Monte Cassim

Experience & Activities

Affiliation: Shizenkan University

Title: President & Professor (Science & Technology Innovation)

Birthplace: Colombo, Sri Lanka

Holding an undergraduate degree is from the Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Ceylon Colombo, Cassim went on to the Masters (1974-76) and Doctoral (1977-82) programs at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Tokyo. He is Professor Emeritus (since 2010) and Senior Advisor of Ritsumeikan Trust (since 2018), where he was Vice-Chancellor (2004-2012), and President of Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (2004-09). He is Guest Professor at Kyoto University’s Graduate School of Medicine, where he is the PI of the Biophotonics and Spectroscopy Laboratory. On the governing boards of many leading Japanese universities, he was Senior Advisor to the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (Science and Technology; JCP with Japan) from 2015-2019, when he established the Japan-Sri Lanka Innovation Platform, incubating around 20 STI projects. He is Chairman of Tools for Self-Reliance, Japan, a NPO he established with friends in 1993. He has received the Order of the Sacred Treasure with Gold Rays and Neck Ribbon from the Government of Japan for his work in higher education and a Lifetime Hero Award (“Vidya Nidhi”) for contributions to science from the Government of Sri Lanka. He was a part-time farmer in Japan, loves blues music, fast cars, slow food and travel to unknown places.