Bhavani Fonseka is a Senior Researcher and Attorney at Law with the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA). She was a Mason Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, Eisenhower Fellow, Asia21 Fellow and TEDx speaker.

Bhavani is the editor of the books Elusive Justice & Emblematic Cases in Sri Lanka (2023) and Transitional Justice in Sri Lanka: Moving Beyond Promises (2017) & editor of the book Salient Aspects of Public Interest Litigation Jurisprudence in Sri Lanka (2023). She was an adviser to the Consultation Task Force appointed by the Government of Sri Lanka in 2016 and a member of the drafting committee to formulate the National Human Rights Action Plan for Sri Lanka for the period 2017-2021. Bhavani is presently a member of the policy committee of Human Rights Watch, a board member of Women Leaders in International Justice and Accountability, on the editorial boards of the International Journal on Transitional Justice and the Women, Peace & Security Series- De Gruyter Press. In 2024 she was invited to serve in the Business and Human Rights Sub-Committee of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka.