Dr Tharindi Udalagama

Tharindi Udalagama works on interdisciplinary research exploring mental health, self-harm and emergency care in Sri Lanka. She is a social anthropologist whose work focuses on gender, kinship, care and wellbeing, with particular attention to how people navigate distress in contexts where formal mental health support is limited.

Her PhD in Social Anthropology at Durham University examined the everyday lives of married women in rural Sri Lanka, exploring how kinship, marriage, and social expectations shaped experiences of distress, and the ways women sought support through informal practices such as mobile phone communication, astrology, and local ritual practices. This work laid the foundation for her continuing research on women’s mental wellbeing and everyday strategies of care.

Her current research examines how young women in Sri Lanka seek support through everyday social and digital networks, including the use of mobile phones and emerging digital technologies during times of emotional distress. She also works on understanding the feasibility of pre-hospital interventions for pesticide poisoning within Sri Lanka’s emergency healthcare system.