Dr. Jayani Jeewanthi Wewalwela is a Senior Lecturer and the Head of the Department in the Department of Agricultural Technology, Faculty of Technology, University of Colombo. She received her PhD in Soil Microbiology from the Mississippi State University in 2014 and was a Postdoctoral Scientist in Plant and Soil Science in Mississippi State University until 2015 November. Her research program focusses on how soil microorganisms interact with plant and how biochar based fertilizers effect for agricultural management practices in soil functioning and crop productivity. In her program, she combined field and laboratory investigations using leading edge methodologies in microbial ecology and soil energetics to understand links between microbial communities (structure, activity) and soil biogeochemical processes and plant-microbe interactions.