Dr Vidanage is currently the Director, International Relations Office (IRO) and Director Centre for Strategic Assessment (CSA). He was the first civilian to Head the department of Strategic Studies at KDU from 2020 to 2023. Harinda Vidanage was formerly Director, Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies (BCIS), prior to his assignment at the BCIS he was Assistant Professor of International Relations, St. Lawrence University, New York from 2012 to 2016.

Dr Vidanage is a Senior Fulbright Scholar receiving the highest Fulbright fellowship awarded by the United States Fulbright Commission. He gained his PhD from the University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom as an ORSAS and Principles Scholar. He graduated from University of Colombo Sri Lanka with First Class honors in Political Science.

Dr Vidanage is Member of the Board of Management of Lakshman Kadiragamar Institute (LKI), Honorary Fellow at Stratenewsglobal.com, and research fellow at Nepal Institute of International Cooperation (NIICE). Expert Member of the South Asia Cyber Security Governance review group of Geneva Centre for Security Governance (DECAF).

He was a lead academic in developing the curriculum for the newly established National Defence College in Sri Lanka (NDC). ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), HDUCIM coordinator for KDU and Sri Lanka.