk is a Chartered Engineer and a Member of the Institute of Materials, Minerals, and Mining (IOM3). He holds a BSc (Honours) in Textiles Science & Engineering at University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, which he gained in 2002. He has completed a Charted Institute of Marketing (CIM) certificate and computer diploma at the Australian Computer Society (ACS).

His major research and technological interests are in fibre science, product innovation and engineering for technical textiles and advanced composites materials, and his main areas of research and technological interest are:
• SMART fibre assemblies for medical textiles, electro-conductive textiles, and textile composites engineering applications;
• Advanced composites materials;
• Smart textile materials;
• Structural mechanics of fibre assemblies;
• Tissue engineering;
• Shape memory alloys and application structures;
• Biodegradable materials.

Dilruk has published over 20 scientific papers in leading journals and conferences and is named as the inventor in a number of patents.