About

Dr. De Costa born in Sri Lanka attended St Peters College Colombo from year 1 to year 13. A regular prize winner, and becoming the top student in College. He is a Chess player and captained his college Chess team. He was placed second in the national novices tournament as well as third in the national major tournament. He then entered the University of Moratuwa where he perceived a Degree in Civil Engineering. No sooner he graduated he was awarded a Japanese Government Scholarship to continue his studies in Japan. He did a Masters in Environmental Engineering and a PhD in Hydraulics and Hydrology at Hiroshima University Japan. While at School and University he has been involved many associations, once being the President of the Astronomical Society at the University of Moratuwa, and another being a committee member of the foreign students association at Hiroshima University. After his PhD. Gregory returned back to Sri Lanka and was working as a Senior Engineer involved in the Port of Colombo development Project. He then moved to the Open University of Sri Lanka where he became Associate Professor. Here he developed and introduced a new course on Environmental Engineering. Gregory was awarded a fellowship to further study on advanced flood forecasting at the University College Galway in Ireland, and another fellowship to the Open University of UK to study distance education production, delivery and assessment methodologies Since then, Gregory went on to be the Project Manager to set up and develop a Technology Watch Centre, a Asian Development Bank funded Project under the Ministry of Science and Technology. During this time Gregory did a MBA at the University of Colombo. Gregory then moved to the Open Polytechnic of New Zealand, where he rose through the ranks from lecturer to became Associate Professor and in charge of the Civil Engineering Program. Currently he is a Principal Academic at the Open Polytechnic of New Zealand. He is a Fellow of Engineering New Zealand, a Fellow of the Institute of Engineers Sri Lanka, a Chartered Professional Engineer, New Zealand as well as Sri Lanka and on the register of International Professional Engineers. Gregory counts many research publications in local as well as International Journals, and has presentations at local as well as International conferences. Gregory has lead international teams of scientist and academics to conduct research obtaining International grants. During his career he has received many a academic and research awards. He has been a visiting professor to many Universities. Gregory is also involved in many community activities and at one time was the President of the Rotary Club in Western Springs Auckland. His hobbies are Cricket, Table Tennis and music.

Career Type:

Scientist/Researcher/Academic

Organization Type:

Universities and Academia

Expertise Fields/Interests:

Climate change and its impact on water resources and land, Hydrology, Environmental management, Civil engineering education, Distance education

Major Achievements: