The Institute for Research and Development is an academic research institution which was established in 1997 as the Forum for Research and Development, and changed to Institute for Research and Development in 2000. It’s academic members include epidemiologists, psychiatrists, physicians, geneticists, veterinarians, public health specialists, ethicists, educationists, and people from many other disciplines. It has a full time research staff, and many other associates who are involved at various levels while employed in other academic institutions. We have networks of Sri Lankan and overseas academics, and academic institutions. Our mandate is to promote an overarching research culture in Sri Lanka; conducting multi-disciplinary research, working with people who will benefit from research, establishing strategic partnerships and to work for policy impact.

We are a group of concerned professionals who wish to see an overarching research culture in Sri Lanka. Although high impact research takes place in our country, it is fragmented and rarely transferred into policy and practice. Therefore we are working to achieve a paradigm shift in the thinking pattern and actions of the scientific and scholarly community to create a new strategic alliance among academics, scholars, professionals and the public to build a new research culture in Sri Lanka, so that the power of knowledge in science & technology could be mobilized to address the problems of the society using an evidence-based approach, which in turn is crucial for the sustainable development of the country. In short, our slogan is ‘Research for development and policy impact’.