Blog: Professor invited to give Sri Lankan lecture for International Women's Day

A Visiting Professor at Harper Adams University has been invited to talk about a leading Sri Lankan legal figure to mark this year’s International Women’s Day.

Professor in Real Estate Practice Law Carrie de Silva was invited to address students at Colombo University in the nation’s capital city,

She said: “I was honoured to have been asked to talk about the first woman advocate in Sri Lanka, Ezlynn Deraniyagala, to students at the Faculty of Law in the University of Colombo as part of their International Women's Day 2026 programme.”

In 1935, one year after finishing her degree, Ms Deraniyagala was appointed as an Advocate in the Supreme Court of Ceylon – as Sri Lanka was then known.

She later became the first President of the Ceylon Women Lawyers’ Association, President of the All-Ceylon Women’s Conference, and Vice President of the International Alliance of Women.

Speaking about her talk, Professor de Silva added: “Thanks particularly to attorney and lecturer, Prineetha Bandaranayake, who helped me find local archives, and Dr Danushika Abeyrathna, the Head of Private and Comparative Law Department, who kindly invited me.

“There were some great questions from the audience afterwards!”