South Asia’s budding young economist has a lot going for her
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From Lto r: Thilini Naveratne from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte, who won an award for her research paper on Political Economy of Energy Security, Dr. Priyanga Dunusinghe and Shashithanganee Weerawansa of the Faculty of Arts, University of Colombo and Chathuni Uduwela
Chathuni Uduwela is a girl on the move. She’s studying simultaneously for degrees in Economics and Law while working part time for a research firm. She debates, she volunteers, she teaches Speech and Drama to tiny tots, she reads news on television…there’s no end to the 22 (soon to be 23) year old’s rather intimidating resume. To add to that, she’s also just returned to Sri Lanka with top honours from the South Asian Economics Students’ Meet held in Lahore. Say hello to the region’s Budding Economist of the Year- and she’s only just getting started.
The former Visakhian finds herself a little bemused by her own success.As a second year undergraduate, she hardly expected to find herself given one of the meet’s top honours. “There were all these really smart, really accomplished students there who were older than me and well into their degree,” she says.
Chathuni is a second year undergraduate at the University of Colombo, studying for a Bachelor of Arts specializing in Economics. “I think we’re the most futuristic bunch,” she says of her university’s course, citing their transition into an Economics degree with more focus on mathematical concepts and practical research. It’s not a field she had ambitions for from a small age-Chathuni, a debater and avid Model UN participant in school, saw herself studying for a degree in Law back in school. It was during her Advanced Level years that she developed a penchant for the more numbers based study of Economics. “We had a fantastic teacher in school,” she remembers. When she was eligible to enter the University of Colombo, Economics was the natural choice as she had already embarked on studying for an LLB.
She heard of the South Asian Economics Students’ Meet from her lecturers and seniors at university. Curiosity, and the markedly rare occurrence of such academic events in the student calendar, prompted her to apply for the meet mid-2013. The South Asian Economics Students Meet (SAESM) was conceptualized in 2003 by a group of undergraduates majoring in Economics along with the Department of Economics at Ramjas College, University of Delhi in India. It was to be a platform for students majoring in Economics across South Asian colleges and universities to meet their contemporaries and share ideas and research. The 10th meet was held in Lahore, Pakistan with focus on the political economy of the region and brought together 82 top Economics undergraduates chosen by their universities, who met and interacted over December 22- 29.
Chathuni compiled her research paper on the Political Economy of Social Security, with special focus on pension funds. Fellow Lankan undergraduate Thilini Navaratne was the one to walk away with the award for Best Paper under the theme of Political Economy of Energy and Natural Resource Use.
Though she wasn’t too enamoured by it, she was persuaded to enter the Budding Economist competition, a taxing round that involved a three-page essay on the effectiveness of political revolution for economic reform in South Asia, a written test on micro, macro and developmental economics, and a visual test that had them discussing the economic aspects of an image of an everyday object within 45 seconds. She thinks she did fairly well-stage fear isn’t in her vocabulary because as she laughingly tells us, ‘yakking’ is her trade. It might have been a whirlwind few days, but well worth it-this is the first time Sri Lanka has produced a Budding Economist in the competition’s 10 year history.
Back in Sri Lanka, Chathuni looks forward to immersing herself in paperwork for her LLB finals in May. She’s on holiday from university at the moment but wishes she wasn’t. “I don’t like having nothing to do,” she grins. That will soon change, though. After completing her Masters, she hopes to eventually work in the field of International Economic Justice, a perfect hybrid of her education in Economics and the law.