As a statistician at LIRNEasia, Nishantha was involved in research on telecom access and use among the bottom of the pyramid, as well as on the use of ICTs in lowering transaction costs in agricultural markets. He holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science and statistics from University of Colombo and was reading for an MBA in finance at the University of Colombo, at the time of writing.
Nipuni Udunuwarage was HR Operations Associate at LIRNEasia. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from the University of Colombo and is professionally qualified in Human Resource Management. She joined LIRNEasia as an intern in 2014 and was subsequently promoted. In addition to finance, HR and general administrative work, she was responsible for communication with the LIRNEasia Board and event management.
Natasha Udu-gama is a former Research Fellow and Project Dissemination Manager for the Last Mile Hazard Warning System (HazInfo) project for LIRNEasia. In this capacity, she organized three international HazInfo dissemination workshops with practitioners and experts in Bangladesh, India and Indonesia. She also researched the use of mobile cell broadcasting for commercial information dissemination and public warning system for the Maldives, as part of LIRNEasia’s Mobile2.0@BOP study. Her research interests include community-based disaster risk management and appropriate technologies for community-based disaster risk information systems in poor urban areas and information technologies for risk communication.
Mobarak is a former Senior Research Fellow for Bangladesh, where he led the Telecommunication Regulatory Environment (TRE) study of Bangladesh in 2008. Mobarak has held senior positions in government including Prime Minister’s Office, Ministries of Posts and Telecommunications, Home Affairs, Family Welfare and Establishments and Bangladesh Election Commission. He has also worked as Deputy Commissioner and District Magistrate for Dhaka and Sherpur Districts and Additional District Magistrate for, Dhaka District. He has actively participated in various policy formulation works of the government and administered development projects impacting the people’s socio-economic standards. He has also worked as part time trainer and examiner on criminal laws, environmental laws, cyber laws, land laws, service laws, rules and regulations in various institutions and academies since 1993.
Malathy Knight, PhD was a Research fellow at LIRNEasia. She is an Economist with extensive experience in Public Policy. Her specific areas of expertise include New Institutional Economics, telecommunications policy and regulation, privatization and public enterprise reform, competition policy, and regulatory governance. She has a PhD from the University of Manchester, U.K.
Madhushi Bandara’s research areas of interests include big data, data mining, data analytics, software artifact consistency and software architecture assurance. At LIRNEasia she worked as a part time Junior Researcher and was engaged in the research related to community detection and analysis using mobile network big data. She finished her degree program, Bsc. in Computer Science & Engineering with First Class Distinction.
As a research fellow at LIRNEasia, Lorraine led research on measuring telecom sector and regulatory performance in the Philippines. Her research interests include comparative political economy of Southeast Asia, in particular, market reforms and regulatory issues in telecommunications, ICTs and utilities. Lorraine has extensive experience as a senior research analyst at McKinsey & Company, assistant professor of political science at the University of the Philippines and a visiting research fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore. She obtained her PhD from the Australian National University in 2004. Lorraine has been with McKinsey and Company’s Singapore office since 2008, where she works as a Knowledge Specialist, focusing on telecommunications, media and regulations in Southeast Asia.
As a researcher at LIRNEasia, Lara was involved in benchmarking regulatory websites as well as compiling broadband price and quality indicators in emerging Asia. She also assisted in the development of a manual for LIRNEasia’s multi-country assessment of telecom regulatory environment. Lara holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Sydney, with majors in government, international relations and international business and a minor in political economy. Lara left LIRNEasia in 2009 to pursue a master’s degree in accounting at the Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia.
Keshan is a researcher working on the Big Data for Development (BD4D) project. Prior to joining LIRNEasia he worked as a Senior Software Engineer at CodeGen International and SimCentric Technologies He holds a bachelor’s (special) degree in Computer Science & Technology at Uva Wellassa University and is currently studying for a Master’s degree in Artificial Intelligence at University of Moratuwa. His areas of interest include Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and IoT. LinkedIn : keshandesilva
Kaushalya was a researcher working on the Big Data for Development (BD4D) project. Prior to joining LIRNEasia he worked as a Senior Software Engineer at a leading IT company in Sri Lanka. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Department of Computer Science, University of Moratuwa and a Master’s degree in Computer Science at University of Colombo.His areas of interest include Machine Learning, Heterogeneous Parallel Computing and Social Network Analysis. He left LIRNEasia to pursue his PhD in Tokyo Institute of Technology.
Kasun joined LIRNEasia soon after completing his advanced Level examination. As a trainee accounts assistant at LIRNEasia, he assisted the accountant and senior finance manager in all accounting-related work. Kasun left LIRNEasia in September 2010 to pursue his bachelor’s degree in accountancy at the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Kasun is a full time university student, reading for a BBA (Bachelor of Business Administration) at the Faculty of Management and Finance, of the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Kasun is also following a Chartered Accountancy course at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka, “to add a professional component” to his university education.
Kanchana was an accounts executive at LIRNEasia. Prioir to joinning LIRNEasia, Kanchana was an Accounts Assistant at Newsun Trading (PVT) Ltd. She has followed AAT stage II and CMA stage I.
Juni is a Director of the Telecommunication, IT, and Media (ICT) Sector, of the Indonesian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (KADIN ), located in Jakarta, Indonesia. She is also pursuing a Masters degree in European Studies at the University of Indonesia. Juni has been involved with LIRNEasia, as a researcher, since 2006. In 2008 – 2011, she was a co-researcher, as well as a co-writer, of the Indonesian Report for Telecom Regulatory and Policy Environment in Indonesia: Results and Analysis of the 2008 TRE Survey. In 2006-7 she was a junior researcher for the 2006 TRE Survey.
Juhee joined LIRNEasia as a six-month graduate research associate in 2011. She is a PhD student of the Department of Telecommunications, Information Studies, and Media at Michigan State University, USA. Her research foci are ICTs for development and telecommunications policy in emerging Asia. Previously, she was a junior researcher on special services at the ITU Asia Pacific Office, and a market analyst at Samsung Electronics Research Institute, UK, specialized in the European mobile device and service market. She holds a bachelor’s degree in public administration from Yonsei University, South Korea, and a master’s degree in International Communications and Development from City University, London, UK.
Joseph led LIRNEasia’s Sector Performance Review study for Pakistan. Joseph has over 18 years of experience of practice, research, and teaching in regulatory laws. He was an Associate Professor of Law & Policy at the Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan before joining the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) as member.. He is a member of the State Bar of New York, USA and Lahore High Court Bar, and also serves on the International Advisory Board of the Loyola University Chicago’s Institute for Consumer Antitrust Studies, USA.
Isuru Jayasooriya was a researcher working on the Big Data for Development project. Prior to joining LIRNEasia he worked as a Software Engineer at SimCentric Technologies, a leading military simulation and application development company. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Information Technology at University of Moratuwa and is currently studying for a Master’s degree in Artificial Intelligence at University of Moratuwa. His areas of interest include Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Computer Vision.