Yamuna is the Architecture Research Hub (Interim) and PGR Lead at the Manchester School of Architecture. A Chartered Architect (RIBA), she completed her BSc in Built Environment (First Class Honours) and MSc in Architecture at the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka; MSc in Building Design for Developing Countries at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL; and PhD in Architecture at the University of Cambridge. Before joining MMU, Yamuna was an Associate Professor at LSBU, Reader at Kingston University, Senior Research Fellow at University of Greenwich and was awarded the University of Greenwich Early Career Research Excellence Award.

Yamuna has held Senior Leadership roles in several Higher Education Institutions and contributes to the formulating and implementing of university policies in relation to teaching and learning, research and enterprise, and internationalisation. She supports and mentor colleagues to achieve their research objectives while implementing a structured doctoral programme supported by training and mentoring. She supervises a group of PhD students as the Principal Supervisor and mentors a group of academic staff for PhD Supervision. She is an external examiner for PhD nationally and internationally (Australia).

Yamuna’s research expertise are Smart and Green Cities, Resilience of Urban Cities & Communities, Biomimicry and Nature Based Solutions for Architecture and User Behaviour and Engagement in Sustainability. She has won EPSRC & GCRF research grants as Principal Investigator and worked as Co- Investigator in several UK, EU, and international projects. Her recent project ‘Gender and disability inclusion in Build Back Better Programmes’ was chosen as the LSBU, UKRI impact study. Her collaborative international research in relation to Global South (Brazil, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Mozambique) focus on Societal Resilience, Inclusivity, Equality & Sustainable Development Goals and have real world implications and impact. This impact has been strengthened by her position as editor and reviewer for international peer reviewed journals and member of several international research partnerships and networks.

Yamuna’s previous research was in relation to Sustainable refurbishment and retrofitting requirements in the social housing sector in UK in consortium with 50 Housing Associations. The innovative, cutting-edge results from the projects influenced social housing refurbishment policies and the guidelines made a significant contribution and influenced the new innovative technology uptake and changed behaviour in adapting to new technology in the social housing sector. Her EPSRC ‘Sustainable living and the older community’ project is showcased as a best practice project by the National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement and won the Highly Commended Certificate in Green Guardian Award; Sustain Magazine Award; and the Final Shortlist for Green Gown Award. Internationally, the project was cited in The Wall St. Journal and Alpha Galileo, Europe for its life-changing impact within the elderly community for the provision of suitable housing.

News articles

Research

Book Chapters

Kaluarachchi Nartallo, Y., Thayaparan, M., Mendis, K., 2025. 'Enhancing micro-human efforts through livelihood assistance for women in post-disaster recovery in Sri Lanka'. In Micro Human Efforts in Disaster Resilience: Lessons Learned, Re-learned or Lost?, Routledge.

Kaluarachchi, Y., 2015. 'Challenges to leaders in promoting innovative and sustainable social housing in the UK'. In Leadership and Sustainability in the Built Environment, pp. 109-122.

Journal Articles

Mendis, K., Thayaparan, M., Kaluarachchi Nartallo, Y., Ingirige, B., 2024. 'Effective Stakeholder Management for Inclusive Post-Flood Management: Sri Lanka as a Case Study', Water, 16 (10).

Mendis, K., Thayaparan, M., Kaluarachchi Nartallo, Y., Pathirage, C., 2023. 'Challenges Faced by Marginalized Communities in a Post-Disaster Context: A Systematic Review of the Literature', Sustainability, 15 (14).

Goessler, T., Kaluarachchi, Y., 2023. 'Smart Adaptive Homes and Their Potential to Improve Space Efficiency and Personalisation', Buildings, 13 (5).

Kaluarachchi, Y., 2022. 'Implementing data-driven smart city applications for future cities', Smart Cities, 5 (2), pp. 455-474.

Kaluarachchi Nartallo, Y., 2021. 'Gender Inclusion in Post Disaster Build Back Better Programmes in Sri Lanka', International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters, 39 (1), pp. 43-64.

Kaluarachchi, Y., 2021. 'Potential advantages in combining smart and green infrastructure over silo approaches for future cities', Frontiers of Engineering Management, 8 (1), pp. 98-108.

Kaluarachchi, Y., Jones, K., 2014. 'Promoting low-carbon home adaptations and behavioural change in the older community', Architectural Engineering and Design Management, 10 (1-2), pp. 131-145.

Kaluarachchi, Y., 2013. 'The awareness of two stakeholders and the resilience of their built assets to extreme weather events in England', International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment, 4 (3), pp. 297-316.

Jones, K., Kaluarachchi, Y., 2008. 'Performance measurement and benchmarking of a major innovation programme', Benchmarking: An International Journal, 15 (2), pp. 124-136.

Kaluarachchi, Y.D., Jones, K., 2007. 'Monitoring of a strategic partnering process: The Amphion experience', Construction Management and Economics, 25 (10), pp. 1053-1061.

Jones, K., Kaluarachchi, Y., 2007. 'Operational factors affecting strategic partnering in UK social housing', Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 14 (4), pp. 334-345.

Conference Papers

Mendis, A.P.K.D., 2023. 'Inclusion of marginalised communities during post-disaster context in Sri Lanka: what methodology?', 21/7/2023 - 22/7/2023, in World Construction Symposium, 1, pp. 582-594.

Alam, E., Juthi, R.Z., Samuel, C., Kaluarachchi, Y., 2022. 'Enhancing Effectiveness of Occupational Health and Safety of Garments and Textile Industry Workers in Chittagong, Bangladesh', 2nd International Symposium on Disaster Resilience and Sustainable Development, Virtual, 24/6/2021 - 25/6/2021, in Proceedings of the 2nd International Symposium on Disaster Resilience and Sustainable Development, 1, pp. 209-224.

Kaluarachchi, Y., Nartallo, P., Emuze, F., 2022. 'How the construction industry can improve the health and well-being of their workers in a post COVID-19 era', World Building Congress 2022, Melbourne, Australia, 26/6/2022 - 30/6/2022, in IOP Conference Series : Earth and Environmental Science, 1101 (3), pp. 032013-032013.

Mendis, A.P.K.D., Disaratna, P.A.P.V.D.S., Thayaparan, M., Kaluarachchi, Y., 2022. 'Policy-level consideration on marginalised communities in the post-disaster context: a desk study', 10th World Construction Symposium - 2022, Sri Lanka, 24/6/2022 - 26/6/2022, in Proceedings of the 10th World Construction Symposium, pp. 668-681.

Ahmedy, Y., Kaluarachchi, Y., 2021. 'The Influence of Lighting Settings on Museum's Brand Image and Human Satisfaction in Exhibition Halls Using Virtual Reality', 3rd International Conference on Human Interaction and Emerging Technologies: Future Applications (IHIET 2020), Paris, France, 27/8/2020 - 29/8/2020, in https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-55307-4_16, pp. 103-108.

Bakhaty, Y., Kaluarachchi, Y., 2020. 'Critical success factors, barriers and challenges for adopting offsite prefabrication: A systematic literature review', in ARCOM 2020 - Association of Researchers in Construction Management, 36th Annual Conference 2020 - Proceedings, pp. 366-375.

Kaluarachchi, Y., 2018. 'Building community resilience in the re-settlement of displaced communities', 7th International Conference on Building Resilience : using scientific knowledge to inform policy and practice in disaster risk reduction, Bangkok, Thailand, 27/11/2017 - 29/11/2017, in Procedia Engineering, 212, pp. 443-450.

Indirli, M., Knezic, S., Borg, R.P., Kaluarachchi, Y., Ranguelov, B., Romagnoli, F., Rochas, C., 2014. 'The ANDROID case study; Venice and its territory : a general overview', 4th International Conference on Building Resilience, Building Resilience 2014, Salford Quays, United Kingdom, 8/9/2014 - 11/9/2014, in Procedia Economics and Finance, 18, pp. 837-848.

Kaluarachchi, Y., Indirli, M., Ranguelov, B., Romagnoli, F., 2014. 'The ANDROID case study; Venice and its territory : existing mitigation options and challenges for the future', 4th International Conference on Building Resilience, Building Resilience 2014, Salford Quays, United Kingdom, 8/9/2014 - 11/9/2014, in Procedia Economics and Finance, 18, pp. 815-824.

Kaluarachchi Nartallo, Y., 2014. 'Venice and its territory: multi-hazard scenarios, vulnerability assessment, disaster resilience, and mitigation', 4/11/2014 - 5/11/2014.

Kaluarachchi, Y., Jones, K., 2008. 'Accelerating innovation in the social housing sector in UK', in COBRA 2008 - Construction and Building Research Conference of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

Kaluarachchi, Y., Jones, K., 2007. 'Promoting innovative technologies in the housing sector in the UK', in CME 2007 Conference - Construction Management and Economics: 'Past, Present and Future', pp. 1615-1626.

Kaluarachchi, Y., Jones, K., James, P., Jentsch, M., Bahaj, A.S., Clements-Croome, D., Gann, D., 2005. 'Building façades: Sustainability, maintenance and refurbishment', in Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers: Engineering Sustainability, 158 (2), pp. 89-95.

Clements-Croome, D., Kaluarachchi, Y., 1997. 'An assessment of the influence of the indoor environment on the productivity of occupants in offices', in IAQ Conference, pp. 67-81.

Research project details