All of the institutions that Andreas met with expressed a wish to collaborate with SASNET. In the end a very fruitful discussion with the Executive Director Dr. Vagisha Gunasekara and the US Director Professor John Rogers from the American Institute of Sri Lankan Studies (AISLS) led to a signed agreement between the two institutes. AISLS was able to guarantee the provision of certain services for the study center, which was what sealed the deal for SASNET. Students and researchers from Lund University can now benefit from the same services as other AISLS members. This agreement is important as it broadens the research focus of South Asian Studies at Lund University.

AISLS has long history of providing comprehensive services to visiting scholars in Sri Lanka: 

“The center provides a wide range of services to AISLS members.  Staff can advise visiting researchers and students on a variety of matters, including living arrangements, security and safety, physician referrals, and transportation.  Advice is also provided on making contacts with Sri Lankan scholars and research informants, and on finding research assistants and translators.” 

Johansson comments that “it is important for Lund University to have viable partners in the South Asian region that could provide services such as accommodation, library access and contacts. In this way we will be able to send our students and researchers to certified and trustworthy partners in the region, I am very happy about this agreement and I hope that we will be able to find more associates in the region.”  

The AISLS center is located in Colombo and offers a reference library of about 1,500 books and a selection of journals, offprints, conference proceedings, and electronic resources, including JSTOR.  The library is open to both local and foreign readers.

If you have any question regarding the agreement, please contact Andreas Johansson: andreas [dot] johansson [at] sasnet [dot] lu [dot] se. 

Mrs. Deepthi Guneratne, Dr. Vagisha Gunasekara., Professor John Rogers