{"id":11430,"date":"2026-01-20T09:07:42","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T03:37:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mgt.sjp.ac.lk\/bec\/?p=11430"},"modified":"2026-05-06T14:54:05","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T09:24:05","slug":"national-recognition-gcf-team-grant-2025-26-awarded-to-transport-research-initiative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mgt.sjp.ac.lk\/bec\/national-recognition-gcf-team-grant-2025-26-awarded-to-transport-research-initiative\/","title":{"rendered":"National Recognition: GCF Team Grant 2025-26 Awarded to Transport Research Initiative"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n\n

In a remarkable achievement for transport economics research in Sri Lanka, the Gamani Corea Foundation (GCF)<\/strong> has awarded its prestigious Team Grant for 2025-26<\/strong> to a distinguished research team led by Prof. M. A. K. Sriyalatha<\/strong>, alongside Dr. Priyantha Lalanie<\/strong> and Dr. M.P.K. Withanawasam<\/strong>. The award was conferred under the GCF Research Awards 2025\/2026<\/strong>, marking the team\u2019s second successive recognition in this flagship national research programme.<\/p>\n\n

The Gamani Corea Foundation<\/strong>, established to promote high-quality policy-oriented research for socio-economic development, awarded a total of 22 research grants<\/strong> at the second round of the 2025-26 cycle<\/strong> on 18 December 2025<\/strong> at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH)<\/strong> in Colombo. This annual awards programme prioritises economic research and multidisciplinary studies that generate evidence to address key development challenges facing Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n\n

Research Project<\/h3>\n\n
\n\n Awarded Research Project<\/strong>

\n\n \u201cThe Dark Side of Public Transportation in Sri Lanka: A Study of Financial Losses, Underutilization, and Service Inefficiencies in State-owned Transit Systems.\u201d\n\n <\/div>\n\n

This study aims to uncover the underlying causes of persistent financial losses and service inefficiencies within state-owned transit systems and the factors contributing to underutilisation of public transport in both urban and rural contexts.<\/p>\n\n

Prof. Sriyalatha<\/strong> expressed gratitude for the award and highlighted the research\u2019s potential to influence public policy and transport sector reform, especially at a time when sustainable mobility solutions are critical for economic and social development.<\/p>\n\n

Through this second consecutive GCF Research Award<\/strong>, the team continues to contribute to evidence-based dialogue on national economic policy, reinforcing the importance of rigorous, interdisciplinary research in confronting structural challenges within Sri Lanka\u2019s public services.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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In a remarkable achievement for transport economics research in Sri Lanka, the Gamani Corea Foundation (GCF) has awarded its prestigious Team Grant for 2025-26 to a distinguished research team led by Prof. M. A. K. Sriyalatha, alongside Dr. Priyantha Lalanie and Dr. M.P.K. Withanawasam. The award was conferred under the GCF Research Awards 2025\/2026, marking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11433,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,15,29,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-notice-board","category-image-gallery","category-research-center-for-business-economics-and-development-studies-news","category-top-stories"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/mgt.sjp.ac.lk\/bec\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/RAM05501-scaled-e1768880121931.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7odTZ-2Ym","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mgt.sjp.ac.lk\/bec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11430"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mgt.sjp.ac.lk\/bec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mgt.sjp.ac.lk\/bec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mgt.sjp.ac.lk\/bec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mgt.sjp.ac.lk\/bec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11430"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mgt.sjp.ac.lk\/bec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11430\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12197,"href":"https:\/\/mgt.sjp.ac.lk\/bec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11430\/revisions\/12197"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mgt.sjp.ac.lk\/bec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mgt.sjp.ac.lk\/bec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mgt.sjp.ac.lk\/bec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mgt.sjp.ac.lk\/bec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}