Profile

Dr Dinusha Weerawardane is a Senior Lecturer in Auditing (Teaching and Professional Practice) at Queen Mary University of London. Prior to joining QMUL, she was Head of Department of Accounting and Finance at Arden University and Head of Subject for Accounting, Analytics and Digital Marketing at the University of West London (UWL), also leading several global partnerships across Europe, Middle East and Asia. At both organisations, she was part of the Senior Management Team responsible for developing and delivering the school strategic plan. Throughout her career, she has helped countless students unlock their potential and break barriers, and she is committed to advancing social mobility and widening participation.

She was elected to the Global Council of ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) in 2018 and subsequently re-elected in 2021 and 2024. On Council, she helps drive global strategy and provides governance and oversight for the professional body. She currently serves on ACCA Council's Remuneration Committee and has previously served on its Regulatory Board and International Assembly. She also sits on ACCA’s Global Forum for Education, ensuring accounting education remains relevant, accessible, and forward-thinking. Beyond governance, Dinusha regularly represents ACCA at high-profile events such as national and regional finance awards, conferences and policy discussions at the House of Commons. 

She is a Non-Executive Director at BSA Group, which is the world's largest membership association for boarding schools, also focusing on safeguarding and health education. She serves in its Finance, Strategy and Risk Committee.

Dr. Weerawardane is a Fellow Member of ACCA, Principal Fellow of Advance HE, a Chartered Manager (CMI UK) and holds a PhD in Consumer Behaviour, an MSc. in International Business Management, an LLB (Hons) specialising in Business Law and a BSc. (Hons) in Applied Accounting. In 2022, she was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship from Advance HE for her work in promoting inclusiveness in higher education and empowering females into the finance profession; she is the only ACCA member in the UK holding this recognition. More recently, she was honoured with the 'Academia and Education Leadership' award by Women in Management UK for her exceptional leadership and contributions to advancing higher education. As part of this recognition, she was also named one of the Top 50 Professional and Career Women in the UK for 2025. 

Teaching

BUS354 Audit and Assurance

BUS4015U Law for Accounting

Research

Publications

Scholarly Contributions

General HE Publications:

• Weerawardane, D. (2025). Student Engagement: What, Why and How? In: S. A. Rahman, T. Vorley, L. Tuckerman and N. Wilton (eds), 2025. How to Scale Engagement and Impact in Universities. Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd. Chapter 18, p.201-211. ISBN: 978-1035337422
• Weerawardane, D. and Byrne, P. (2021). An Introduction to Critical Thinking, Academic Writing and Harvard Referencing. In:  D. Weerawardane and P. Byrne, (eds), 2021. Academic Development and Employability. Harlow: Pearson, Chapter 1, p.3-56. ISBN: 9781800064126 (print), 9781800064133 (digital)
• Byrne, P. and Weerawardane, D. (2022). A multi-dimensional approach to embedding professional skills into modern degree courses. UWL New Vistas, 8(1), p.8-13.
• Weerawardane, D. (2021). Digital Transformation of Higher Education: What’s Next? UWL New Vistas, 7(2), p.3-7.
• Weerawardane, D. (2017). ACCA Policy Insights: Commentaries from MENASA (Edition 04: July 2017), Disruptive Behaviours in Sri Lanka’s Higher Education Sector

Accounting and Finance Publications:

• Izadi, J., Bourke, J., Weerawardane, D. and Amanollahnejad, A. (2026). Practicing Strategic Financial Sustainability in Small Cultural Nonprofits: Evidence from London Museums. Business Strategy and the Environment. pp.1-16
• Weerawardane, D. (ed) (2021). Accounting for Aspiring Finance Professionals. Harlow: Pearson (697 pages), ISBN: 97818000640434 (print), 9781800064041 (digital)

• Weerawardane, D. (ed) (2021). Essentials of Economics and Quantitative Methods. Harlow: Pearson (720 pages), ISBN: 9781800064058 (print), 9781800064065 (digital)
• Reviewed: Millichamp and Taylor, Auditing 12^th ed. Cengage Learning (Oct 2021) (593 pages).

Funded Projects:

• KE Seed Fund Project (£3,000) for a project focused on improving financial sustainability of local museums (2024)
• QAA Collaborative Enhancement Project (£10,000) on enhancing assessment literacy (2024)
• Public sector client staff development project (£300,000) – 2 contracts secured and training programme developed (2019 and 2023).
• KE Seed Fund Project (£3,000) for a sustainability project - Helped 20 local businesses in the boroughs of Hounslow and Ealing to implement ESG frameworks and ensure efficient sustainability reporting, included facilitating training on Ecometrica software (2022)

Co-editor of UWL New Vistas, a peer-reviewed, open-access journal (2022-2024).

Public Engagement

Invited Talks:

• Keynote speaker:
• BPP University Graduation (November 2024)
• ACCA Sri Lanka New Member Ceremony (July 2024)
• ACCA graduations in Sri Lanka (October 2015, October 2016)
• Speaker: ACCA-CAANZ Joint Conference (April 2023, March 2024, March 2025)
• Panellist:
• BPP University Careers Roundtable (December 2024)
• University of West London Sustainable Finance Conference in collaboration with ACCA (November 2023)
• British Academy of Management’s Development Programme for Directors of Engagement session on "Engaging with who, why and how" (January 2023)
• FreeAgent’s Future of Accountancy Virtual Round Table (April 2020)
• University of West London International Women’s Day Conference in collaboration with ACCA (March 2020)
• ACCA’s ‘Diversity and Success’ roundtable in Aberdeen (March 2020)
• Co-presenter, UWL Festival of Teaching and Learning on ‘Discovering New Approaches to Embedding Professionalism and Employability Skills Within Curricula’ (July 2022)

Awards/Nominations:

• ‘Academia and Education Leadership’ award from Women in Management and named among the Top 50 Career and Professional Women in the UK (2025)
• National Teaching Fellow, Advance HE (2022)
• Times Higher Education ‘Innovative Teacher of the Year’ – Nominated (2022)
• ‘Public Sector Lecturer of the Year’, PQ Awards – Finalist (2022 and 2023)
• ‘Lecturer of the Year’ and ‘Personal Tutor of the Year’, University of West London SU Awards – Shortlisted (2020, 2021)

Institutional Award Contributions:

• Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE), Advance HE – Nominated (2024)
• ‘Accountancy Graduate of the Year’, PQ Awards - Prepared nominations; 2 students won this award consecutively (2022 and 2023)
• ‘Public Sector Accountancy College of the Year’, PQ Awards – Wrote the application on behalf of the University of West London – Awarded (2021)
• Times Higher Education ‘Business School of the Year’ – Co-wrote the award submission on behalf of the Claude Littner Business School, University of West London – Awarded (2019)