Dr Samarakoon is a human geographer with a research background in issues of energy justice in Australia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Pacific. He also draws on over 15 years of field experience as a practitioner through his work on remote off-grid renewable energy projects in Malawi and Sri Lanka.

He is currently a Research Associate at UNW that is engaged in social research that examines the experiences of a range of stakeholder as they shape and navigate the transition to renewable energy technologies. In Australia, this involves trends in renewable energy procurement and household energy practices. In Southern Africa and the Pacific, this involves working in partnership with communities critically examining issues of solar maintenance, repair and e-waste and supporting interventions to address them.  He is an investigator on an ARC Linkage project titled “Solar E-Waste in Africa: facilitating the right to repair” (2024-2027) and a DFAT-funded project titled “Facilitating off-grid solar maintenance, repair, and entrepreneurship in Vanuatu” (2024-2026).  

He also has over a decade of experience in learning and teaching, having taught and convened undergraduate and postgraduate courses in the areas of international development, ethics and sustainability at the Centre for Social Impact, UNSW Business School, and the School of Humanities and Languages (UNSW).