S. Ravi P. Silva

Sembukuttiarachilage Ravi Pradip Silva CBE FREng (born May 1969), commonly known as S. Ravi P. Silva or Ravi Silva, is a Sri Lankan-British professor and the Director of the Advanced Technology Institute (ATI) at the University of Surrey. He also heads the Nano-Electronics Centre (NEC), an interdisciplinary research activity. His research interests include nanotechnology, large-area electronics, and Perovskite and organic solar cell. He is also the Founder and the Chief Scientific Officer for Silveray.

Silva was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2021 for "services to Science, to Education and to Research", and he also received the James Joule Medal and Prize and IOM3's Platinum Medal, among other awards.

Early life and education Sembukuttiarachilage Ravi Pradip Silva was born in Sri Lanka in May 1969. Silva received his secondary education at D. S. Senanayake College in Colombo, Sri Lanka. He then completed at the University of Cambridge a Bachelor of Art (BA) in 1990 in Electrical and Information Sciences, and Masters of Art (MA) in Electrical and Electronics Engineering in 1991, followed by a Doctor of Philosophy between 1991 and 1994.

He was the recipient of the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust Fellowship at Clare College, Cambridge.

Career

Academia Silva joined the University of Surrey in 1995.

Silva has been an established member of the University of Surrey's Sustainability Executive Committee. He has been spearheading the institution's drive towards Carbon Net Zero, including setting up a Surrey Solar Farm. and an Editorial board member at the Scientific Reports.

Silva has also been an external examiner for the University of Cambridge Engineering Tripos.

Research Silva's research on nanotechnology, large-area electronics, carbon nanotubes, perovskite solar cell, and organic solar cell has resulted in over 680 presentations at international conferences and over 650 journal papers. He has 25 patents, including key patents on low-temperature growth of carbon nanotubes, fabrication of high-performance large area X-ray detectors, and fabrication of large area nanotube-organic solar cells.

Awards and honours Silva has received numerous awards and honours for his contributions to science, education, and research. He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2021 Queen's New Year Honours' list for "services to Science, to Education and to Research". In 2016, he received a Government of Sri Lanka Presidential Award in recognition of his many contributions in the field of nanotechnology. He has also received the James Joule Medal and Prize from the Institute of Physics (IOP) in 2018 for his contributions to Applied and Environment Sciences.

Silva was honoured as the Surrey Distinguished Professor at the University of Surrey in 2019. In 2015, the Institute of Materials, Minerals, and Mining (IOM3) awarded him the Platinum Medal. His contributions were recognised in 2014 by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), which awarded him the J J Thomson Medal. In 2003, he won the Javed Husain Young Scientist Award from the UNESCO. He was also recognised by the Institute of Electrical Engineers with the IEE Achievement Award. In 2005, he was a finalist for Emerging Technologies at the IEE Awards for his work at the Nano Electronics Centre for Innovation in Engineering.

Silva has been elected a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (FIET), Fellow of the Institute of Physics (FInstP), Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) in 2007, Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) in 2008, Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences of Sri Lanka (FNASSL) in 2009, Distinguished Fellow of the International Engineering and Technology Institute (DFIETI) in 2022, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering in 2023, Fellow of the International Science Council (FISC) in 2024, and Fellow of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts (FEurASc) in 2024.

Silva was appointed as a Distinguished Visiting professor at Chonbuk National University in South Korea and Zhengzhou University in China. He is a visiting professor at the Dalian Technology University and Guest Professor at the Wuhan University of Technology. In 2009, he was granted the Royal Society Kan Tong Po Visiting Professorship, which included a public lecture and visiting professorship to the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.