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.
As a junior researcher for LIRNEasia’s agriculture-related projects, he worked with Sriganesh Lokanathan and Harsha de Silva in exploring how ICTs can improve farmers’ decision-making abilities by reducing information asymmetry in market price information, and thereby improving livelihoods. He left LIRNEasia in May 2011 to join Rural Returns (Guarantee) Limited, a non-profit organization aimed at economically empowering rice-farming communities in Sri Lanka. Iran holds a bachelor’s degree in agriculture, specializing in agriculture economics from Rajarata University of Sri Lanka; he was reading for his postgraduate degree in organizational management from the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka at the time of his departure. Iran is a Rice Project Executive, for Rural Returns (Guarantee) LTD. Rural Returns is a non-profit organization engaged in empowering Sri Lankan rice farming communities by facilitating higher profits for farmers, through the process of selling sustainably cultivated, traditional rice varieties to global markets.
Il-haam completed a three-month internship at LIRNEasia in late 2009. Her research work included developing a framework for classifying universities in Sri Lanka and South Africa, with the aim of contributing to the understanding of university systems in developing countries. After leaving LIRNEasia, Il-haam moved to Ireland to pursue a PhD in sociology at the University of Dublin, Trinity College, Ireland.
Indrajit Samarajiva is a blogger and entrepreneur. He has helped design websites for major corporations (Dialog Axiata), NGOs (Sarvodaya) and newspaper (The Sunday Leader). He writes for various print and online publications, appears on local television and founded a blogging community of over 1,200 members. He is also the founder of YAMU, a Colombo guide and services site. He studied Cognitive Science at McGill University in Montreal, Canada and attended school in Columbus, Ohio, USA.
Hina led research on freedom of expression in the dissemination of mobile content, a part of LIRNEasia’s project on ‘Mobile2.0@BOP’ between 2008 and 2010 . She has also conducted research on measuring Pakistan’s telecom sector and regulatory performance. She previously served as a research assistant in the Law and Policy Department of Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan. Her key areas of interest are business, ICTs and law.
Haymar completed a one-month internship at LIRNEasia in December 2009, whilst working towards a master’s degree in public policy from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. She worked with Rohan Samarajiva on a paper examining the application of the World Bank’s Knowledge Assessment Methodology (KAM) for building knowledge economies. Haymar was a colleague and friend who will be remembered with affection by members of LIRNEasia’s alumni who were fortunate enough to work with her. We extend our sincere commiserations to her family over her sudden demise. At the time of her untimely demise, Haymar was a Zonal Monitoring Coordinator, for area development programs conducted by World Vision Myanmar.
As a research fellow at LIRNEasia, Harsha led a study which explored why adequate network backbone or access to it may not be available or provided, based on a case study of India. Since October 2005, Harsha has extensive experience as Deputy Director-General of the World Trade Organization, Geneva, Secretary cum Principal Advisor (2001 to 2005) and Economic Advisor (1997 to 2001) to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. He has been Consultant to various national and international organizations. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor at the Centre for International Legal Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, and has been Honorary Professor at the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations and a visiting faculty member at the TERI University, New Delhi. He holds a PhD in Economics from Oxford University, UK.
Harsha de Silva was a Senior Policy Fellow at LIRNEasia. His primary interest was in development economics, with a focus on the economics of information and communication technology in emerging Asia. He was particularly interested in rural agricultural and financial markets, and the political economy of Sri Lanka. Since April 2010, Harsha served as a Member of Parliament of Sri Lanka and represented the main opposition party. From 2015 to 2019, Harsha held a number of ministerial portfolios within the Government of Sri Lanka.
Faheem Hussain, PhD, worked at LIRNEasia as an research fellow for Bangladesh. He is an Assistant Professor of ICT and Computer Science at the Asian University for Women (AUW), Bangladesh. Faheem Hussain, PhD, worked at LIRNEasia as an research fellow for Bangladesh. He is an Assistant Professor of ICT and Computer Science at the Asian University for Women (AUW), Bangladesh. He obtained his PhD from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in the Department of Engineering & Public Policy, with a focus on technology and development in the South Asian region.
Rodney joined LIRNEasia as an intern in January 2012. He is currently working at Research Analyst at Telecommunications Research Project Corporate (TRPC), a boutique economic consulting firm based in Singapore. Prior to joining LIRNEasia, while at TRPC, Don assisted in data analysis for an International Finance Corp (IFC) paper on mobile banking in Indonesia and helped draft a paper on a Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) framework for the United Nations Asia Pacific Training Center for Information and Communication Technology for Development (UNAPCICT), among many projects. Don also worked as an International Business Executive at Double A (1991) Public Company Limited in Thailand in 2008. He completed his Master’s degree in International Political Economy in 2010 at the S.
Dilini joined LINREasia with experience in the manufacturing, construction and research sectors. With a strong interest in ICT, capacity-development and knowledge-sharing, she has been working with the Knowledge to Innovation (K2I) and CPRsouth projects at LIRNEasia. She specializes in knowledge management, communication and process improvement. Before joining LIRNEasia, Dilini worked in the CGIAR (Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research) as Head of Communication and Knowledge Sharing at the International Water Management Institute. Prior to that, she was a Senior Consultant and Director of a private consultancy company.
Divakar has over ten years of international experience in the telecom sector, having worked on a variety of mobile convergence and regulatory reform projects. As Director of Projects and Organizational Development at LIRNEasia, he also led research on the ICT sector in Indonesia, leading to one of LIRNEasia’s most significant projects in terms of policy impact. He was also responsible for the Pacific component of a global assessment of local capacity for ICT policy and regulation. Divakar was ABD at the Ohio State University and has two MA degrees from the US and India. Divakar left LIRNEasia in May 2007 to join Deloitte Research’s Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) team in India, providing thought-leadership to Deloitte on major issues facing the TMT industry through research reports, client briefings and presentations at industry events.
Dimuthu joined LIRNEasia as a statistical analyst in February 2007, during the last stages of his degree in Statistics and Computer Science, at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. He worked at LIRNEasia for two years until February 2009. Dimuthu worked on the ‘Teleuse at the Bottom of the Pyramid’ project at LIRNEasia that examined how low income communities in Asian countries use the telephone for various purposes. He was also involved in consultancy projects undertaken by LIRNEasia’s consultancy arm, Connectasia. This involvement in consultancy assignments, says Dimuthu, has been the most useful aspect where his current work is concerned, “because it was then that I learned how to bid for consultancy assignments.
Dedunu joined LIRNEasia in October, 2013 as a software engineer working on the Big Data for Development(BD4D) project. Prior to joining LIRNEasia he worked as a Associate Software Engineer at a leading IT company in Sri Lanka. Dedunu is now a Software Engineer at Zaizi.
As a senior research manager and broadband specialist, Chanuka managed LIRNEasia’s Mobile 2.0 project, which examines the basic competitive and regulatory conditions for the use of mobiles for more-than-voice, as well as case studies of the same in emerging Asia. He also led research on broadband quality-of-service experience. In addition, he has led research in measuring telecom sector and regulatory performance in Indonesia, as well as the development of indicators for measuring the effectiveness of national regulatory authority websites in providing information to stakeholders. Chanuka has over 14 years of experience working at specialist and management-level positions on developmental issues.
Chammi worked in LIRNEasia’s Knowledge to Innovation project as a researcher. She conducted the survey on good practices for local government authorities in solid-waste management, examining the use of networks among solid-waste managers for fostering innovation in services. She also coordinated and assisted training programs for solid-waste workers of the Colombo Municipal Council, aimed at informing households about effective waste-management practices. Chammi worked at LIRNEasia for three years as a researcher, from September 2008 to September 2011. She was mainly involved in the project ‘Knowledge linkages among solid-waste managers in local government authorities.