I was privileged to be a winner of this prize for academic research in 2008.The research award has been given to many distinguished and eminent scholars in my region, South Asia, and in my country, and to one of my country's most distinguished conservation architects. To have been selected for such a well known prestigious international award like the Fukuoka prize, gave me a sense of professional recognition that I value personally. I considered it also a tribute to my country Sri Lanka, and my family. They provided me maximum opportunities for equal opportunities and an excellent education, from the 1940's, in a region which is still struggling to provide such opportunities to women and girls.

Winning the prize also reaffirmed my conviction that synthesising ideas and thoughts from diverse cultures is relevant for human well being and progress. Asia is after all a region that has both contributed to and benefited from the diversity of cultural influences. Rejecting ideas from outside our own country or region as a dilution of a particular culture is alien to our history and the realities of our experience.

The Fukuoka prize has a continued and important significance beyond its third decade. We live in times where single identities that promote violence and social upheaval are receiving more and more attention across the globe, and in Asia. Celebrating our rich diversity and pluralism and recognising the precious value of respect for that diversity is important globally and for our region. From my own professional work and career in the area of human rights I know that there are still misconceptions about our region, and the contribution that thoughts and ideas from our cultures can make for human progress.

To the citizens of Fukuoka I say thank you for one of the most memorable experiences in my professional life when I visited your city, with my late husband, and my sister. We were treated to the gracious, and generous hospitality of your nation and people that was truly unsurpassed in our professional lives. It is an experience that we will carry in our hearts and minds forever.