Presently Professor Dissanayake functions as the Vice Chancellor of the University of Colombo as well as Senior Professor and Chair in the Department of Demography. Professor Dissanayake also have been honored by various esteemed positions and awards both nationally and internationally by recognizing his contribution to the field of demography. Following are only a few that are selected from a vast number of academic distinctions. He received ‘Excellence in Research’ award (University of Colombo) and ‘Excellence in Research: Highest Grant Recipient’ award (Committee of Vice Chancellors and Directors in Sri Lanka. Professor Dissanayake also functions as the Lead Consultant for the preparation of Population Situation Analysis of Sri Lanka for the United Nations Population Fund. He also serves as a Member of the Research Advisory Group of the Department of Immigration and Citizenship of the Australian Government. Recently, he was invited to be a Member of the Migration Research Leaders Syndicate of the International Organization of Migration, Switzerland. In November 2017, Professor Dissanayake was also honored by the Yunnan University of China conferring an Honorary Professorship.