Hasini Weerasinghe was awarded the HRH Prince of Wales Commonwealth Scholarship in 2019, as part of an offer to complete her PhD studies at the University of Cambridge with the Concrete Infrastructure Research Group. Hasini described the recent opportunity to meet His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales as “a great honour”, and the opportunity to study at the University of Cambridge a dream which turned to reality once awarded the highly competitive scholarship.
The HRH Prince of Wales Scholarships were launched in the spring of 2019 to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the modern Commonwealth and are awarded to postgraduate students. The scholarships focus on practical themes affecting the future of the Commonwealth nations including, among others, engineering and health sciences, with Hasini focussing on developing sustainable infrastructure. The scholarship forms part of the Cambridge Trust, which was established in the 1980s to provide scholarships to international students, supporting their studies at the University of Cambridge. His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales has served as a Patron of the Cambridge Trust since 2010.