| Suren Raghavan | |
| Native Name: | Tamil: சுரேன் ராகவன் Sinhala; Sinhalese: සුරේන් රාගවන් |
| Constituency Mp: | National List |
| Parliament: | Sri Lankan |
| Term Start: | 20 August 2020 |
| Office1: | Governor of the Northern Province |
| Term Start1: | 7 January 2019 |
| Term End1: | 20 November 2019 |
| Predecessor1: | Reginald Cooray |
| Successor1: | P. S. M. Charles |
| President1: | Maithripala Sirisena |
| Party: | Sri Lanka Freedom Party |
| Alma Mater: | University of Kent |
| Profession: | Academic |
| Blank1: | Ethnicity |
| Data1: | Sri Lankan Tamil |
Suren Raghavan (Tamil: சுரேன் ராகவன்|translit=Curēṉ Rākavaṉ; Sinhala; Sinhalese: සුරේන් රාගවන්|translit=Surēn Rāgavan) is a Sri Lankan academic and former Governor of the Northern Province. He is of biethnic heritage, classed as Sri Lankan Tamil due to paternal descent.[1]
Raghavan joined the University of Kent's School of Political and International Relations in 2005 on a scholarship from the James Madison Trust and received a Master of Arts degree after producing a dissertation on federalism in Sri Lanka.[2] [3] He then carried out research at the University of Ottawa before returning to the University of Kent in 2008 on another James Madison Trust scholarship to study for his doctorate degree.[2] [4] He was also an Overseas Research Students Awards Scheme scholar from 2008 to 2011 and a recipient of the Ontario Student Assistance Program award.[2] [3] In 2012 he received a doctorate politics and government from the University of Kent after producing a thesis titled Multimational Federaiism and Sinhala Buddhism. Is there a (In)compatibility? The Case of Ethnonationalism in Sri Lanka.[3] [5]
Raghavan was a visiting professor at Saint Paul University, research fellow at the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies and a visiting research scholar at the University of Colombo's Department of History.[2] [3] [6] [7] He was chairperson and national director of Colombo School for Critical Studies.[7] He has been a jury member for several film festivals including the OCIC, South Indian Film Federation and Asian Cinema Centre.[7] He organised the Indian Film Festival in Colombo.[7]
Raghavan was appointed adviser to President Maithripala Sirisena and director of the Presidential Media Unit in November 2018.[3] [8] In January 2019 he was appointed Governor of the Northern Province by Sirisena.[9] [10] Following the presidential election in November 2019, newly elected President Gotabaya Rajapaksa ordered Raghavan and all other provincial governors to resign.[11] [12] Following the 2020 parliamentary election he was appointed to the Parliament of Sri Lanka as a National List MP representing the Sri Lanka People's Freedom Alliance.[13] [14] [15]