As a teaching-and-research (TR) academic, my professional development covers both pedagogical practice, and disciplinary research expertise. This enables me to be an effective and expert teacher to undergraduate, postgraduate students as well as professional colleagues as shown in examples below.
I developed my formal credentials of pedagogical expertise through a Graduate Certificate in Teaching in Higher Education from the University of Colombo (2014), UNSW Foundations of University Learning and Teaching (2017), and Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy, UK (2021). I have applied educational principles learnt, including narrative-based learning and constructive alignment, in PATH3206 and PATH3205, respectively, as detailed in other dimensions (Biggs & Tang, 2011; Rodrigo et al., 2019). I sustain reflective practice by evaluating innovations, publishing educational research and sharing findings. I presented my educational research at eight meetings from 2012–2021, including international conferences and UNSW education forums.
Being an active researcher is integral to maintaining the currency, credibility and depth of my teaching. My research in tropical medicine and infectious diseases spans systematic evidence synthesis, prospective clinical studies and basic science. This sustained contribution has produced more than 170 publications, over 6,000 citations and an h-index of 46, placed me within the top 2% of cited tropical medicine researchers (UNSW Sydney, n.d.). This expertise enables me to teach contemporary pathology using examples from research practice and to show students how established knowledge is challenged, new knowledge is generated, and evidence is critically evaluated and translated into practice. My work with the Cochrane Collaboration exemplifies this connection between disciplinary expertise and effective teaching. As an author within the Cochrane Infectious Diseases Group and Associate Editor of Cochrane Clinical Answers since 2016, I conduct evidence syntheses and train others in systematic-review methods. Dr Ian Wee, then a UNSW medical student, undertook a systematic review with me, progressing from a volunteer learner to co-author of a published review and meta-analysis (Wee et al., 2017). He subsequently co-authored a Cochrane review without my involvement, providing evidence of applying these evidence-synthesis skills independently (El Sayed et al., 2018).
I also translate my expertise as Presiding Member (Chair) of UNSW Human Research Ethics into undergraduate, HDR and reviewer education. Using interactive activities and historical cases such as the Tuskegee syphilis study, I connect ethical principles with race-based injustice and researchers’ responsibilities for participant safety in a workshop on research ethics, designed and taught by me in PATH3206 course. Student feedback (myExperience comments, informal discussions) indicates that this was the first substantive exposure to human research ethics for many students. Since becoming Presiding Member in 2024, I have also worked with the Research Ethics and Compliance Support team to establish a continuing professional-development program for ethics reviewers. Training priorities are identified through an annual member survey and addressed through monthly online sessions and an annual face-to-face workshop.
Collectively, these examples demonstrate how I continually develop pedagogical and disciplinary expertise, translate that expertise into contemporary learning experiences, and extend it through the development of students and professional colleagues.
References
Biggs, J., & Tang, C. (2011). Teaching for quality learning at university: What the student does (4th ed.). Open University Press.
El Sayed, I., Liu, Q., Wee, I., & Hine, P. (2018). Antibiotics for treating scrub typhus. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2018(9), Article CD002150. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD002150.pub2
Rodrigo, C., Tedla, N., Thomas, S., Polly, P., Herbert, C., Velan, G., & Saunders, D. N. (2019). Using narratives to teach students enrolled in science and medical science bachelor’s degree programs. Medical Science Educator, 29(2), 357–361. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40670-019-00698-1
UNSW Sydney. (n.d.). Associate Professor Chaturaka Rodrigo. UNSW Research. Retrieved October 21, 2026, from https://research.unsw.edu.au/people/associate-professor-chaturaka-rodrigo
Wee, I., Lo, A., & Rodrigo, C. (2017). Drug treatment of scrub typhus: A systematic review and meta-analysis of controlled clinical trials. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 111(8), 336–344. https://doi.org/10.1093/trstmh/trx066