Ely graduate Harindi Jayakody talks to Rotary Club of Ely

Harindi Jayakody was a student at the University of Sheffield, aiming for a master’s degree at first.

However, she then set her sights higher and applied to the company she worked for to work for a PhD in chemical engineering at Bath University while working for them at the same time.

She proved that it can be done. In fact, she won two awards during her studies.

One was called “three minute thesis” - a public speaking competition that is based on communicating PhD research to a lay audience in three minutes.

Ely resident Harindi Jayakody spoke to the Rotary Clug of Ely last Thursday, telling them of her recent success story. (Image: Rosemary Westwell)

She placed first and went onto represent the university of Bath in the nationals.  

The other award was The Vice Chancellor’s award for outreach in the impact category.

She was placed second and this was a university wide competition that included professors, lecturers and students.

Her work is particularly important as she is involved in designing ways in which Covid-19 tests can be made more accurate and cheaper – thinking especially of her own country, Sri Lanka.  

Ely resident Harindi Jayakody on her graduation day (Image: Rosemary Westwell)