Twenty-one year old Rakitha Malewana is a Sri Lankan inventor, scientist, scientific researcher and youth activist. His research focuses on using nano technologies to control the spread of HIV/AIDS, which he performed while he was a high school student. He was presented with Nalanda Puthra (Best student of the school) award in 2015 by his alma mater Nalanda College, Colombo and received special appreciation grand achievement award from President Maithripala Sirisena. In 2016, he was announced as a winner of prestigious Queen’s Young Leaders Award by the Royal Commonwealth Society as an honor to his social work on behalf of the HIV and AIDS positive community. Malewana is also the founder of non-profit organization ideanerd SL, which aims to establish a culture of scientific research in Sri Lanka by focussing on encouraging innovation among school children.
