THEME Institute - Policy for People

07/05/2024

With each paper being published from our COMGAP study, we sincerely acknowledge Dr. Chesmal Siriwardhana (1978–2017), who was the original Principal Investigator who sadly passed away before the completion of the project.

Purpose Research indicates that exposure to conflict, natural disasters, and internal displacement can increase mental health conditions. Since the end of the civil conflict within Sri Lanka, the country has worked to increase access to mental health services to meet the needs of conflict-affected p...

06/06/2023

Remembering Chesmal ✨

18/07/2022

The Centre for Global Mental Health would like to invite you to the Chesmal Memorial Lecture 2022.

Dr. Chesmal Siriwardhana, Founding Director of THEME institute was a talented young researcher whose focus of work was in mental health and humanitarian settings. With his tragic passing in 2017, the Centre for Global Mental Health initiated a series of annual lectures in memory of his great contribution to the field of research surrounding Global Mental Health.

Date: 26th July, 2022
Time: 3.00 pm - 4.00 pm ( BST)
Platform: Zoom

To register for this year's lecture, follow the link:

Chesmal Memorial Lecture 2022 26 July 2022 Online (Zoom) The Centre for Global Mental Health would like to invite you to the Chesmal Memorial Lecture 2022. The Chesmal Lecture Series is brought to you annually by the Centre for Global Mental Health in the memory of our colleague Dr. Chesmal Siriward...

24/02/2022

Post research community awareness workshops for COMGAP-S conducted by our field research team...

First series taking place this week at Kilinochchi

21/10/2021

Sharing a podcast posted by Mental Health Innovation Network to commemorate and honor the life and work of our dear founder and director late Dr. Chesmal Siriwardhana, who was also the pioneer behind our work around COMGAP-S; a study conducted to integrate mental health into primary care in Northern Sri Lanka.

This is a podcast to commemorate and honour the life and work of Dr Chesmal Siriwardhana who was an Associate Professor in Global Mental Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

24/09/2021

A few snaps from our CKDu research team’s field visit to Padavi Sripura; earlier this year...

23/09/2021

A team of young researchers led by one of our Directors, Dr. Nishad Jayasundara; Assistant Professor in Environmental Toxicology and Health, Duke University, USA have been studying the factors driving Chronic Kidney Disease of Unknown Etiology in Sri Lanka.

We are happy to be collaborating with the University of Ruhuna and the University of Duke, USA on this very timely research!

Await for more updates on our progress...

20/05/2021

▪️2016 - 2021 ▪️
Celebrating five years of great work with Team THEME today! We’ve come a long way from where we started, looking back; it was quite a challenging but yet a rewarding journey...
Remembering our dear founder up in heaven, our directors from around the world, our dearest families and supporters throughout the years as we celebrate this milestone with big hearts today ♥️

30/04/2021

With this refresher training at Adampan DH, Mannar; today we mark the end of data collection for our five-year long research on integrating mental health to primary care for post-conflict populations in Northern Sri Lanka!
It has been a tough, long journey that is not over yet but we celebrate this milestone as a team, remembering our dear founder and Director Late Dr. Chesmal who would have been very happy to witness today.

Especially thanking our field research team Uma Jasotha and Vithushan lead by Anne Edward, and also our director/ mhGAP trainer Giselle Dass; without whom this would have been a difficult target to achieve!

Thanking everyone else who supported and contributed their time and efforts along this journey...
Cheers to all of us! @ Adampan

09/04/2021

Remembering our Founding Director and dear friend, Chesmal. Another year has gone but you’re forever in our hearts. We miss you! ❤️

12/02/2021

Having to deal with many delays due to the pandemic and safety protocols, we are happy to resume our field activities, which will be completed in the coming few weeks!
This has been a long journey, but we are excited about the outcomes!
@ Northern Province, Sri Lanka

03/12/2020

Late Dr. Chesmal Siriwardhana's annual memorial lecture, taking place today at 6.00 pm SL time.

Do join in and share among those who will be interested...

Since 2017, the Centre for Global Mental Health (CGMH) has hosted an annual lecture in memory of our colleague Dr Chesmal Siriwardhana, who died tragically in an accident in London. Chesmal was a talented young researcher, whose focus of work was in mental health and humanitarian settings. The lectu...