Department of Zoology is one of the oldest departments established at the inception of the Faculty of Science of the then Jaffna Campus of the University of Ceylon. The Department is actively involved in teaching and research. Apart from teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, the department is very strong in research in the field of Entomology producing M.Phil and Ph.D. degrees. The department has many in-house facilities with adequate equipment to offer a very conducive research environment.

Entomology is the strongest research area of the Department. A well- designed out-door insectary, medical entomology laboratory, molecular entomology laboratory, and insect diversity museum are established mainly through research grants secured by academics of the Department of Zoology. More than 15 million LKR worth of research instruments relevant to entomology research were installed in the labs utilizing research grants secured from NSF, NRC, SLCARP, UoJ, and UNDP. The Department offers various training programs in medical entomology to Public Health Offers and Entomology Team members of the Anti- Malaria Campaign, and economic entomology to farmers and other interested personals. The Department also undertakes various community-based projects to encourage deprived community and women-headed families to engage in social entrepreneurship using beneficial insects (economic entomology). The Entomology research groups have a strong national and international link for various research activities and have produced more than 70 research articles during the last 15 years in recognized journals.

Considering the local and national importance of research in entomology and the strength of the research teams in entomology, it has been long felt by the Department of Zoology a need of Centre for Research in Entomology to get recognition from the wider national and international community for community-based activities, training programs, research, and education. With this background, the Faculty of Science had endorsed in its strategic management plan to establish a Centre for Research in Entomology (CRE), hereafter called CRE, under the umbrella of Department of Zoology, in the Faculty of Science, University of Jaffna