About Us

Dr. Abdul Majeed Aslam Saja is currently working as an Associate Researcher/Associate Professor at Rabdan Academy. Dr. Saja has 20 years of experience in disaster risk management and resilience projects, worked as a Researcher (in a state university for 12 years), Project Manager/Program Assistant with international NGOs and a multilateral donor agency (for 8 years). As the first author, he published nine research articles in Q1/Q2 journals, and three Springer book chapters. He received number of research/project grants from international agencies including, Department of State-USA, International Council of Science, ELRHA/H2C UK, Association of Commonwealth Universities UK, and Brown University/CHRHS USA.

1. Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in disaster resilience, School of Built Environment, Science and Engineering Faculty, Queensland University of Technology, Australia, 2020
2. Master of Science of Engineering (MScEng) in Disaster Management, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, 2009
3. Bachelor of Science of Engineering (BScEng), University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, 2005

1. Risk Management
2. Emergency Management
3. Emergency Preparedness
4. Disaster Response and Recovery
5. Disaster Resilience

1. Resilience and vulnerability assessment in disaster management
2. Community-based disaster risk management
3. Disaster risk perception and communication (early warning and public awareness)
4. Risk-sensitive development and business continuity planning
5. Humanitarian aid and disaster response
6. Disaster resilience and recovery indicators

1. Susilawati, C., Teo, M., Rachmawati, F., Saja, A.M.A., Devi, B., Soemitro, R.A.A., Wilkinson, S. and Goonetilleke, A. (2026). Household Attributes, Motivational Factors, and Sources of Motivation Influencing Flood Preparedness of Vulnerable Population Groups. International Journal of Disaster Risk Science, 17, 63–80 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13753-026-00698-x
2. Nifal, M. N., Zeeras, M., Thamboo, J., Saja, A.M.A. (2026). Thermal perception and occupant adaptive characteristics in naturally ventilated classrooms in different tropical climate seasons: A case study in Sri Lanka. Indoor and Built Environment, 1420326X261420811.
3. Rachmawati, F., Susilawati, C., Teo, M., Saja, A.M.A., Devi, B., Soemitro, R. A. A., Goonetilleke, A. (2026). Flood risk perception, awareness, and preparedness behaviours among vulnerable population groups: implications for building community resilience. Disasters, 50(1), e70029.
4. Thamboo, J., Josiah, R., Saja, A.M.A., Salah, P., Rossetto, T., & Dias, P. (2025). Long-term recovery from the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami in two Sri Lankan East Coast municipalities. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 105951.
5. Saja, A.M.A., Suresh, K., Weerasekara, S., Nadhiya, A. L. F., & Perera, M. (2025). Disaster and Climate Risk-Sensitive Business Continuity Plans for SMEs in the Post-COVID19 Context—Key Lessons from Sri Lanka. In Climate Change Adaptation in the Built Environment: Transdisciplinary and Innovative Learning (pp. 21-42). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland.
6. Sathurshan, M., Saja, A.M.A., Thamboo, J., Haraguchi, M., & Navaratnam, S. (2022). Resilience of critical infrastructure systems: a systematic literature review of measurement frameworks. Infrastructures, 7(5), 67.
7. Saja, A.M.A., Teo, M., Goonetilleke, A., & Ziyath, A. M. (2021). A critical review of social resilience properties and pathways in disaster management. International Journal of Disaster Risk Science, 12(6), 790-804.
8. Saja, A.M.A., Sahid, S. L., & Sutharshanan, M. (2021). Capacity-Building Strategy for Creating Disaster-and Climate-Risk-Sensitive Development Plans—A Case Study of Multi-Stakeholder Engagement in Sri Lanka. In Integrated Research on Disaster Risks: Contributions from the IRDR Young Scientists Programme (pp. 231-249). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
9. Saja, A.M.A., Teo, M., Goonetilleke, A., & Ziyath, A. M. (2021). Assessing social resilience in disaster management. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 52, 101957.
10. Saja, A.M.A., Lafir Sahid, S. M., Sutharshanan, M., & Suthakaran, S. (2021). Public Addressing System in Religious Places as Early Warning Dissemination Nodes—A Case Study in Sri Lanka. In Multi-Hazard Early Warning and Disaster Risks (pp. 751-763). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
11. Zarouk, Z., Mallawatantri, A., Saja, A.M.A., Attanayake, K., & Piyadasa, R. U. (2021). A conceptual model for community-driven ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction. In Multi-Hazard Early Warning and Disaster Risks (pp. 247-262). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
12. Saja, A.M.A., Teo, M., Goonetilleke, A., Ziyath, A. M., & Gunatilake, J. (2020). Selection of surrogates to assess social resilience in disaster management using multi-criteria decision analysis. International journal of disaster resilience in the built environment, 11(4), 453-480