Samali Perera was a Junior Researcher at LIRNEasia. Before joining us, She worked as an Investigator at Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research and Training Institute (HARTI). She engaged in a socio economic research on fertilizer subsidy cash grant in Sri Lanka at HARTI. Prior to that she has also worked in HJS Condiments a subsidiary company of Hayleys Agriculture as an in plant trainee. She has engaged in a new product development and quality controlling , research work (The best media and fertilizer recommendation for Gherkin) , internal audits, and document preparation. 
Samali Perera was a Junior Researcher at LIRNEasia. Before joining us, She worked as an Investigator at Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research and Training Institute (HARTI). She engaged in a socio economic research on fertilizer subsidy cash grant in Sri Lanka at HARTI. Prior to that she has also worked in HJS Condiments a subsidiary company of Hayleys Agriculture as an in plant trainee. She has engaged in a new product development and quality controlling , research work (The best media and fertilizer recommendation for Gherkin) , internal audits, and document preparation.
Laleema was a research manager at LIRNEasia. She managed the Ford Foundation-funded projects on “Facilitating and enriching policy discourse on improving broadband access by the poor” and “Enhancing broadband policy discourse in Nepal, with emphasis on inclusion of the differently abled”. Her work as a the project manager involved a research study to assess the potential of broadband networks for rural connectivity in India, nationally representative research on Internet and mobile access and use in Indonesia and Internet and mobile access and use survey in Nepal with a special focus on those living with disability, capacity building courses on “How to Engage in Broadband Policy and Regulatory Processes” in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka and management of a single window of information related to broadband that may be needed by a policy maker in the Asian region in the form of a website. She also managed a component of the IDRC funded research on Inclusion in business process outsourcing. This research focused on the employability of lower income individuals in online work platforms in India, Sri Lanka and Myanmar.
Tharaka Amarasinghe is a Project Manager and Statistician at LIRNEasia. He specialises in survey and sample design. He also leads statistical analysis for all LIRNEasia’s survey research projects. Some of Tharaka’s current and past work includes: AfterAccess: A series of nationally representative surveys in Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, and Cambodia covering 15,000 households and individuals. He has conducted nationally representative studies on the PWD population in Sri Lanka and Nepal and a nationally representative study on SME’s in Sri Lanka. 
Namali Premawardhana worked as a Communications Coordinator at LIRNEasia between 2017 and 2020 where she drove organisational communication activities at the organisation. This included developing communications material, organising events, managing LIRNEasia’s online presence, production of LIRNEasia’s annual report, monitoring coverage, and liaising with media inter alia. Before joining us, she worked as Assistant Editor at Echelon Magazine. She has also worked as a freelance feature writer for The Sunday Times of Sri Lanka since 2007. Namali has an MBA from the University of Derby through a researched thesis on Digital Journalism in Sri Lanka, and a BA in English from the University of Peradeniya. 
Chiranthi Rajapakse was a Research Manager (Legal and Policy) at LIRNEasia. She is an Attorney at Law with a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from the University of London (International Programmes), and holds a Diploma in Human Rights from the Institute of Human Rights. She has also completed a Master’s in Human Rights and Democratisation from the Faculty of Law, University of Colombo. Her postgraduate research explored legislation prohibiting hate speech in Sri Lanka and the rise of online hate speech targeting minority communities in the post-war period. Chiranthi brought extensive experience as a researcher, writer, and project manager.
Chatura was a senior research manager at LIRNEasia, where his main focus was sustainable agriculture: production, markets, prices, value chain, environment and climate change. His work has been published in the Australian Journal of Agriculture and Resource Economics among others. Before joining LIRNEasia, Chatura worked at the United Nations as a Research Specialist and with Institute of Policy Studies as a Research Economist. He holds a Bachelor degree in Agricultural Economics from University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, a Master of Science in Environment Economics from University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, and a Master of Science in Food Agriculture and Resource Economics from the University of Guelph, Canada.
Aparna was a Graduate Research Associate on the Big Data for Development Team. She holds a B.A. in English and an M.S.
Azamat Ababakirov was a research manager at LIRNEasia. Prior to joining LIRNEasia he worked at Goodhope Holdings in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as Assistant Manager, Downstream Business Development. He has also worked in Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP), National University of Singapore (NUS) as a Research Associate and Institute of Water Policy, National University of Singapore (NUS) as a Graduate Research Assistant. 
Ayesha served as a Senior Research Manager at LIRNEasia. Her core areas of interest lay at the intersection of technology and inclusion in the Global South, with a focus on the future of work. She had over 19 years of extensive experience in this field, having designed, managed and led numerous research projects in the South and Southeast Asian region for clients such as IDRC (Canada), the World Bank, the Ford Foundation, the GSM Association, the Asian Development Bank, and GIZ, among others, and led LIRNEasia’s gender work. She managed a regional hub for research on the future of work in LMIC Asia, as part of IDRC’s FutureWORKS initiative toward an inclusive and sustainable future of work. In her most recent research, she documented how digital technologies are changing work opportunities and contexts in particular for women in South Asia.