Danesh Jayatilaka

Bio

Danesh Jayatilaka is a Research Fellow at the International Centre for Ethnic Studies (ICES) and a consultant to the World Bank. He has a doctorate in economics from the University of Colombo with a split-site scholarship to the University of Sussex. His thesis focused on the impact housing and livelihoods aid had on the economic recovery of internally displaced people who were resettled after the war in Sri Lanka.

Danesh’s research has included urban development, safe cities, conflict and development induced displacement, relocation and resettlement, and vulnerable migrants and other populations. He coordinated the ‘Post-war growth and economic opportunities for women’ GROW programme and was Co-Investigator in three studies: ‘Involuntary Resettlement: A Cross Country Study on Urban Inequality and Poverty’, ‘Supporting the social mobility of trapped populations in very poor urban areas’ and ‘The Unknown City: the (in)visibility of urban displacement’, funded respectively by the IDRC, DFID, ESRC and AHRC. He also led studies on disasters and dowries for the Brookings Institution and International Labour Organization.

His recent publications include ‘Urban Community Profiles: Safe Relocation and Resettlement in Post-War Sri Lanka’ - Routledge (2018), ‘The right to adequate housing in post-conflict Colombo, Sri Lanka’ – Palgrave (2017), ‘Conflict, displacement and post-war recovery: A community profile of Passaiyoor East in Jaffna, Sri Lanka’ – ICES (2015), ‘The other side of migration and development nexus: The Sri Lankan experience in trafficking’ – Routledge (2015), ‘Planned relocations in the context of natural disasters: The case of Sri Lanka’ – Brookings Institution (2015), ‘The Impact of Displacement on Dowries in Sri Lanka’ – Brookings Institution (2015).

Danesh co-founded and Chairs the Centre for Migration Research and Development. He is an editorial board member for Migration and Development and is a former UN staff officer.