Research Fellow
Chanuka currently leads LIRNEasia’s Sector Performance Review study for Indonesia.
He has previously served as a full-time Senior Research Manager and Broadband Specialist at LIRNEasia. In this capacity, Chanuka led the Mobile 2.0@BOP project which focused on non-voice mobile use at a grassroot-level. The project studied the mobile applications including m-payments, m-government and m-content (‘verticals’) and the horizontals that enable them. In addition, he was the lead researcher for the projects Broadband QoS benchmarking, NRA website survey and the country study of the Telecom Regulatory Environment analysis in Indonesia. In previous research cycles, Chanuka led the projects Virtual Organisation and NRA website survey in 2005.
Before joining LIRNEasia, he worked as a Programme Specialist in ICT4D at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme (APDIP) out-posted to Colombo Regional Center’s Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Initiative. His focus was on the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICTs) for poverty reduction and achievement of the MDGs. In this capacity, he has worked on various projects on different areas covering poverty reduction, telecom regulation, gender and ICTs, disaster management and e-Government.
Chanuka has over fourteen years experience at a specialist and management level in developmental work. As a researcher, he has co-authored the Sri Lankan chapters for the books Cyber Communities of Asia (AMIC, Singapore), Media in Asia (Sage Publishers, New Delhi), Internet in Asia (AMIC, Singapore) and Digital Review of Asia Pacific (APDIP, Orbicom and IDRC). He was also the lead researcher for Sri Lanka in a nine-country study on ICT for Human Development in Asia, by UNDP. He is a regular writer and commentator on ICT issues in the Sri Lankan media. He was the founder consultant editor of ‘Pariganaka’, the largest selling ICT magazine in Sri Lanka with a circulation of more than 40,000 copies. He has won the Science Writer of the Year Award, presented annually by the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science, twice.
Chanuka holds an MBA from the University of Colombo and an engineering degree from the National Institute of Technology, Karnataka (India).
Employment History
- Program Specialist ICT4D, United Nations Development Programme, Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme
- Consultant, ICT Agency, Sri Lanka
- Team Leader, Support and Outsourcing Department, Enterprise Technology (Pvt) Ltd
- Senior Business Consultant and Project Manager, Asiasoft Ltd.
- Computer Systems Engineer, Central Bank of Sri Lanka
- Computer Systems Engineer, Softlogic Ltd
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